Salt Roast Chicken

Salting chicken ahead of time, aka dry brining, initially draws out moisture, which will then break down the salt and reabsorb into the protein, both tenderizing it and seasoning it throughout. This results in juicier meat and crispier skin when cooked. Simple comfort food at its best. Enjoy it with a green salad, fries or aioli.
Homemade aioli works best when all ingredients are at room temperature. If you prefer a stronger mustard flavour, you can increase the amount of mustard slightly.

Salt Roast Chicken

adapted from Olive Magazine

Aioli	Chicken
1 Egg yolk, at room temperature 1/2 tbsp White wine vinegar (or 1 tsp lemon juice) ½ tsp Salt 1 pinch Freshly milled black pepper ½ tsp Dijon mustard 1-2 Garlic cloves, chopped 150 ml Oil of your choice (I used wild garlic soaked olive oil)	1 head Garlic, seperated and smashed 8 Chicken thighs, skin on and bone in A bunch Fresh thyme sprigs 2 tbsp Black peppercorns 2-3 tbsp Coarse salt for dry brining 3 tbsp Olive oil 1 tsp Smoked or sweet paprika 1 tbsp Chopped parsley, to garnish

For aioli, place egg yolk, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, garlic and oil in the container of your immersion blender and mix until the mixture is stiff. Store the aioli covered in the refrigerator until ready for use.
Seperate the head of garlic and smash the cloves but leave them in their papery skins to help stop them burning. Put the smashed garlic, chicken, thyme and peppercorns in a bowl and turn the whole lot over a few times with your hands.
Arrange the chicken on a rack set over a roasting tray. This will allow any liquid to drain out. Add the garlic, thyme and peppercorns, poking them in among the chicken. Sprinkle the rock salt generously over, making sure that you cover all the pieces. Now cover it loosely with a piece of parchment paper and chill for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours so the salt can draw out any excess moisture.
Heat the oven to 180C/350F. Brush any excess salt off the chicken and rinse out the roasting tin. Place the chicken on the roasting tin and sprinkle olive oil over, then dust with paprika. Smoked paprika adds a lovely warm flavour and a slightly sharp edge.
Roast for 35-45 minutes until the skin is browned and crisp and the chicken is cooked through. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with the garlic cloves to squeeze out and aioli.

7 comments:

DeniseinVA 7/2/26 13:44: Sounds delicious and looks delicious. Thank you for explaining about dry brining also. Have a great day Angie :)
Ananka 7/2/26 13:57: Looks good :-D
Tom 7/2/26 14:07: ...Angir, you present it beautifully!
Lola Martínez 7/2/26 14:33: He preparado pollo a la sal escondido entre ella y cocinado al horno, pero no de esta forma que propones y me gusta, queda con un aspecto muy apetecible.
DEZMOND 7/2/26 14:59: I've seen fish baked in salt before.
Lori 7/2/26 15:42: I am trying this with Chicken legs tomorrow for super bowl. Thank you for sharing.
Christine 7/2/26 16:27: yummy