Roasted hot and fast, this miso herb pesto rubbed chicken comes out of the oven juicy and glistening with a crispy skin. The pesto infuses the skin with umami flavors, which are balanced by a zesty, spicy, and fresh tasting blueberry vinaigrette.
optional veggie prep: 10 mins
prep: 30 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
total: 1.5
I love a roasted chicken but don’t usually plan things to supervise a bird cooking for several hours. At some point I learned about roasting a chicken hot and fast, from Marcella Hazen, but also from New York Times Cooking’s great write up about roasting a chicken by Melissa Clark, who I find to be spot on about all things cooking. The idea that I could roast a 3-4 lb chicken in 1 hour flat was music to my ears and I’ve never looked back. In fact I prefer the way it comes out, with firm, juicy flesh, still with a bite, versus slower roasted chicken that falls off the bone, falls apart, and often is a bit dry or tasteless.
What you’ll love about this recipe!
🍗 Splayed chicken: easier than spatchcocking (where you cut out the backbone), you press down on the chicken to flatten it out before cooking it. This puts more of the chicken in direct contact with the pan’s heat.
🍗 One hour cook time: the bird is roasted hot and fast in a 450 degree oven, requiring barely 60 minutes to cook through (3-4 lb chicken).
🍗 Crispy, flavorful skin: an inventive miso herb pesto full of flavor is rubbed all over the bird, and the hot oven yields a perfectly crispy skinned roasted chicken with a deeply golden color.
🫐 Spiced Blueberry Vinaigrette: this vinaigrette is insanely tasty, and with the added spices of cinnamon, cumin, cayenne and ginger, it lends a “je ne sais quoi” (a quality that cannot be easily described) that you will love.
Ingredient notes
- Whole chicken: a 3-4 lb standard chicken sold for roasting is used for this recipe. Make sure to remove the neck or gizzards that might be inside the chicken. These will not be used.
- Miso herb pesto: I love the make up of pesto with oil, herbs, a nut or seed and garlic. Here I was inspired to include miso in place of parmesan cheese, and a variety of provencal style herbs for great flavor.
- Blueberry vinaigrette: either frozen or fresh berries can be used to make this zingy vinaigrette that comes together with simple pantry ingredients. It really makes the dish. Fresh berries are fun to have on hand for a garnish.
- Optional roasted vegetables: I have a new favorite combination of vegetables that you can toss on the pan with the chicken for the second half of the roasting time if you like, for a complete sheet pan meal: shiitake mushrooms, leeks, sweet potatoes and cherry tomatoes.
Above: at left are the ingredients for the miso herb pesto. At right you can see the optional vegetables that can be added to the roasting pan for the latter half of the hour.
Step by step instructions
Make the blueberry vinaigrette: blend all the ingredients for the vinaigrette until smooth and uniform in color then chill until ready to use.
Make the miso herb pesto: blend all the ingredients for the miso herb pesto until uniform in texture, using a blender or a food processor.
Roast the chicken: While the oven is preheating to 450, you will splay the chicken by pressing down on the whole chicken, breaking a few of the bones as you press, so that it lies almost flat on the pan. At this point, you will smear the entire bird, top and bottom with about 75% of the miso pesto (keeping some as a condiment for serving at the table). Once this is complete you can place the bird in the oven to roast hot and fast for 50-60 minutes.
Add optional vegetables: Halfway into roasting, if desired, you can toss the suggested vegetables, chopped (half inch sized pieces so they cook in 30 min) on and around the chicken to roast. See tips below.
Finish and Serve: at the 50 minute mark, check the chicken to see if the liquid runs clear when pierced, if a leg starts to loosen and if the bird is white (no pink) when cut into all the way to the bone (and thermometer reads 165). See tips below. Drizzle pieces of chicken with the blueberry vinaigrette, and serve the vinaigrette as well as the end of the miso herb pesto at the table to accompany. If including the roasted veggies, I recommend removing them promptly so they do not soak up too much of the chicken fat in the pan.
Above: including the roasted vegetables makes this a wonderful sheet pan meal that looks beautiful and is satisfying and delicious.
Tips for making this recipe
- Make ahead: you can easily whip up the blueberry vinaigrette and miso herb pesto a day or more ahead of time, to make prep super fast on the day you make this recipe.
- Cooking the chicken within an hour: I’ve been cooking my chickens this way, as mentioned, for years. It is not tricky, however, you do need to be sure and check for doneness before serving up the chicken. Make sure the internal temperature is 165, and/or, cut into the bird to be sure all pink flesh has turned white, and the juices run clear. Note that this type of roasted chicken has a very juicy flavor. But it will not fall off the bone and you will need a knife to cut it once served. It will still have a little chew. I think this makes it more delicious.
- Optional vegetables: I make the vegetables optional because if you want to serve with a salad, or some other vegetable like broccoli or other green veggie, then you don’t need to bother, but if you do include them, they turn this into a complete sheet pan meal.
- Cooking the vegetables: The only issue with cooking the vegetables in the pan with the chicken is that they will absorb the chicken fat, and while that is delicious, it can become rich, so remove them promptly from the pan when you remove the chicken from the oven. You can place some of the vegetables on top of the chicken, but shouldn’t cover the chicken entirely because you want it to crisp up and become deeply golden.
- Leftover vinaigrette: any leftover vinaigrette can be used as a salad dressing at another meal.
Enter your email. Plus, get my monthly recipe recap!
Miso Herb Roasted Chicken with Spiced Blueberry Vinaigrette (One Hour Roast)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs)
Spiced Blueberry Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup frozen blueberries (or 1/3 cup fresh, see notes)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 clove garlic (use full if quite small)
- 1/2 large shallot ( )
- 12 leaves fresh basil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (sub honey)
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon (ground)
- 1/4 tsp cumin (ground)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger (tip of pinky finger sized nub of ginger root)
Miso Herb Pesto
- 2 cups mixed fresh herbs (parsley, basil, thyme, sage – see notes)
- 1/4 cup raw walnuts (or toasted)
- 2 cloves fresh garlic (just one if giant clove)
- 2 tbsp white miso (this is the milder miso)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Optional Roasted Vegetables
- 1 leek (or two if small)
- 1 sweet potato (medium to large)
- 1 box cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms (can sub white, or baby bellas)
Method:
- Preheat oven to 450
Make Spiced Blueberry Vinaigrette (can make ahead)
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blitz until the vinaigrette emulsifies and the blueberries are completely pureed. This will mean there are little to no bits of blueberry skin as specs, and the liquid will be pure purple. Set aside to chill.
Make Miso Herb Pesto (can make ahead)
- Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blitz until the pesto emulsifies and develops a relatively smooth texture as per the photo in this post. 1/4 cup of olive oil should be the right amount, so that it emulsifies but isn't too oily (being used as a rub on the chicken- no need for too much oil).
Roast the chicken
- Line a sheet pan with parchment, place the unwrapped whole chicken on the pan. Use all your might to press down on the top of the breast in order to flatten the chicken. A couple bones in the chicken breast will break, allowing the chicken to lay flat (but not quite butterfly since you are not removing the spine).
- Smear about 3/4 of the pesto all over the exterior of the chicken, mostly on the top but some on the underside.
- Place in center of preheated oven and cook for 50-60 min. The chicken will get quite golden, and the juices should run clear. It will, not, however, have the super soft and loose feel of a slow roasted chicken. Use a thermometer to check for doneness and/or cut into chicken down to bone in a couple spots to ensure its doneness. I have cooked my chickens this way for years, and it will yield a very juicy chicken with crispy skin.
- Optional: If you'd like to include roasted vegetables for a complete meal, place them on the tray around the chicken for the 2nd half of the cooking time. See notes.
- Serve with blueberry vinaigrette drizzled over the top. Garnish with fresh basil and blueberries for a pretty presentation. The leftover miso herb pesto can be served at the table as an additional condiment.