Making a Roasted Salt Crusted Chicken is as cool as making a papier-mâché sculpture! Truly! It's the easiest, most delicious way to roast a chicken. And the result is unbelievably scrumptious.

Meat falling off roasted salt crusted chicken leg

You guys! This salt roasted chicken is amazing! It's a whole chicken baked in a salt crust.

I'm so excited to share this awesome salt crust cooking technique with you. Not only is it fun to do, but it creates the most succulent, tender, moist, and flavorful roasted chicken ever.

What's the Purpose of Roasting a Whole Chicken Covered in Salt?

The salt forms into a crust as it heats and insulates the chicken, cooking it gently and evenly. At the end of the cooking time, the salt can be removed in pieces, revealing an incredibly moist, tender-beyond-belief, fragrant treasure.

It might seem like a rather odd concept to you. I thought so too. After all, it's not really an instinctive move to completely bury a whole chicken in several inches of salt.

Does Salt Crusted Chicken Taste Salty?

I've done this a handful of times now, and let me tell you, the results are truly amazing, and the salt roasted chicken will not taste salty! It's really fascinating.

Ingredient Notes

whole chicken - A whole chicken of about 5 pounds takes about 1 hour. Smaller or larger chickens will cook faster or slower, so use a thermometer.
kosher salt - Use kosher salt, not table salt. Its large crystals form a crust that's easy to crack off.

How to Make Salt Crusted Chicken

- Preheat the oven to 400°F.

- Remove the insides of the chicken, rinse it lightly inside and out, pat dry with paper towels, and then truss it with butcher twine. Set aside.

- Pour the salt into a large, heavy-bottomed pot and place it over medium-high heat. Stir frequently and "cook" the salt until it's very hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. (The pot should be large enough to fit the chicken with a couple of inches around it.)

- Pour or scoop out all but a few inches of the hot salt into a bowl and set aside. Move the salt around so one side is a bit higher than the other. Gently place the chicken on the salt, breast side down on the lower half of the salt. Add the remaining salt to the chicken, covering it as thoroughly as possible.

- Without a lid, place the salt-covered chicken in the preheated 400°F oven and roast until the internal temperature is 155°F to 160°F. (You can gently stick the thermometer directly through the salt crust.) The final internal temperature will be about 165°F, as the chicken will continue to cook for several minutes outside of the oven. The juices should run clear and the legs should move easily when it’s done. Cooking times might vary, but it should take about 1 hour.

4-image grid of salt-roasting whole chicken process.

Recipe Tip: Always roast chicken with the breast side down, and slightly lower than the back end. This allows all of the juices to flow down into the breasts during the entire cooking process. This will keep them extra succulent and tender.

- Remove the chicken from the oven and use a piece of crumpled foil to place under the chicken, opposite the breast side, to ensure the juices are flowing down into the breasts. Loosely cover the chicken with foil to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

- When you're ready to carve, simply crack the salt off the chicken and cut! The skin will easily just slide off. This is an exciting part -- you're unveiling your masterpiece!

2 images of salt crusted chicken. one with it cracking off the whole chicken.

Recipe Tip: As you carve this chicken, the skin will slide right off, and you shouldn't eat it. It will be very salty -- unlike the chicken meat which should not taste too salty.

Serving Suggestions

Here's the deal, with absolutely nothing added, this salt roasted chicken is fantastic! That said, here are a handful of delicious ideas for how to use it:

It's awesome in sandwiches, quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, tacos and lettuce wraps.
And this salt-crusted chicken is so tasty mixed into salads and pasta or quinoa dishes.
It can be drizzled with all sorts of sauces. (Ancho Chile Sauce would be lovely.)

Blue-rimmed plate full of chicken pieces off the bone.

More Chicken Recipes to Try

I hope you find this as amazing as I do!

Roasted Salt Crusted Chicken Recipe

Valentina K. Wein

This is the easiest, most delicious way to roast a chicken. And the result is unbelievably scrumptious.

5 from 5 votes

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings to 6

Calories 468 kcal

Equipment

large Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot
butcher's twine
meat thermometer instant-read

Ingredients

1 whole chicken approximately 5 pounds
4 cups kosher salt

Instructions

Set the oven. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Prep the chicken. Remove the insides of the chicken, rinse it lightly inside and out, pat dry with paper towels, and then truss it with butcher twine. Set aside.
Heat the salt. Pour the salt into a large, heavy-bottomed pot and place it over medium-high heat. Stir frequently and "cook" the salt until it's very hot to the touch, about 5 minutes. (The pot should be large enough to fit the chicken with a couple of inches around it.)
Cover the chicken with salt. Pour or scoop out all but a few inches of the hot salt into a bowl and set aside. Move the salt around so one side is a bit higher than the other. Gently place the chicken on the salt, breast side down on the lower half of the salt. Add the remaining salt to the chicken, covering it as thoroughly as possible.
Roast. Without a lid, place the salt-covered chicken in the preheated 400°F oven and roast until the internal temperature is 155°F to 160°F. (You can gently stick the thermometer directly through the salt crust.) The final internal temperature will be about 165°F, as the chicken will continue to cook for several minutes outside of the oven. The juices should run clear and the legs should move easily when it’s done. Cooking times might vary, but it should take about 1 hour.
Rest. Remove the chicken from the oven and use a piece of crumpled foil to place under the chicken, opposite the breast side, to ensure the juices are flowing down into the breasts. Loosely cover the chicken with foil to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
Crack and carve. When you're ready to carve, simply crack the salt off the chicken and cut! The skin will easily just slide off. This is an exciting part -- you're unveiling your masterpiece!

NOTES

Salt: use kosher salt, not table salt. Its large crystals form a crust that's easy to crack off.

Chicken size: a whole chicken of about 5 pounds takes about 1 hour. Smaller or larger chickens will cook faster or slower, so use a thermometer.

Skip the skin: the skin will be very salty, so remove it before eating. The meat itself won't taste salty.

Leftovers: it's delicious in sandwiches, quesadillas, tacos, lettuce wraps, salads, and pasta or quinoa dishes.

Sodium: the sodium below is likely overestimated, since most of the salt crust is discarded.

Nutritional information is automatically calculated, so it should only be used as an estimate.

NUTRITION

Keywords chicken for family dinner, unique chicken recipes

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