It’s my own recipe. I frequently prepare these for events. They seem to be favored by everyone. They are perfect because of the combination of the ingredients!
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 2 (3 1/2) pound whole chickens, wingtips removed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 lemons, thinly sliced and seeded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- Place chicken, breast side down, on a work surface. Starting at the tail end, cut along both sides of backbone with kitchen shears. Remove backbone.
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- Grabbing hold of both sides of the chicken, open it like a book. Turn breast side up. Push down on each side of breast with your hands until you hear it crack. Flatten chicken and transfer to one short end of the prepared baking sheet. Repeat w
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- Combine salt, tarragon, paprika, and pepper in a small bowl. Stir in oil. Run your fingers under chicken skin and rub tarragon paste under skin. Slide lemon slices under skin, in a single layer.
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- Roast until skin is crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast reads 165 degrees F, about 35 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting each chicken into 8 pieces.
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Reviews
This was so easy and the chicken came out amazing! Thank you!
Fantastic!!! Made this for our bon fire night. Cooking the chicken on the grill was very easy. The chicken was SO juicy. It did take a bit longer than the recipe suggested but it was worth the wait. I seasoned the chicken with; salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and EVOO. Everyone loved it!! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
This worked perfectly for me. I followed the directions and the bird was fully cooked in 35 minutes on our conventional oven. I wonder if the folks having issues with smoke are using a convection oven? I say this because when I tried this same recipe in my mom’s convection oven, it totally produced enough smoke to set the alarm in the other room off!
Delicious I did add vegetables around the Chicken. I wonder if the ones having smoke problems are not putting the oil and spices under the skin.
I cooked this on my grill and added more salt and it was fabulous!
It was delicious and easy, a perfect combo of crisp outside and tender inside. Def a keeper!
Not a great recipe for us, made it spot on according to the instructions and the chicken tasted like citrus cleaner. Still giving two stars because I think it was a matter of our taste rather than the recipe being bad.
Someone explain to me how you roast this chicken with olive oil on it and it doesn’t fill your house with smoke. Every single time I’ve made this I have to open the windows turn on all the fans because of the low smoke point of olive oil.
This was easy and very tasty. The breast meat was very tender and had a great flavor. I stayed true to the recipe, except cooking for 50 minutes as I had one chicken at 5.5 lbs.
Excellent recipe! I used thyme, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Delicious and moist. Will definitely make it again!
Amazing. I picked this for it’s simplicity- I was lucky that the guy at the meat counter heard me say spatchcock and cut it perfectly, so I can’t comment on that part of the adventure. This is such a superior way to cook a chicken perfectly. The spices and seasoning technique here are perfect- really great combo and easy to do. My bird was close to 5lb. I cooked at 450 for about 40 minutes.
I just used the olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika and it was great.
It is soooooooooooo gooooooood
I used one cornish hen for a family of four. I guess it wasn’t enough. My oldest asked for more chicken, which is amazing considering she doesn’t always like meat. I was unable to put lemon slices under the skin, but it still turned out delicious.
Spatchcocking is my favorite way to cook a whole bird. As a method, it makes grilling both turkeys or chickens easy on the bbq. Here’s a tool-tip: for some larger birds (and even smaller ones), sheers don’t always work. I bought a small keyhole saw at my local hardware store just for this purpose. it is now a kitchen tool!
Had this tonight, cooked in broiling pan with veggies on bottom, chicken on top. Had to cook 1 hour but that was no problem. Can honestly say this was THE BEST CHICKEN I have ever eaten! And extremely easy to make! Even breast meat was juicy!
Delicious! The meat was so juicy and flavorful!!! I did have to cook it almost an hour–but the wait was worth it! I definitely would recommend this recipe, and will serve it again!
This is the best chicken!! I added 1 tsp of thyme to the rub mixture. It is just delicious, and so easy! I prefer the spatchcock method over roasting a whole chicken. It is easy and it cooks faster!
Followed the recipe to a T. Way too salty! Took almost one hour to cook so its not the speedy meal the recipe promised. I won’t bother again.
We really liked this. Couldn’t get herbs under the skin, but it was still great. Also skipped the lemon. Will make it again. May try the lemons next time.
Made a dry rub and grilled it. It was a hit!