Oh man I am so excited to share this recipe with you! Have you ever dry brined a chicken before? Essentially a dry brine is using salt to tenderize poultry, chicken or turkey, instead of a water salt solution. I find it works so much better than a wet brine and is way easier to accomplish! Today I will be talking about doing a dry brine chicken with hot sauce! 

This recipe is kind of a loooong off shoot of the famous Zuni roast chicken. That chicken is all about a dry salt brine, small chicken and a hot, hot, hot oven. This is similar, but easier, more flavorful and faster! What we steal is the dry brine concept and the perfectly cooked chicken.

To get a delicious bird, you need 3 things, a good salty hot sauce, a butterflied (aka spatchcocked) chicken and a sheet pan. The original dry brined chicken also takes between 1-3 days to brine before you can cook it. With this method, I try to brine the night before I plan on cooking. I have no patience and no room in my fridge for this 3 days business! Instead I brine mine with salty hot sauce under the skin, cook it hot, and reduce the cooking time with the chicken pressed flat instead of whole. Did I mention the bird takes only 35 minutes to cook?

You’re busy I get it. So prep the chicken the night before you want to cook it. Come home preheat the oven and slide the bird in. Dinner is cooked faster than most side dishes and your family will be begging for seconds! I promise!

 

Yield: 1 whole chicken

Dry Brine Chicken with Hot Sauce

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Get a perfectly cooked, delicious roast chicken on the table in 35 minutes! Use this take on the dry brine method to keep the bird moist! The hot sauce I use for this is Frank's Red Hot. It's not too spicy for me, and works perfectly! 

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken 
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1 Tbs olive oil

Instructions

1. Butterfly your chicken. This means cutting out the backbone and making the chicken flat. I prefer to use kitchen shears for this, much easier and safer than a knife. Here's a quick tutorial. I promise, it's not hard!
2. Place the chicken on a sheet pan. 
3. Measure out the hot sauce, and either put it into a bowl or, a squeeze bottle. The squeeze bottle made this easier, but I have also just used a spoon. 
4. At the top of your chicken, use your finger to separate the skin from the breast meat. Warning- you are about to get really friendly with this chicken. Continue to loosen the skin all the way down to the legs. You need to do this on both the left breast side and the right breast side. 
5. Now that you have loosened the skin, take your hot sauce and start getting it under the skin. I either spoon in it, or use the squeeze bottle and then mush it around to push it into the lower leg of the bird. You want to get it everywhere. I start with the lower parts of the bird so it doesn't drip out.
6. Stick the chicken, either uncovered or lightly covered into the fridge. 
7. After a day of brining, you are ready to cook!
8. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Once the oven comes to temp grab your sheet pan and give the bird a tiny dabble of the olive oil. Now stick the whole thing in the oven. 
9. Depending on the size of the bird it should take about 35 minutes to hit 160! Make sure to temp the bird!
10. Just a word to the wise. This can get your oven a little smokey, since the fat of the chicken drips off onto a hot sheet pan. Turn your fan on high!
11. Enjoy your delicious, slightly spicy chicken! Perfect as a main dish and as leftovers on salad, in soup, wraps and eggs! 

Notes

These kitchen shears are my absolute favorite. After I lost my previous pair, I use these poultry shears full time. They are assisted to help when cutting things like raw chicken, but work for non-poultry tasks as well.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Wilton 1904-1189 Regular Melting Decorating Squeeze Bottle
• 
  OXO Good Grips Spring-Loaded Poultry Shears, Black

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

4 oz chicken
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 271

I hope you have enjoyed this lesson on dry brine chickens. If you love a little spice and perfectly cooked chicken I know you will love this recipe! I love to serve this with seared broccoli, it cooks up just as quickly!

 

Cheers,

Heather

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