Is it best to brine a chicken before roasting?

We all know how much better a turkey tastes if you brine it before roasting it. But we're about to take things a step further: You should also be brining your chickens —and not just for special occasions, like holiday roasts. A brine adds flavor and keeps the meat tender and juicy.

Why do you brine chicken before baking?

Salt in the brine seasons the poultry and promotes a change in its protein structure, reducing its overall toughness and creating gaps that fill up with water and keep the meat juicy and flavorful. Brining works faster than salting and can also result in juicier lean cuts since it adds, versus merely retains, moisture.

Do I rinse chicken after brining?

Do you rinse meat after brining? You really don't have to . If the brine has spices and herbs floating around in it, try to scrape any of that stuff that may have stuck to the meat off before cooking. Other than that, just dry it off before you cook it.

Should I rinse brined chicken before cooking?

Stir the salt and water in a non-reactive container until dissolved. Make enough brine to submerge the meat completely. There is generally no need to rinse the meat after using either brine listed above, just pat dry with paper towels.

What is the formula for brine?

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.

How long should you brine a whole chicken?

How long to brine your chicken depends on what kind of chicken you're using. For skinless breasts, brine for two hours. For bone-in pieces, brine for four hours. For whole chickens, brine for at least four hours or up to overnight. Nov 9, 2023

Can you brine chicken too long?

If you go to extremes, such as leaving chicken in brine for more than 24 hours, you'll get overly-salted chicken . It can also change the texture of the chicken. When in doubt, 1 hour per pound is always a good plan.

How long should chicken be in brine?

Step 3: Once the brine is completely cooled, submerge the chicken into the liquid. You can leave the bird whole, or break it down into pieces first. Cover the pot with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 2 days .

How long is best to brine chicken?

To Use: Brine should be completely cooled before using. Follow the directions for your chicken recipe, but in general, a whole chicken can be brined for up to 8 hours, while bone-in pieces can be brined for up to 4 hours .

How long should chicken sit after brine?

Brining time – 12 hours is enough, 18 to 24 hours is ideal . Don't go longer than 24 hours because the chicken starts getting too salty. Can take chicken out, pat dry and refrigerate for a while until cooking.

Melissa Clark's Feta-Brined Roast Chicken Recipe on Food52 (2024)

5 Ingredients or Fewer

by: Genius Recipes

April12,2017

17 Ratings

Melissa Clark's Feta-Brined Roast Chicken Recipe on Food52 (1)

Serves 4

Jump to Recipe

Author Notes

There are many of us—most famously Julia Child—who would call a simply roasted chicken a perfect food, one that’s hard to imagine improving upon.
But while sometimes you want the simply-seasoned perfect sort of bird like Julia did, sometimes instead you want an herb-crusted, crackly-skinned, salty-briny-juicy pop in the mouth perfect sort of bird. This is the latter. Adapted slightly from the New York Times (January 28, 2015). —Genius Recipes

Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Ingredients

4 ouncesfeta cheese, crumbled
3 ¹/₂ teaspoonskosher salt
one 3 1/2- to 4-pound whole chicken
1 to 2 tablespoonscracked black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoonsdried Greek oregano
2 large lemons
¹/₄ cupolive oil, plus more as needed
1 large bunch arugula or other sturdy salad greens, for serving

Directions

The day before serving, combine 2 ounces feta, 2 teaspoons salt, and 4 cups water in a blender and blend until smooth. Put chicken in an extra-large resealable plastic bag or a container large enough to submerge chicken, and cover with the feta brine. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
Before cooking, remove chicken from brine and transfer to a paper towel-lined tray. (Discard brine.) Pat chicken dry with paper towels and allow to come to room temperature for 1 hour.
In a small mixing bowl, combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, the oregano, and the zest of the lemons (about 1 tablespoon). Liberally cover chicken in herb mix and gently massage entire bird. Halve lemons and place 3 halves in cavity (save remaining half for serving). Using kitchen twine, tie legs together.
Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add oil and heat until it just smokes. Place chicken, breast-side up, in pan. Transfer entire pan to oven. Cook, basting once or twice, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the fleshy part of the thigh reads 165 degrees F and the juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife, 50 to 60 minutes.
Remove pan from oven, then stir remaining crumbled feta into juices in pan and stir well. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes in the pan before carving and serving on a bed of greens, with feta-laced pan juices on top, drizzled with a little lemon juice from the reserved lemon half.

Tags:

Salad
American
Chicken
Feta
Oregano
One-Pot Wonders
Roast
Brine
5 Ingredients or Fewer
Summer
Father's Day
Mother's Day

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Ellen Daniel Williamson
Chris Van Houten
Gabrielle
MorriB
Fran McGinty

Recipe by: Genius Recipes

Popular on Food52

28 Reviews

Ellen D. July 10, 2023

Discovered this a few years ago and it’s among my family’s favorites. I make a few modifications. First, I spatchco*ck the chicken. Second, I roast it over some root veggies: Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, parsnips, radishes, etc. The veggies get to cook in the chicken drippings and go well with the arugula and feta. Also, I buy a pack of feta packed in water and use that water in the brine. Finally, it’s so good one chicken isn’t enough so as we eat the first one and the veggies that roasted under it the second is in the oven ensuring yummy leftovers the next night. On a summer night it goes brilliantly with a watermelon, feta, and mint salad.

Deborah A. October 26, 2021

After perusing this recipe, my first thought was that this would benefit from the addition of garlic. I'm going to tinker with this a bit; will let you know how it turns out.

Pam O. September 21, 2020

This is fabulous. I happened to have some feta brine, though not nearly enough, but had seen Melissa Clark’s comment that any brine would do. I knew I’d been saving that empty pickle jar of brine for some reason! I had a roasting chicken of nearly 6 lbs. so I managed to pull together about 4 1/2 cups of brine (including Kalamata olive). Also because the chicken was so big it split the ziplock bag. Late at night, I was about to use a 2-gallon ziplock which I was afraid would be too large but scanned my kitchen and spotted my 4-quart Dutch oven left out because I couldn’t fit it in the dishwasher and had left it for the next load. I had only used it for corn, so why not? 😉 The chicken fit perfectly snugly and was covered with the brine. I turned it over in the morning just to be sure. I had one oversight because I was busy making a side dish (try Melissa’s curried chickpeas with eggplant in “Dinner”) and neglected to add the olive oil to the pan before putting it in the oven. Discovered this about 15 minutes later and added the oil then. It didn’t seem to harm anything as the chicken came out perfectly cooked an hour later (despite the large size), was incredibly juicy and with crispy skin. Most roast chicken recipes promise crispy skin but rarely deliver. My husband, usually critical of roasted chicken recipes, raved over this. He thought the sauce should be bottled because it would make any chicken delicious, with or without crispy skin. I had a very nice feta from Vermont so it melted right into the drippings. The only slight complaint would be if you’re serving this to company the sauce kind of separates, possibly made worse by my addition of the chicken juices after carving. Overall for us, this may be the only roast chicken I ever make again!

Chris V. April 29, 2020

Just made this and I'm very, very happy with this recipe! It is so simple to make- barely any active time spent preparing it, and the beautiful pop of acidity from the lemons and feta makes this a special roast chicken. I followed the recipe almost exactly as is, but used grapeseed oil instead of olive oil because I didn't trust olive oil at that high of a temp. Thank you for sharing!

mindy M. October 6, 2019

This was a great recipe, although I need to tweak it a bit. First, 50 min @450 was too long for my bird, which was about 4 lbs or so. The white meat was a tad dry for my taste.

While the feta never completely dissolved in the drippings despite whisking for a while, I was fine with the lumpy texture. That said the amount of gravy produced was very minimal..,perhaps it was not a fatty chicken.,,plus I did not use an excessive amount of olive oil for fear of creating an oily mess in my oven. I added leftover stock to extend the gravy.

Finally, I used spinach as my greens but found they did not significantly wilt once the gravy was ladled onto the plate alongside the portion of chicken. Next time I might use arugula or blanch the spinach first,

The chicken skin was nice and crispy and the feta sauce and brine enhanced this chicken, elevating it beyond ordinary roast chicken.

On a final note, my fave roast chicken has always been Thomas Keller’s. His recipe is to roast at 450 until done. I recall some folks questioning the use of a Hugh temp for the entire roasting time.

cass April 8, 2019

Hands down the best roast chicken ever. However at the 450 temp my oven became a greasy mess. Can the chicken be covered or the temp lowered. Hate to clean the oven every time I make it

K G. March 21, 2019

This brine was amazing! I just used 2 chicken breasts and marinated over night. Cooked it in the oven for an hour at 350 (with the brine) and then finished on the stove to boil it all into the chicken. Not too salty and delicious. Served it over a greek salad.

brushjl March 12, 2019

Am not a fan of roasting chickens at high temperatures. It never seems to turn out. I'd much rather do 350 for longer. My feta brine didn't do much, waste of good feta. The seasoning and lemon was ok. Probably won't make this again.

karencooks April 16, 2018

Delicious and juicy chicken! 50 minutes at 450 was perfect!!!

ghainskom March 5, 2018

This was meat-falling-off-the-bone-melting-in-your-mouth delicious. This is now sharing place one of my roast chicken recipes with TasteFood's Roasted Butterflied Chicken with Cardamom and Yogurt. So thank you!