Spatchcock Chicken delivers juicy meat with perfectly golden-brown skin that’s hard to beat. Whether it’s Sunday dinner, Friday night Peri Peri Chicken or your first bbq of the season, mastering this simple technique results in perfectly even cooking, whilst cutting down the overall cooking time.
Nicky’s Recipe Notes
Spatchcocking chicken or butterflying chicken has got so many advantages:
- It speeds up the cooking time. The chicken is laid out flat, so basically all of the meat is in one layer (rather than thighs and wings being hidden underneath). This means the heat can access all of the meat easily and more evenly. For a medium (1.4kg/3lb) chicken, this cuts the cooking time down from approx 80 minutes to around 45-50 minutes.
- Having all of the meat and skin facing upwards means more surface area for the heat to penetrate. This means the skin will get crispier all over and the meat will cook more evenly (on a non-butterflied chicken, the breast meat usually cooks quicker than the thigh meat)
- It’s easier to season evenly – just brush or sprinkle seasoning all over the top surface of the buterflied chicken.
- It’s easier to carve – no hidden bits and turning the chicken over when carving.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients
One whole chicken. This one weighs approx 1.4kg (3lbs). You can spatchock or buterrfly any size chicken. The larger the chicken, the longer it will take to cook.
📺 How to butterfly a chicken (video)
Pro Tip
Use a good quality set of kitchen Shears or Heavy Duty Scissors (<- affiliate link)
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How to spatchcock chicken
Equipment
- Heavy Duty Kitchen Scissors or Kitchen Shears
- Sturdy Chopping Board (I like these colour coded ones)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (I usually use a medium chicken around 1.4kg-1.6kg (3lbs-3.5lbs))
Instructions
- Place chicken breast-side down on a sturdy chopping board, with the legs towards you.1 whole chicken
- Using heavy-duty scissors or poultry shears, cut along both sides of the backbone. It's a little fiddly, as you have to cut through each of the rib bones as you go. So it's better to go slowly, rather than trying to cut through multiple ribs at once.
- Once you've cut through both sides of the backbone, discard the bone (or save it to make stock).
- Turn the chicken over, pull the legs out a little, then press down with both hands on the breastbone to flatten the chicken.
- The chicken is now spatchcocked and ready to use.
Video
Notes
Nutritional information is approximate.
This is based on a 1.4kg chicken providing 980g meat (approx 70% yield of meat).Once cooked, the meat will weigh approx 735g (when cooked, chicken meat weighs approx 25% less due to water evaporation).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
? Frequently Asked Questions
For a medium (1.4kg/3lb) chicken, roast at 220C/425F (fan) for approx 45 minutes – or until the internal temperature reaches 75C/165F. Check after 35 minutes, inserting a cooking thermometer into the thickest part of the meat.
Yes, a spatchcocked chicken can take a higher temperature. It cooks more evenly – being flattened (with a fairly even thickness) – so you can cook in a quicker time, at a higher temperature, without it drying out.
Cooking it quicker at a higher temperature can actually keep the meat juicier, as there’s less time during cooking for the moisture to escape.
You don’t have to cook at a higher temperature though – 180C/350F (fan) is absolutely fine. It may just take a little (10 mins or so) longer. Check the internal temperature to be sure.
– It speeds up the cooking time. The chicken is laid out flat, so basically all of the meat is in one layer (rather than thighs and wings being hidden underneath). This means the heat can access all of the meat easily and more evenly. For a medium (1.4kg/3lb) chicken, this cuts the cooking time down to around 45 minutes.
– Having all of the meat and skin facing upwards means more surface area for the heat to penetrate. This means the skin will get crispier all over and the meat will cook more evenly (on a non-butterflied chicken, the breast meat usually cooks quicker than the thigh meat)
– It’s easier to season evenly – just brush or sprinkle seasoning all over the top surface of the buterflied chicken.
– It’s easier to carve – no hidden bits and turning the chicken over when carving.
🍲 More whole chicken recipes
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