Spatchcocking - The Dirty Little Secret To Fast Roasting A Chicken - The Haute Life

You really have to try spatchcocking – excuse me? Say what? Did everyone who is reading this cheeks just blush?

Well, yes, you might have to get your hands a little dirty to spatchcock, but it’s not a dirty word at all. In fact, this technique used to roast a chicken will actually help not only to roast a chicken faster but also to guarantee nice, golden, crispy skin. Yum, now there are a few words that make our hearts flutter- crispy chicken skin.

We figured after recently roasting a turkey for in some cases, an entire day, you might want to try a different bird, and cook it in 30 minutes! So, we’re sharing our scrumptious recipe for bacon-wrapped chicken with butter-soaked garlic, prosciutto, and rosemary stuffing *and* our experience with spatchcocking.

Okay, so there it is again, spatchcocking. Let’s just all say it aloud so we can get a little more comfortable with the word. And if the word still makes you giggle, you can always say butterfly. 😉

To spatchcock a chicken, you will split the bird from the back, and then flatten the chicken (breast side up) in the pan – reducing the thickness of the chicken and exposing more skin for golden perfection.

Sorry, it’s not the prettiest picture. But we’re sure in the end the “after” will have you drooling.

So, without further adieu, here is our recipe.

Roasted Chicken Ingredients

Whole 3 lb chicken
Several cloves of garlic
A few sprigs of rosemary
1/2 Chopped onion
Package of bacon
Asiago cheese
Sprinkles of salt and pepper
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Himalayan sea salt

Stuffing Ingredients

3 Cups of your favorite plain cubed breadcrumbs. We thought we’d give Aleia’s Plain Gluten-Free Stuffing a try. After reading Abigail Hueber’s article on the potential benefits of being gluten-free, we wanted to check out the taste difference. Our opinion, at least with stuffing, we couldn’t tell the difference!

1/2 Stick of butter
1/4 Chopped onion
Diced rosemary sprig
At least a dozen cloves of garlic. (Garlic lovers, feel free to get crazy like we did!)
2 Cups chicken stock
1/4 Cup chopped pancetta
Asiago cheese

Spatchcocking The Chicken

To butterfly the bird, put the breast side down and using poultry sheers cut along one side of the backbone.
Then cut along the other side and remove the backbone.
Pull the bird apart so that it is now butterflied.
Flip over into pan and flatten.

Bacon-Wrapped Roasted Chicken

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Before spatchocking our chicken, we stuffed it with the salt, garlic, rosemary, and onion.
Once the bird is split, pepper and salt both sides.
Flatten the bird in the pan and press rosemary and cheese into the skin.
Cover all of the bird with bacon.
Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the top.
Pop into the oven!
After 10 minutes, add chicken stock.
Start spooning the juices over the top at regular intervals.
It should be cooked in about 30 minutes but could be a little more depending upon heat loss from opening the oven and basting. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the breast is 150 degrees and the thigh is 170 degrees.
Put a few scoops of the butter soaked garlic and onion mixture on top.
Take out and let sit for about 10 minutes.
Strain juices for a clear gravy.

Stuffing Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Melt 1 stick of butter in small pan.
Toss in garlic and onions and let cook slowly until nice and soft.
In another pan, saute pancetta. Once the fat is starting to liquify, sprinkle the rosemary into the pan.
Combine garlic and onions with pancetta and rosemary. (Save some to put over roasted chicken.)
Place breadcrumbs in a casserole dish. Toss in your yummy meat and garlic mixture. Add 1/2 stick of melted butter and chicken stock and stir.
Cover and put into the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove cover and cook for another 5 minutes.