Category guide
Chicken
recipes.
Chicken is the protein everyone cooks and almost no one cooks well. The challenge is that white meat (breast) and dark meat (thigh, drumstick) want different temperatures: the breast is done at 150–155 °F (with carryover), the thigh wants 165–175 °F or even higher. Cook a whole bird and the breast is dry by the time the thigh is right; spatchcock it and the geometry helps. Dark meat is more forgiving and far more flavourful — most chefs prefer thighs for this reason. Brining, dry-brining, buttermilk-soaking, and proper resting all narrow the gap between dry and juicy.
Chicken recipes
66 dishes to cook from
How to cook in this category
Three pillars to anchor what you cook.
The whole bird: roasting, spatchcocking, butchering
A roast chicken is the simplest test of a cook. Dry the skin overnight in the fridge, salt aggressively the day before, and roast at 425 °F until the thigh hits 170 °F. Spatchcock (remove the backbone) for a flatter geometry that cooks evenly. Or break it down into eight pieces and cook each to its own done-ness.
Thighs and the everyday weeknight
Bone-in skin-on thighs are the workhorse — forgiving, flavourful, harder to overcook than breast. Sear skin-side down in a cold pan, render the fat, then flip and finish in the oven. Boneless thighs cook in 6–8 minutes; great for stir-fries, curries, and grills.
Stock and the rest of the bird
Chicken stock is the most useful thing in any kitchen — the carcass + onion + carrot + celery + bay leaf + whole peppercorns simmered for 2–3 hours produces a stock that elevates every soup, risotto, and braise. Save bones in the freezer between roasts.
Pantry staples
What to keep on hand.
Kosher salt for dry-brining, buttermilk for tenderising, lemons, garlic, fresh thyme and rosemary, paprika (sweet and smoked), bay leaves, neutral oil, butter, dry white wine for deglazing, chicken stock, soy sauce and fish sauce for Asian preparations.
You don't need everything at once. Build the pantry as recipes call for it; most of these are shelf-stable and useful across many dishes.
Core techniques
A few moves to learn well.
- Dry-brining a whole bird overnight uncovered in the fridge for crisp skin
- Resting at least 15 minutes before carving so juices redistribute
- Searing skin-side down in a cold pan to render fat without curling
- Saving the carcass for stock — never bin it