Deb's Favorite Roast Chicken Recipe

A rub of lemon zest, sumac, and thyme dress up a simple, classic roast chicken.

Roast Chicken with sumac, lemon, thyme, and rosemary

Every home cook should have a good roast chicken recipe. It’s a classic dish that I think is best when kept simple. Maybe you like Ina Garten’s recipe or prefer one of the other 300 million takes (No kidding. Google roast chicken recipe and see 312 million results.) on how to bake a chicken in the oven, but I think this one is the best because it’s easy and allows the chicken’s natural flavor to shine. Forget the Peruvian marinade, hot tub chicken, and all the other tricks to dress up the simple whole bird because all you need for this recipe is lemon, sumac, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil. And of course, a quality chicken.

Where I live in Missouri, we’ve recently had our first real taste of cool autumn weather. Fall is the best season for roasts, whether it’s chicken, beef, pork, or vegetables. There’s something about putting dinner in the oven and allowing the aromas to perfume your kitchen. Simple, comforting food at its best. That’s why each recipe this month is a toast to roasts!

By the way, has Costco killed the need to roast our own chickens at home? It is tough to beat their $5 buck clucks, but what if you don’t have a box store membership? Grocery rotisserie chickens are about $8 near my home, and while that’s an economical base for a meal, they don’t compare to a roasted chicken just brought out of your own oven. A home-roasted chicken will be juicier and, maybe more importantly, you can control the ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients, when dealing with a simple, classic recipe, spring for the best. This roast chicken recipe, for example, uses free-range, organic chicken. I’d also recommend organic lemon for this recipe. Although citrus didn’t appear on this year’s “Dirty Dozen” list of fruits and vegetables, you will make a rub using lemon zest, so organic makes more sense to me. Of course, wash the skin before zesting.

To make my Favorite Roast Chicken Recipe, which yields four to six servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

• 1 whole organic, free-range chicken (about 3- to 4-pounds)

• 1 lemon, zested

• 1 tablespoon sumac

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• Olive oil

If you’ve never cooked with culinary sumac (not to be confused with the poisonous shrub by the same name), you’re in for a lovely surprise. I think most sumac we see is from Turkey, although it’s also grown in parts of the Mediterranean. Don’t let the dark color of the spice fool you; it has a light, lemony flavor that pairs beautifully with chicken, as well as lamb, duck, and some vegetables.

Gonna roast a chicken like my mama taught me

Remove giblet package from cavity and pat chicken dry with paper towel.

To make the rub, combine lemon zest, thyme, rosemary, sumac, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Drizzle just enough oil to make a rub. Using clean hands, rub chicken thoroughly with mixture.

Salt cavity of bird with 1 teaspoon salt. Cut lemon in half and stuff in cavity. Place rubbed chicken in a zip-top bag, close and refrigerate from 1–3 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove chicken from bag and place in a roasting pan with wire rack. You can also use a heavy casserole pan and put a cooling rack on the bottom. Fill with about a cup of water. Roast until internal temperature is 160 degrees F. Check the temperature after 70 minutes to gauge how far along is the chicken to desired doneness. Another tip: Juices should be clear.

When the chicken reaches 160 degrees F internal temperature, remove from oven, and let rest for about 15 minutes or until temperature nears 165 degrees.

Don't follow the Golden Girls' lead in this video clip; chicken juice is flying everywhere! Still, it's a catchy tune.

Sanitation station

Let's talk about safely handling raw chicken. Do not rinse raw chicken at your sink! According to a study by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) in 2019, bacteria is likely to be splattered in and around your sink area and sometimes remains, even after cleaning surfaces. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and immediately through the towel in the trash.

Wash your hands after touching raw poultry or a surface that’s touched it. Be sure to clean and sanitize all utensils, boards, and other surfaces that touch raw poultry. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends after cleaning boards in hot, soapy water, disinfect with a spritz of bleach water (1 tablespoon bleach per gallon of water). Plastic boards usually are dishwasher safe, so after cleaning in soapy water, place the plastic board in your dishwasher. It’s also recommended to keep a board for raw meat and one for vegetables and other uses.

Leftover Lovin’

Another plus to roasting a chicken are the great leftover possibilities. Use the chicken in a stir fry. Add to a pot of soup or chicken chili. Shred for chicken tacos or chop up for chicken salad. And remember to freeze the carcass to make homemade chicken stock later!

If you have any questions about safely handling poultry or roasting a chicken, drop a comment below. I'm happy to answer them! Try this Roast Chicken recipe and let me know how it turned out for you.

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

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Apple Galette with Pecan Topping

Tart, sweet apples, raisins, and a pecan crumble topping combine for an easy autumn dessert.

Apple Galette with Pecan Topping

My grandma Dorothy’s pies were works of art. Grandma learned to make pastry or cakes from scratch because that’s what her mother and grandmother did. She was a wife and homemaker years before the first commercial box cake mix showed up around the Depression era, and it wasn't until the mid-1950s when home cooks had access to frozen or refrigerated pie crusts.

Each year for Thanksgiving, she’d pull down the recipe box to make her pies, starting with the recipe for pastry crust that’s scribbled on a scrap of paper: "2 cups flour, 2/3 cup Crisco, pinch salt, cold water." Her Crisco cookbook from 1920 has a handful of variations but the recipe on the scrap of paper was her favorite.

Well, the baking gene skipped me, as it appears to have also missed the Swedish Chef in this clip! Seriously, if there’s a shortcut to a delicious cake, pie, or cookie, I’m taking it. And because my Bubba loved me to pieces, she wouldn’t have said a word.

That’s why I love a good galette. A simple, rustic pastry comes together in a snap thanks to refrigerated pie crust. But I think it looks elegant enough for any dinner party. I recently took this to a holiday dinner at a friend’s house and it was enthusiastically received. This combination of tart and sweet apples, plump raisins, and a toasted pecan crumble topping is hard to resist, so let’s get baking!

To make my Apple Galette, which yields eight servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

• 1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on package

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 3 cups thinly sliced apples

• ½ cup reconstituted raisins

• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 2 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

• Pinch of salt

• Egg white

• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

For this recipe, I used two Granny Smith and one Jonathan apple, as well as the golden and dark raisin mix. Dried cranberries or cherries would be a good swap if you don’t have raisins in your pantry.

Cut the cheeks off the apple's core and thinly slice each chunk to create the galette's filling.

How to make Autumn Apple Galette

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. On an ungreased cookie sheet, unroll pie crust and shape into a 10-inch circle.

In a medium bowl, mix brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Gently stir in apples and raisins to evenly coat fruit.

Lightly brush bottom of pie crust with whisked egg white. This is a tip to prevent a soggy bottom. Add fruit mixture, spreading filling over crust to within 2 inches of edges.

Bring the dough edge up to filling, and working in a circle, pleat edges. Brush folded crust with egg white.

To make crumble, combine pecans, butter, and flour in a small bowl. Work with fingers to create pea-sized crumble and sprinkle over galette. Cover galette loosely with aluminum foil. This will prevent the crust and crumble from overbrowning.

Bake galette for 8 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 7 additional minutes. Remove from oven to a cooling rack and wait 15 minutes before slicing.

The galette is stuffed with autumn fruit, but don't worry; the filling settles while baking in the oven.

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Another pastry baking tip

If you don’t want to crack an egg for the wash on bottom and edges of the galette’s crust, bake the galette on your pizza stone. You can roll and assemble the galette on parchment and easily transfer it to the stone (keep the parchment paper under pastry). The radiant heat of a pizza stone helps any excess moisture evaporate more quickly and keeps the bottom of the crust from having a soggy bottom.

Here are the only "soggy bottoms" (as in Soggy Bottom Boys) you are permitted to enjoy. (Come on, you were thinking it.)

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

Lightened-Up Waldorf Salad

Diced apples, celery, pecans, and dried cranberries in a creamy yogurt dressing create a delicious update to a familiar side dish.

Lightened-Up Waldorf salad

I knew as a kid when a mixture of apples, celery, nuts, and grapes appeared on our table in one of Mom’s pretty cut-glass bowls, dinner was going to be special. We didn’t have Waldorf Salad unless it was a holiday or company was coming. It’s funny but I still see this traditional side dish as something offered on a special occasion.

So, when a friend recently invited me to dinner to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I knew what I’d bring after learning apples were part of their holiday meal. Yes, I know traditional Jewish tables might simply have apple slices drizzled with honey, but my friend gave this Methodist some grace; she did, however, remind me that she’s not a mayonnaise fan.

“This only has a tiny bit,” I explained.

I’m happy to say it was a huge hit with her and the whole family! The secret to my Lightened-Up Waldorf Salad, you see, is a dressing made with vanilla Green yogurt; only 1 tablespoon of mayo is used, and that’s simply for balancing flavors.

My mom’s Waldorf Salad—the traditional recipe—contained a full cup of real (not light) mayonnaise. According to the website Nutritionix, a cup of traditional Waldorf is 247 calories with 20 grams of fat and 17 grams of carbohydrates, most of which coming from sugar.

By comparison, my lightened-up recipe has about 130 calories and 6 grams of fat, about the same in carbs (16.6 grams), but no added sugar. The flavored yogurt and sweet cranberries provide enough sweetness to the salad.

To make my Lightened-Up Waldorf Salad recipe, which yields eight servings, you’ll need these ingredients:

• 3 apples, diced (recommend 2 Granny Smith and 1 Jonathan or Honeycrisp)

• 1 large stalk celery, diced

• ½ cup dried cranberries

• ½ cup pecans, chopped

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 (5-ounce) container vanilla Green full-fat yogurt

• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise

• Fresh basil, optional garnish

Directions for Making Lightened-Up Waldorf Salad

Wash apples but leave skin on fruit (it makes a better presentation). Cut “cheeks” off apples, moving around the core. Slice cheeks, then cut slices into thirds to dice. I like a finer dice for Waldorf Salad; your preference may be different.

Put diced apples in a mixing bowl and toss with lemon juice to keep fruit from browning. Granny Smith apples tend to turn much slower than other apples; another reason I like them in this recipe. By the way, do you know why apples brown after cutting them? According to the folks at Gladd, apples contain an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO). When this enzyme encounters oxygen, it turns colorless compounds into a brown pigment called melanin. Science! Back to the recipe.

Soak dried cranberries in a mug of hot tap water for about 10 minutes to rehydrate them. Drain and add to apples.

Cut celery in half and remove strings. Cut each half into thirds and dice. Add to the salad.

Add chopped pecans (walnuts would also be a good substitute) to salad.

In a small bowl, combine yogurt and mayonnaise. Add to salad bowl and mix well until combined.

How to store Directions for Making Lightened-Up Waldorf Salad

Surprisingly, if kept in an air-tight glass container, this salad will keep three of four days in the refrigerator. The pecans may soften a little, but the flavor remains intact.

History of Waldorf Salad

As you’d suspect, Waldorf Salad originated at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, which has been closed for several years. First made in 1896 for a children’s hospital charity ball, it’s believed maître d'hôtel, Oscar Tschirky, created the original recipe that contained simply apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Nuts were part of the salad by the time a recipe appeared in The Rector Cook Book (George Rector) in 1928. Later iterations added fruit—often grapes—and other ingredients, including diced chicken. I've seen some recipes that change out celery for cauliflower! Okay, let's not get too crazy, people.

(Oscar Tschirky is credited with the original Waldorf salad recipe. The twin hotels are depicted in a sketch from 1915. Wiki Commons)

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About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.