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This Spatchcock Chicken recipe is our favorite way to roast a whole chicken. Every part of the roasted chicken turns out juicy and so flavorful with that garlic herb butter (the same one we use on our roasted turkey!). This one pan chicken dinner is easy and so delicious!
There is no marinating or lengthy prep required. This is simple enough for a busy weeknight but it’s also a crowd-pleaser and perfect for company!
The potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts roast along with the chicken. This blend of vegetables bakes to perfection and every bite is supremely flavorful. The potatoes have a crisp salty skin with a creamy inside and these were some of the best tasting Brussels sprouts I’ve tried.
Watch the video on how to Spatchcock a Chicken and prepare this easy one-pan chicken dinner – one of our favorite whole chicken recipes!
Watch how to Spatchcock Chicken Video:
A whole roasted chicken can be tricky because the chicken breast can quickly dry out by the time the dark meat is cooked through, but when you butterfly a chicken (spatchcock), the chicken breast sits lower in the pan on the same level as the legs so it bakes more evenly and results in a juicy, moist and flavorful chicken.
Ingredients for Spatchcock Chicken Recipe:
For this recipe, you will need a 4 to 4 1/2 lb whole chicken. Allow the raw chicken to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before using for more even baking. The flavored butter is incredible and makes every bite memorable. We it in several of our recipes because it just works. See the full print-friendly list of ingredients in the recipe card below.
Ingredients for 1-Pan Chicken Dinner:
To make this a one-pan meal, we add potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts. Everything roasts together and you don’t have to toss or flip anything while it is roasting in that amazing flavored butter.
How to Spatchcock Chicken:
1. (Preheat Oven to 425˚F after step 4) Place chicken breast-side down with the wings/ neck facing towards you. Use kitchen shears to cut through the ribs right next to the spine on both sides to remove spine.** Open the rib cage and use a heavy chefs knife to score down the sternum. This will help to pop out the breast bone and flatten the chicken. Season under the chicken with about 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper.
**Keep the spine and bones from the roasted chicken after it is carved and use them for the best homemade chicken bone broth!
2. Flip the chicken over with the breast side up and place on a parchment-lined, rimmed baking half sheet. Using the palm of your hand, push firmly over the breast bone so the chicken lays completely flat. You want it to lay flat so all parts of the chicken bake evenly. Separate the skin from the meat over breast, thigh and drumstick areas.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flavored butter ingredients and mash together with a fork for a couple of minutes until most of the lemon juice is incorporated into the butter.
4. Spread 2/3 of it under the chicken skin and spread and dot remaining butter all over the chicken.
5. Place prepared vegetables all around the chicken then drizzle all over with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and some black pepper to taste.
6. Bake uncovered at 425˚F for 45 minutes or until instant read thermometer registers 160˚F when inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breast. Don’t over-bake or the breast will be dry. Keep in mind the temperature will rise another 5-10 degrees after it comes out of the oven. Remove form oven and rest uncovered 10 minutes on a cutting board before serving.
More One-Pan, Easy Chicken Dinner Ideas:
Here are some of the reader favorite chicken recipes on our blog.
- One Pan Chicken Breast and Veggies Dinner
- Avocado Chicken Salad (Wildly Popular!)
- 15 One-Pan Dinners for Lazy Nights
⬇Print-friendly Spatchcock Chicken Recipe:
Spatchcock Chicken Recipe Video
Ingredients
Ingredients for Spatchcock Chicken Recipe:
- 4 1/4 lb whole chicken, *
- 1/2 tsp salt, (we used sea salt)
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Ingredients for Flavored Butter:
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more to drizzle
- 1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt, plus more for vegetables
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Ingredients for 1-Pan Chicken Dinner:
- 2 lbs medium red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and quartered
- 8 oz Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Instructions
- (Preheat oven to 425˚F after step 4). Place chicken breast-side down with the wings/ neck facing towards you. To remove the spine, use kitchen shears to cut through the ribs right next to the spine along both sides. Open rib cage and use a heavy knife to score down the sternum. This will help pop out the breast bone and flatten chicken. Season inside the chicken with 1/2 tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper.
- Flip the chicken over breast side up and set on parchment-lined, rimmed baking half sheet. Using the palm of your hand, push firmly over the breast bone forcing the chicken to lay completely flat. Use your thumbs to separate the skin from the meat over breast, thigh and drumstick areas.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the flavored butter ingredients. Mash with fork for a couple of minutes until lemon juice is mostly incorporated into butter.
- Spread 2/3 of mixture under the chicken skin and and dot/spread remaining butter all over chicken.
- Place prepared vegetables all around the chicken and drizzle everything with olive oil. Sprinkle chicken and vegetables generously with salt and some black pepper to taste.
- Bake uncovered at 425˚F for 45 min or until instant read thermometer reads 160˚F when inserted into thickest part of chicken breast**. Remove form oven and rest uncovered 10 minutes on a cutting board before serving.
Notes
**Don't over-bake or the breast will be dry. Keep in mind internal temp will rise another 5-10 degrees after it comes out of oven.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Have you tried this method for roasting a whole chicken? I hope you’re excited about making it after watching this video!! If you try it, let me know how you liked loved it! 🙂
I have made this recipe 4-5 times, and love it every time!!
Best way to roast a whole chicken!!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Stacy!
This recipe was phenomenal! My husband said it was the best dinner I ever made.
Hi Alannah! That’s wonderful, so glad it was enjoyed.
Do you use convection cook/roast oven,would be handy know as it might make a difference to cooking time
Hi Margaret, we used regular bake mode.
I LOVE Natasha’s Kitchen recipes…ALL of them that I’ve tried! This recipe is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing and educating us!
Hi Carol! That makes me happy. I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Hi
Can I make it with chicken thights instead of the whole chicken?
Thanks
Hi Barb, this is usually for a whole chicken but I imagine that will work too!
Made it tonight for the first time, was perfect and we will be having it again. It browned perfectly. Thank you
You’re welcome, Barbara! Thank you for your good comments and feedback.
Hi Natasha, I love this recipe and have made it a number of times. Do you have any hints for cooking times for a half chicken? Now that my kids are out of the house 🙁 it’s only me and my husband.
Hi Barbara, I have not tried it for half the recipe specifically to advise. I recommend using an oven-safe thermometer to check on the doneness to ensure it’s safely cooked.
Hi Natasha.
I made this tonight,and it was absolutely delicious.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
Love love ,love it .
You’re so very welcome! I’m happy you love this recipe. 🙂
Alright first go around we will see it looks and smells delish so far.
Let us know how it turns out! 🙂
Gina this recipe is perfect and you can use it on more than chicken even though the cooking time can be adjusted. It was just perfect, thank you. We get quite a selection of protein options as we live in West Virginia along the majestic Blue Ridge mountain peaks. Roadside bounty is our favorite, sometimes its venison, other nights it may be woodchucks. And the prep work was already done for us, all we had to do was season and cook it. Absolutely delicious recipe. The seasoning is perfect as long as we could guess at how long it had been lying on the double yellow line. Thanks again.
Merle
Absolutely hysterical! It took me a minute to get you were discussing roadkill.
The spatchcock method for roasting poultry is amazing! I’ve become somewhat of a disciple , my family and friends are tired of hearing me rave about how amazing chicken turns out. I prepare spatchcock chicken weekly!
That’s great! So glad to hear that, Kim! 🙂
We loved this recipe. I didn’t pay attention and bought a 6.25 lb. chicken and had to adjust the cooking time which caused the brousel sprouts to get too brown and over cooked. It was still very moist and tasty. We will do this again.
Hi Pam! I’m sorry the over-cooked. I’m glad it was still enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Natasha I Love this recipe, I prepare my Cornish Hens this way! I place 2 Cornish Hens on my large cookie sheets! I Baste the Cornish Hens with Melted Butter & covet the pan with Foil and remove foil last 10 minutes to Brown Cornish Hens!
Amazing 🤩 I family looks forward to this meal when they come home!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Debra!
Ended up okay but the pan juices were so greasy because of all the butter and usually I love to drip them over the chicken after roasting. Will be going back to my original method with just salt, pepper with lemon wedges and garlic under the skin.
I have made this recipe before and it is so delicious, the chicken and the veggies. I took a look at the video while I was here. You make putting the butter compound mixture underneath the chicken so easy! I don’t know I seem to have a problem with this step.
I will continue to make this as everyone here just loves it and I make it quite often. Thanks again!
Hi Deborah, I’m sure you’ll master that step. Practice makes everything perfect! I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try.
Looking to make this tomorrow….. For the future, I’d like to try this spatchcock method to cornish game hens… If I were to cook 2 hens at the same time, would you make any adjustments to time and temp? Be good!
Hi Doug! You would need a very large roasting pan so you can give the chickens some space without crowding the pan too much. I have cooked two roasted chickens before but spatchcocking both will roast faster than roasting two whole chickens. For that, I would highly recommend using an in-oven thermometer to test for doneness.
This is a family favorite…. and we use the recipe also for our Thanksgiving turkey! Sometimes I might slightly change it up with the seasonings in the butter depending what I have…and of course for fun. I have shared this recipe with many of my friends and good excellent feedback too. We continue to Pray for Ukraine at home and every week at Mass. Many Blessings!
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Erika! I’m so glad this is a hit with your family!
Hi Erika, Thanks for Praying for Ukraine 🇺🇦, we also Pray for Ukraine 🇺🇦 every Sunday at Mass! Bless Ukraine & also for you Erika 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I’m making this right now. Brussel sprouts are burning before everything else, there is no liquid on the bottom of the pan like picture, and the chicken isn’t browning. I’m a pretty good cook and this is easy, but nothing like your pictures.
Hi Jaime, I haven’t had that experience so I wonder if maybe your oven runs hot? Was your chicken the correct internal temperature at the end? Maybe it was broiled for too long? You could add the brussels sprouts later in the recipe and that would still work if you would like them more crisp-tender. Bummer though, I would be very sad if my Brussels sprouts burnt. I love those Brussels!
Ed T
Great recipe, my first Spatchcock chicken! The chicken was so moist and combination of veggies were perfect. One question – how do you get the chicken to be as brown as yours, mine only had parts of the skin brown ?
Hi Edwin, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It helps to cook the chicken in the center of the oven (not too low) to achieve that nice golden brown skin. It also helps keep the oil drizzle light since most of the flavored butter already does melt into the pan, but it also gives amazing flavor to the vegetables.
I have used the basics of this recipe. Spatchcock chicken is definitely worth trying. I use herbs and seasoning well under the chicken and on top. Parsley in my opinion is not necessary. Also I cook vegetables separately. I always refer back to your recipe. A big 👍🏻
Hello Susan, thank you for your good comments and feedback. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
This recipe was pretty good, but nothing to get excited about. I do not feel that parsley worked well in the seasoning butter. On the outside it just burns and leaves unsightly spots. Under the skin it just makes gooey green globs. I believe I prefer spatchcock roasting with herbs de province, Cajun seasoning or tried and true rosemary and thyme.
Thanks for the feedback!