Step 1

Line a sheet pan with heavy-duty foil and place a V-rack or cooling rack on the pan. Suspending the chicken above the pan is important to allow for air circulation around the entire bird.

Step 2

Preheat oven to 500°F (260°C).

Step 3

Remove the neck and giblets and pat the chicken completely dry with paper towels. Dry skin will be more crisp and will brown evenly.

Step 4

Using your hands, separate the skin from the meat.

Step 5

Apply oil both under and on top of the skin. Using oil rather than butter will yield crisper skin because butter is about 18% water, which will steam and then cool the skin as it evaporates, giving the skin a spotty appearance with soft spots as it browns.

Step 6

Season on all sides with salt and pepper.

Step 7

Place the chicken onto the prepared rack. Place the probe from a ChefAlarm® or another leave-in probe thermometer into the deepest part of the breast to track the lowest temperature during the cook. Set the ChefAlarm’s high alarm to 145°F (63°C).

Step 8

Place the chicken in the 500°F (260°C) preheated oven and turn the oven temperature down to 350°F (177°C) as soon as the oven door is shut. Continue cooking until the high alarm sounds (cook time will be approximately 1 to 1-1/2 hours depending on the size of the bird).

Step 9

Once the alarm sounds, spot-check the breast meat with an instant-read thermometer like a Thermapen to be sure the ChefAlarm’s reading is the lowest temperature (the exact location of the lowest temperature may shift during the cook). You need to verify that the lowest reading is 145°F (63°C). Check the temperature of the leg meat, as well. It should be in the perfect 170–175°F (77–80°C) range. If not, put the chicken back into the oven for a couple more minutes.

Step 10

Once the final pull temp has been reached allow the chicken to rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes. This is critical. It must rest for a full 15 minutes for the full pasteurization of the meat to occur and for the chicken to be safe to eat. To be extra safe, you could use both the built-in timer function in the ChefAlarm set to 15 minutes and the low-temperature alarm feature unique to the ChefAlarm. Simply set the low-temperature alarm to 145°F (63°C) during the rest to be sure your chicken doesn’t dip below the target temperature for at least 8.5 minutes.