Dry Brined Roast Chicken: A Bog Standard Bird, Done Properly

October 18, 2026

This dry brined roast chicken was meant to be a posh one. I had planned a proper corn-fed, free-range bird from the supermarket. Then the builder didn't turn up, the wood-fired oven delivery didn't turn up, and I spent the day waiting in. So it became a bog-standard 1.6kg chicken from Marta's shop in the village.

I couldn't tell it from my usual corn-fed bird, and that is the whole point of this post. Salt, ghee under the skin and a bed of vegetables did the work, and the pan juices went into a bean stew while the chicken rested. If you want the theory behind it, my whole roast chicken post has the chefs' methods, temperatures and timings.

Dry brined roast chicken with blistered crispy skin in a stainless steel pan with lemon halves and pan juices — *Out of the oven: a bog standard shop chicken, dry brined, with crisp blistered skin.*

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, 1.6kg, from the village shop
A handful of fine sea salt, for the dry brine
1 tbsp ghee and 1 tbsp olive oil, for the rub
Smoked sweet paprika: a good shake in the rub, plus a dusting over the top
1 medium onion, sliced into rounds
1 medium carrot, cut into chunks
½ a tomato, squashed
4 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
1 lemon, cut in half
Black pepper and olive oil, for the vegetable bed

For the stew

100g white beans (jarred), drained
100g chickpeas (jarred), drained
2 pieces of sun-dried tomato
½ a small pepino (cucumber), peeled and deseeded
Some of the vegetables from under the bird
The pan juices, with a squirt of apple cider vinegar
A splash of chicken stock, just to loosen things

How to Make Dry Brined Roast Chicken

1. Dry-brine. Salt the chicken all over with a handful of fine sea salt and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 3 hours. This is what gives a dry brined roast chicken its dry, tight skin. Don't rinse it afterwards. Just pat off any damp patches with kitchen paper.

Raw whole chicken on a plate with dry, salted skin after dry brining, beside a tub of fine sea salt — *After three hours uncovered in the fridge, the salted skin is dry and tight, ready to roast.*

2. Make the bed. My roasting tin was in use, so I used an oven-safe stainless steel frying pan. Lay the onion rounds, carrot, tomato, garlic, bay and lemon halves in the pan with olive oil, pepper and a little paprika. While the oven heats up, put the pan over a gas flame for 5 minutes to give it a head start.

Onion rounds, carrot chunks, a squashed tomato half, garlic cloves and bay leaves seasoned with pepper and paprika in a stainless steel frying pan — *The vegetable bed: onion, carrot, tomato, garlic and bay, ready for the bird.*

3. Rub the bird. Mix the ghee and olive oil with smoked sweet paprika. Push a little ghee under the breast skin, rub the rest thinly over the dry skin, and give the bird a good dusting of paprika. Sit it on the bed, with the lemon halves tucked in. Squeeze one half over the bird.

Raw whole chicken dusted with smoked sweet paprika and black pepper, sitting on a vegetable bed with lemon halves in a stainless steel pan — *Rubbed with ghee and olive oil, dusted with smoked sweet paprika, and sat on the bed.*

4. Roast. 20 minutes at 220°C, then 50 minutes at 180°C. My probe read 78°C in the thigh, which is inside the range I give in my whole roast chicken post.

5. Rest and make the stew. Lift the bird out and rest it for 15 minutes. Into a small pot go the white beans, chickpeas, sun-dried tomato, pepino and some of the vegetables from the bed. Add the pan juices, which got a squirt of cider vinegar, and a splash of stock, just to loosen things. No extra salt was needed, thanks to the brine and the jarred pulses.

White beans, chickpeas, pepino, sun-dried tomato, carrot and onion in a golden pan-juice sauce in a cream enamel saucepan — *The stew, made while the chicken rests and loosened with pan juices and a splash of stock.*

6. Serve. Put a portion of chicken on top of the stew.

The Result

The skin was blistered and crisp, and delicious. At 78°C in the thigh, this dry brined roast chicken wasn't dry or overcooked. I couldn't tell this bird from my usual corn-fed free-range chicken. I'm convinced the ghee under the skin made the difference, though I didn't cook a second bird without it to prove it. If you want a cheap roast chicken that eats like an expensive one, this is the way to do it.

Crisp-skinned roast chicken leg served on a white bean, chickpea and pepino stew on a white plate — *One crisp-skinned leg on the stew. Moist at 78°C, and I couldn't tell it from corn-fed.*

Making One Chicken Last the Week

I'm cooking for one, so this dry brined roast chicken was never going to be a one-meal job. I ate one leg straight away. One breast went for Sunday lunch, and the other is in the fridge for Monday's sandwiches. The second leg was stolen by Issy when I turned my back, so that one never made the plan. The wings and carcass went into the stockpot.

For more ideas with leftovers, see my Leftover Roast Chicken Recipes: Three Days of Meals for One.

What I'd Do Next Time

I'd happily cook this dry brined roast chicken again, and I'd definitely go to the trouble of smearing ghee under the skin. I'm sure it made a big difference to the outcome.

If this roast chicken saved your Sunday lunch, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.

Buy Phil A Coffee →

Footnote

This dry brined roast chicken is featured in my Chicken Hub, a collection of easy chicken dinner ideas, and its bean and chickpea stew also sits in my Chickpea Recipes and my Veg, Fruit & Pulses Hub.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper chicken, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Leave A Comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.