8 Best Whole Chicken Recipes

A whole roast chicken is such a simple thing, yet it feels much fancier than a chicken cut in parts. Even if you're only picking up a $5 bird from Costco and arranging it on a pretty platter with a few lettuce leaves, doing so almost makes you feel like Julia Child. If Child herself got a day pass from culinary heaven, she might assure you there's no need to buy a pre-cooked chicken from a big box store when it's so simple and enjoyable to make it yourself.

These specially selected recipes cover a range of cooking methods and appliances including the Instant Pot, the crock pot, the oven, and the grill (this is the one where the chicken sits on the can as it cooks). We've even got a Costco copycat, although it's made without a rotisserie since this rather specialized piece of kitchen equipment is something you can't even buy at Costco. Not that this matters, since our homemade chicken puts the store-bought kind to shame.

Technically, you can't "roast" a chicken in an Instant Pot, since what you're really doing is pressure cooking it, instead. The pot's saute function comes into play, as well, to brown the chicken before it starts steaming. If the bird isn't quite as crispy as you'd like when it's done cooking (and venting), you can always saute it again. Another option is to stick it under the oven broiler for about 10 minutes, then flip it and broil the other side, too.

Recipe: Instant Pot Whole Roasted Chicken

Chicken cooked in a crock pot comes out tender and juicy, and of course it's super-easy since all you do is set it and forget it for up to 8 hours. This recipe even allows you to make a side dish at the same time, since the chicken sits atop carrots and onions. While again the skin won't come out too crispy, the broiler trick works here, too. If you typically take the skin off your chicken before you eat it, though, then there's no need to bother with such a step.

Recipe: Easy Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

If you want to roast a chicken just like Ina Garten, you'll of course need to start with a really, really "good" bird and the very best butter that money can buy. Our Garten-ish recipe, however, makes use of mayonnaise, instead, and we wouldn't dream of dictating the quality (mayonnaise is mayonnaise, after all). Even if you didn't spend a fortune on a rare heirloom breed of chicken, either, the rosemary, garlic, and orange stuffing will make your bird taste like a billion bucks.

Recipe: Ina Garten's Roast Chicken

Spatchcocking a chicken may sound like an esoteric procedure, but all it involves is cutting out the spine and breaking the breastbone so you can flatten it. A little on the violent side, perhaps, but spatchcocked chickens cook quicker — a 4-pound bird can be done in just 45 minutes, which is comparable to the time it would take to cook in an Instant Pot. (No steam releasing required, either!)

Recipe: Oven-roasted spatchcocked chicken

Brining a turkey can be a major pain in the you-know-what due to its size, but chickens are much smaller so soaking one in a saltwater bath is no hassle at all. The brine in this recipe is made with honey, lemon, and herbs in addition to salt and water, so it imparts some subtle flavor as well as ensuring that the chicken stays moist when it cooks.

Recipe: Easy Chicken Brine

If you've wanted to tell a chicken to stick it up its euphemism, then this is the recipe for you. The beer can does serve another purpose, however, as it allows the bird to cook vertically so the heat reaches all sides at once and the entire skin surface can get crispy. (If you're not a beer drinker, a soda can would work just as well.) While this technique can be used in the oven, our recipe calls for using a smoker grill since wood smoke makes everything better.

Recipe: Beer Can Chicken

Jamie Oliver, aka the Naked Chef who cooks with his clothes on, has an interesting way of cooking chicken: He braises it in a sauce made of milk curdled with lemon juice. Our version of his recipe, however, replaces the lemon with grapefruit so it's perfect if you prefer slightly bitter flavors to sour ones. This dish is also a great way to use up milk that's fast approaching its use-by date.

Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Chicken In Milk

At last, we reveal to you the secret of the (food-related) universe: How can you get chicken that tastes just like Costco's without having to fork over a membership fee? Without too much trouble, as it turns out. All you need to do is season it with garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper, then roast it low and slow for a few hours. Even without the ever-turning spit, this roast chicken tastes just like the rotisserie-cooked kind.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Copycat Costco Rotisserie Chicken