3 Best Chicken For Roasting: What Kind Of Chicken Is Best For Roasting?

There are different kinds and cuts of chicken that work in specific recipes.

The best roasted chicken should be crispy on the outside but juicy and flavorful inside.

So what chicken is best for roasting?

Let’s figure it out in this article.

How to choose chicken for roasting?

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Before finding out what cuts are perfect for roasting, this section will provide you with some tips to choose chicken for your next roasting recipe:

1.    Buy fresh chicken

The fresher the chicken is, the better your dish is.

Nobody wants a stale or frozen chicken if they can buy a fresh one.

Therefore, it will be best if you can make friends with your local butchers so that you can always have the best cut of chicken that is fresh and has a perfect meat-to-bone and meat-to-fat ratio.

2.    Buy broiler instead of layer chicken

Another tip to choose chicken for roasting is to buy broilers instead of layers.

For your information, broilers refer to chickens that are bred and raised for their meat production, while layers are hens that are meant to lay eggs at high productivity so they don’t produce much meat and their meat doesn’t taste great either.

When buying broiler chicken for roasting, you can have a succulent and flavorful meat dish that can satisfy any meat lover.

3.    Buy bone-in and skin-on chicken

Bone-in and skin-on chicken works best in the roasting recipe.

It provides flavor and moisture to the meat, resulting in a flavorful and juicy dish.

It will be fine to have the bone and skin removed if you want to cut down the fat intake from rendered skin, but it will lack flavor compared to the skin-on, bone-in version.

4.    Choose a whole chicken or parts that are uniform in size and shape

It is best to roast the whole chicken because you can have the most flavorful and juiciest dish from chicken.

However, it will take a bit longer to roast the whole chicken, but it’s worth the time.

You can also choose cut-up chicken that has a uniform size so that after roasting, you won’t end up with an unevenly cooked chicken.

Best three cuts of chicken for roasting

The following three cuts of chicken will help you have the best roasted coming out from your oven:

1.    Whole chicken

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The whole chicken is best for roasting.

When roasting the whole chicken, the moisture and flavor are locked inside the chicken so that the resulting dish will be very flavorful and juicy.

You can also get the crispy and beautifully golden skin covering the whole chicken.

If you have leftover roasted chicken, you can make use of it by pulling it apart to make a sandwich, taco, or burger filling.

However, cooking the whole chicken will take a lot more time compared to roasting cut-up chicken.

2.    Bone-in, skin-on chicken legs

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Another cut of chicken that is perfect for roasting is chicken legs.

Remember that bone-in and skin-on chicken legs will work better than their boneless and skinless counterparts.

Chicken legs are dark meat chicken, so they have a flavorful taste and a firm texture that becomes a bit more tender but still chewy enough to create a satisfying mouthfeel.

3.    Chicken breasts

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Chicken breasts are also a choice for roasting.

It will be better to opt for the bone-in, skin-on breast cut, but the more popular version of boneless and skinless chicken breast can work too.

Just marinate your chicken breast cut well and coat it with a thin layer of melted butter or olive oil to lock the moisture inside the meat.

Chicken breast is leaner so it is healthier for you, but of course, you will have to sacrifice the flavorful taste.

The bottom line

Chicken is one of the most versatile proteins that can be cooked in different ways.

Roasting is a great way to cook chicken and results in a crispy but juicy dish.

This technique works both for the whole chicken and cut-up chicken, as long as you have the skin on and bone in to have the most flavorful taste.