The Best Dry-Brined Roast Chicken Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you dry brine chicken before roasting? ›

Dry-brining the chicken also means crispier skin. The salt will draw moisture from the chicken skin to the surface, but once you have patted this away, the skin will be bone dry and ready to get crisp in the oven.

Don't Rinse It Off

Once the dry-brining waiting period is up, there is no need to rinse off the surface of your food. The meat will not be overly salty, and rinsing the surface with water will undo all of the surface-drying achieved by the dry-brine process. That, in turn, will prevent browning.

Brining is basically soaking meat in a salt water solution, but the flavour doesn't stop at just salt. You can add all kinds of aromatics such as juniper berries, garlic, thyme and pepper to the solution to impart a different flavour. There are no rules – just use flavours that go together well.

Yes! You can choose to use a seasoning blend, make your own, or salt-then-season. Just remember to omit salt from the seasonings you are using after you pre-salt or dry brine. If you choose to add seasoning when you dry brine, start with the salt on your food.

Do you have to cook immediately after brining? No, you don't have to cook meat immediately after removing it from the brine. In fact, most cooking methods (but especially smoking, grilling and roasting) benefit from a brief period of air-drying.

Salt the chicken with coarse or kosher salt on both sides, and in the cavity. On average, you can use about 1 teaspoon per pound – but it doesn't have to be exact! If you'd like, you can also add herbs like thyme and rosemary or spices like black pepper to further flavor the chicken. Refrigerate for 8-24 hours.

Salt: As with any meat we want to dry brine our roasts at least a few hours before cooking. Overnight is better, and a day or two is best. Especially so on larger thicker roasts like prime rib. Salt will penetrate into the meat deeper with more time.

The reason Costco's chicken is so juicy is because of a salt solution pumped inside, which is basically like super-brining. That makes the meat moist and evenly seasoned every time, delivering a consistent—though there has been some Reddit uproar about weird-tasting chicken lately in some states—tasting chicken.

some moisture and my go tos are always lemon juice. and good olive oil, i then add flavor with grated garlic, some seasoning, salt and pepper and I like a little. Dijon or coarse mustard because it kind of helps hold.

How do they make rotisserie chicken taste so good? ›

One of the key secrets to achieving juicy and flavorful rotisserie chicken lies in the art of brining. Brining involves soaking the chicken in a saltwater solution infused with herbs, spices and aromatics. This process not only enhances moisture retention but also imparts depth of flavor to the meat.

Basic Brine

Place that volume of water in a container large enough to hold the brine and the meat. Add 1 tablespoon of salt for every cup of water you used and mix until the salt is completely dissolved. For example, if you are using 1 gallon (16 cups) of water, add 16 tablespoons (1 cup) of salt.

After brining, take the chicken out, discard brine and rinse the chicken inside and out under cold water. Place it on a platter, pat it dry and place it back in the refrigerator for an hour to dry the skin. Take it out of the refrigerator an hour before roasting. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.

General dry brining technique calls for 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of meat, plus whatever other (dried) herbs and spices you so choose. It's important to use kosher salt as it's significantly less salty than table salt.

Importance of Brining in Cooking Beef Roast

Brining a beef roast helps bring flavor to the center of the meat. Thinner cuts like steaks are easy to coat on the surface, but a large piece of meat like a standing rib roast isn't that easy to season from the exterior alone.

The bottom line is that wet brining tends to work best for relatively lean meats like chicken breasts, turkey breasts, pork loin, and fish. In general, wet brine delicate foods that cook pretty quickly. For everything else, including most tough meats and roasts that take longer to cook, dry brining is the way to go.

In my experience, wet brining works best on leaner, more delicate meat such as poultry, fish and seafood. Dry brining works best for fattier and more robust cuts such as beef, pork, and lamb. This would also include wild game such as deer, elk, etc.

Here's the play-by-play: Salt the chicken a day prior to cooking. Use 1 teaspoon kosher salt per pound of meat. Store in the refrigerator. The next day, pat it very, very dry all over with paper towels.