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Weeknight Roast Chicken

Turn the weeknight chicken dream into a reality with satisfying, flavor-packed recipes.

Weeknight Roast Chicken

About this Class

Roast chicken is comforting, hearty, and a crowd pleaser to boot, but isn’t usually a go-to on a busy weeknight. We’re here to change that with three simple and streamlined chicken recipes that take advantage of bold flavors, hands-off roasting, and one-pan cooking. We’ll start with chicken-cooking basics, learn the tools and equipment that guarantee a succulent (and safe) bird, and take advantage of pantry and oven to get the evening meal on the table with minimal fuss.

Meet Your Instructors

Author: Christie Morrison

Christie Morrison

Editorial Director, Classes

Christie Morrison is Editorial Director, Classes and an on-screen test cook for Cook’s Country. As editorial director, she creates the curriculum for ATK Classes and is executive producer for Classes video content. She has been a cooking class instructor since 2016. As a senior editor for Cook’s Country magazine from 2013 to 2016 and an associate editor on the Books team prior to that, she developed, tested, and edited recipes. Christie was also a culinary producer for Cook’s Country for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Christie has a BA in English from Dickinson College and an MA in English from Bucknell University. A midcareer change brought her to Boston, where she received her culinary diploma from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA). In addition to teaching professional and recreational cooking classes at CSCA, Christie has worked in restaurants and catering kitchens in Boston.

Lessons

Class Progress

1Getting Started

Safety Tips for Handling and Cooking Chicken

Safety Tips for Handling and Cooking Chicken

Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade

2Three Weeknight Chicken Dinners

Spice-Roasted Chicken with Chili and Oregano

Recipe1 hr 45 min

Spice-Roasted Chicken with Chili and Oregano

Butterflied Chicken with Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Recipe1 hr 40 min

Butterflied Chicken with Garlic Smashed Potatoes

One-Pan Roast Chicken with Cauliflower and Tomatoes

Recipe1 hr 15 min

One-Pan Roast Chicken with Cauliflower and Tomatoes

Ask ATK

Have a Question?

We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a message anytime and we’ll get back to you. We’re here to help!

Class FAQs

Why do we eat rare beef but not rare chicken?

Author: Sarah

Answered by Sarah

Instructor, ATK Classes

Whether or not it’s safe to eat rare meat has to do with the bacteria associated with the meat. A temperature of 165 degrees is considered a safety point for killing all harmful bacteria. We don’t eat raw or rare chicken or turkey because it has an unpleasant texture, but also because it can be infected by the bacteria Salmonella, which can live inside the muscle tissue. For beef, the problem isn’t the inside of muscle (which is sterile) but the outside, as Escherichia coli (or E. coli) can reside there. So steaks can safely be cooked rare (burgers are most safely cooked to well-done, as E. coli can be mixed into the meat during grinding).

THE BOTTOM LINE Poultry is safe to eat when it reaches 165 degrees. You can stop cooking it at 160 degrees, as residual heat will take it the final 5 degrees. (Dark meat is best cooked to 175.)

I sometimes see “air chilled” on packages of chicken; what does that mean? Is it desirable?

Author: Carolynn

Answered by Carolynn

Instructor, ATK Classes

In a word, yes! Most supermarket birds are chilled in a chlorinated 34-degree water bath after slaughtering, causing them to absorb lots of additional moisture that keeps the skin from thoroughly browning or drying out as they cook. Air-chilled chicken, on the other hand, is not exposed to water and does not absorb additional moisture, allowing the skin to more readily brown and crisp.