Red Palm Oil Roast Chicken

Roast chicken is something that my family loves. Back in Singapore, my parents would occasionally purchase rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and serve it hacked up Chinese style alongside other dishes. It was not the main star of the meal but simply one of the dishes in a Chinese dinner. We never did attempt to roast our own as my parents found oven cooking took too much time and was too much of a hassle. My parents (usually Mommy as chef, Daddy as sous-chef) could cook a typical 5 dishes meal after arriving home at 7pm and have dinner ready by 7:30pm, so anything that takes more than 20 minutes to actively cook is considered too time consuming! Alas, I don’t have that speedy finesse!

Now that I’ve got my own family to feed, I like to buy whole chickens to prep as it is far more economical than buying packs of chicken breasts or legs, especially when organic chickens are pricier than conventional ones. Cooking your own roast chicken means you get to control what goes on it and you don’t end up with a overcooked bird either! Another plus point for whole chickens is the fact that the bone frame makes a great bone broth. I usually pop the frames into a freezer bag to be frozen and make bone broth when I have 2-3 accumulated in the freezer. Any leftover meat gets chopped or shredded for other meals.

Initially, I found it overwhelming as there were so many different methods of roasting a whole chicken. It seemed like such a complicated affair and I was not satisfied with the recipes I had tried until I found Thomas Keller’s recipe entitled ‘My Favorite Simple Roast Chicken‘, which does not require overly long roasting periods or basting during roasting. His technique is my go-to method when it comes to roasting a chicken now, and I love how adaptable it is with marinades and dry rubs.

Not one to be contented with following a recipe from start to finish, I incorporated another technique in whole chicken prep. I like to prep whole chicken by giving them a salt scrub with coarse sea salt inside and out. It smooths the chicken’s skin, removing impurities and makes it nice and crisp when roasted. I even use it when braising. It’s a technique I learned from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook ‘Notes From My Kitchen Table’. It’s a bit messy, so I do it on a chopping board set in the kitchen sink. You could choose not to do it, but I find it produces superior results.

Red Palm Oil Roast Chicken

For folks intimidated by the idea of trussing a whole chicken, you could try a speedy method I usually do (as I always forget to stock up on trussing twine…). Take a 2 inch or 5cm wide sheet of aluminium foil and fold until 1/4 inch or 1/2cm wide and tie the drumsticks together, twisting the folded foil like a twist tie then tucking the wings under. It’s not traditional and purists would probably protest, but it works for me…

The important point to note is that the chicken should be dried thoroughly inside and out as excessive moisture creates steam in the oven, and that is a no-no if you want a nicely roasted chicken with crisp skin. Hence the lack of the classic halved lemon in the cavity, so often mentioned in other roast chicken recipes.

For this recipe, the chicken is rubbed with red palm oil, which gives it a warm and rich colour after roasting, and the totally Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)-compliant dry rub blend makes for a really tasty bird. You could use butter or coconut oil or omit it if you so wish.

I hope this roast chicken recipe will encourage folks who have never roasted a chicken before to give it a go, as it is really hands off the moment it enters the oven. Have you roasted a chicken before? What’s your favourite dry rub or marinate?