Alton Brown’s Broiled, Butterflied Chicken
In case you can’t tell, I’m more of a baker than a cook. There’s just something about the scientific, meticulous nature of baking that I love. So more often than not, Hubby cooks. Don’t get me wrong, I can definitely feed us when Hubby doesn’t want to, but if I had to choose, I’d choose baking over cooking any day of the week.
Hubby likes to tackle new recipes that he’s never tried before. And one place he likes to find these recipes is the Good Eats cookbook that Alton Brown autographed for us last year. One recipe that caught Hubbies eye was this broiled, butterflied whole chicken.
This chicken has become a go-to recipe to make when we’re having people over for dinner. It always turns out extremely moist and it’s SO SIMPLE! It also feeds 4 people which is perfect for entertaining another couple.
One Year Ago: The kickoff of our Kitchen Renovation!
Broiled, Butterflied Chicken
Yield: 4
Ingredients:
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lemon, zested
Extra virgin olive oil
Onions, carrots and celery cut into 3 to 4-inch pieces
3 to 4-pound broiler/fryer chicken
1 cup red wine
8 ounces chicken stock
2 to 3 sprigs thyme
Canola oil
Directions:
Position the oven rack 8 inches from the flame/coil and turn broiler to high. Crack peppercorns with a mortar and pestle until coarsely ground. Add garlic and salt and work well. Add lemon zest and work just until you can smell lemon. Add just enough oil to form a paste.
Cut vegetables into pieces and place in a deep roasting pan.
Place chicken on a plastic cutting board breast-side down. Using kitchen shears, cut ribs down one side of back bone and then the other and remove (Watching the episode or looking at the pictures in the book was really helpful for this part). Open chicken like a book and remove the keel bone separating the breast halves by slicing through the thin membrane covering it, then by placing two fingers underneath the bone and levering it out. Turn chicken breast-side up and spread out like a butterfly by pressing down on the breast and pulling the legs towards you. Loosen the skin at the neck and the edges of the thighs. Evenly distribute the garlic mixture under the skin, saving 2 teaspoons for the jus. Drizzle the skin with oil and rub in, being sure to cover the bird evenly. Drizzle oil on bone side of chicken as well.
Arrange bird in roasting pan, breast up, atop vegetables.
Place pan in oven being sure to leave the oven door ajar. Check bird in 10 minutes. If the skin is a dark mahogany, hold the drumstick ends with paper towels and flip bone-side up. Cook 12 to 15 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Juices must run clear. Remove and place chicken into a deep bowl and cover loosely with foil.
Tilt pan so that any fat will pool at corner. Siphon this off with a bulb baster. Set pan over 2 burners set on high. Deglaze pan with a few shots of red wine and scrape brown bits from bottom using a carrot chunk held with tongs. Add chicken stock, thyme, the remaining garlic paste and reduce briefly to make a jus. Strain out vegetables and discard. Slice chicken onto plates or serve in quarters. Sauce lightly with jus and serve.
Recipe from Alton Brown
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I am obsessed with your crockpot chicken tacos and am sure this is going to be another favorite crockpot chicken recipe in our house!
P.S. I had a cake craving last night and jumped on your blog to look up cupcake recipes… you have 101 cupcake recipes?!!
beantownbaker — February 24th, 2011 @ 9:03 pm
Yea… about those cupcakes. I went through a phase at the beginning of my blog. And I’ve been blogging 3.5 years, so that’s really only about 30/year…
I think I would LOVE this recipe! Bret loves pulled chicken and I love slow cooker recipes!
Yum, my husband would totally love this!!
Sounds delicious and perfect for leaving in the pot before work and coming home to wonderfully cooked chicken. Can’t wait to try it!
I love this kind of stuff. We had beef dip sandwiches last night. SO GOOD. I bet we’ve love this too!
Sounds delicious, but I’m sure I’d have to just add one of those chiles 🙂
Yay! I love Pulled chicken sandwiches, I’m so glad you shared this recipe.
Nothing bad about pulled chicken. Nothing. Love all the flavors that the chicken was simmering in. Bet this was awesome!
This is the first time I’ve seen someone else use an Eating Well recipe! I like. 🙂 Also, this chicken looks fabulous and easy….nice work.
These look awesome and so easy to make! I love spicy pulled chicken and I love anything that you can just throw in the crockpot. Can’t wait to try them!
My husband and I made this last night for dinner and it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Has anyone tried freezing this? I dont eat meat, but I am thinking about making this for my husband but there is no way he could eat a whole pot to himself.
beantownbaker — May 7th, 2012 @ 10:10 am
Like most crockpot meals, this meat freezes just fine. I like to portion it out into individual sized portions prior to freezing so you can just grab one and go.
Hi! I made this last year and it was a huge hit. I want to make it again for a holiday pot luck, but when I looked at the recipe today, it seemed to have the directions listed twice, and no ingredient amounts. I was able to find the recipe at eating Well, but wanted to let you know that there may be something wrong here.
beantownbaker — December 1st, 2013 @ 6:46 pm
Thanks for the update. I am fixing the post now. Glad this recipe was a success for you!
love Pulled chicken sandwiches,