Crispy Roast Chicken with Brown Butter and Sage

Our Crispy Roast Chicken is a cozy meal that’s going to carry us through spring. We take a simple crispy roast chicken recipe and elevate it just a touch with an easy sage butter nestled under the skin, and a brown butter and sweet pomegranate juice glaze on top of the skin. We surround the chicken with hearty Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes to make this easy meal come full circle.

Crispy Roast Chicken with Brown Butter and Sage

Even though we’ve all had our fair share of roasted turkey in the past few months, Crispy Roast Chicken hits all of the same cozy, comforting points, but is totally acceptable to eat well into spring. For fancy Sunday dinners Crispy Roast Chicken has the same wow factor as a fully roasted turkey, but takes a fraction of the time, and in my opinion, is much tastier. (Chicken enthusiast over here.) If you want to cut the time down even more, you could also dissemble the bird into pieces, like we did for our sheet pan roast chicken.

Heck, it’s even appropriate through late spring, just switch out the sweet potato and brussels sprouts for something more in season like asparagus, artichokes or hearty morel mushrooms. Really, anything goes.

This particular crispy roast chicken isn’t just a simple roast chicken, even though the ease of prep is only minimally more labor-intensive. 

This crispy roast chicken is smothered with an easy sage butter, brushed with brown butter (my personal winter nirvana when it comes to food), and glazed with sweet pomegranate juice. If that doesn’t sound delicious enough, we also surround the chicken with sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts which get seasoned from all the drippings of the chicken. And lots of salt and pepper of course. 

Crispy Roast Chicken is easy to make!

We have a whole roast chicken in our house at least once a month, and I’ve never understood why more people don’t do the same. While they may seem kind of intimidating at first glance, they’re honestly so easy to throw together. In fact, most of the time, it’s my go-to lazy dinner when I want something that feels fancy and homey, but I feel like putting virtually no effort forward whatsoever.

This happen quite frequently. 

Of course, I love a simple crispy roast chicken seasoned with just salt and a touch of pepper, but I think it’s much more fun to come up with creative ways to serve it so we don’t get bored after the third time we’ve had it in under a month. Some of my favorites have been this Poblano Roast Chicken and this one with Pistachio Arugula Pesto, which happens to be perfect for spring.

For this version of crispy roast chicken, I wanted something super fitting for winter, and to me, nothing screams “Winter!” or “Comfort” to me more than brown butter. Slide it up alongside pomegranate, brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes, and we reach the pinnacle of winter food combinations. 

Ingredients in Crispy Roast Chicken

Whole chicken. I like to buy a free-range chicken or organic chicken on the smaller side, but honestly, anything goes. The beauty of a roast chicken is it’s a great, inexpensive way to feed your family so don’t feel like you need to splurge for an organic chicken if it’s not within your budget. 

Butter. Lots of butter. It’s used two ways, first as brown butter to brush over the skin. Second, to smother under the skin. This not only adds moisture to the chicken, but it adds tons of flavor. 

Sage. This is an essential fall and winter herb for me. I use it ALL THE TIME. It’s perfect with chicken, but it’s also the perfect counterpart to sweet potatoes. I just love the combination of the two. 

Pomegranate juice. This adds a nice sweetness and tartness to the chicken that I love. It’s a very subtle addition, so if you don’t have it, don’t sweat it. 

Salt. Salt is the single most important ingredient in a crispy roast chicken. You can have all the butter, sage, and pomegranate juice in the world, but if you don’t properly season the chicken and vegetables, your meal will be bland. You want to season the chicken with more salt than you think you need, I use a whole teaspoon to season the surface. I also season the sage butter with salt. 

Sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts. These are my fall vegetables of choice, but you could really use whatever you’d like.  Russet potatoes, whole mushrooms, or parsnips would be nice as well. 

How to make Crispy Roast Chicken 

People are very opinionated on what the perfect way to roast chicken is. I don’t think there’s a”right” answer, but for me, here’s what works:

• Slather the chicken under and over the skin with softened butter.
• Liberally season it with salt and a VERY conservative amount of pepper.
• Roast at a high temp, 425 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour.
• Use a thermometer! If you’re unsure when its done, when a thermometer reaches 165 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken, it’s done.

Brown the butter. Add the butter to a small skillet set over a medium-high heat. When the butter melts and starts to turn brown on the edges, swirl the pan. Continue to swirl the pan until the butter turns a deep golden brown. Set aside to cool.

It was kind of a risky move since brown butter has already been cooked at such a high temperature, and then has to cook again at another high temperature while the chicken roasts, but it turned out PERFECT. The chicken stays nice and crispy, gets a touch darker than it would without the brown butter and has that perfectly nutty flavor laced throughout, which I just adore.

Make the compound butter. Add the softened butter, pomegranate juice, freshly chopped sage and salt to a small bowl. Mix until combined. Use your fingers to gently pull the skin from the flesh. Push the butter under the skin. After you add the butter under the skin, brush the melted brown butter on top of the skin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Roast. Add your chicken to a roasting dish or medium sheet pan. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under the body. 

When the chicken is about halfway done cooking, scatter the Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes around the bird. Toss them in the drippings. Season the vegetables with PLENTY of salt and pepper and pop the whole thing back in the oven to finish cooking.

When the chicken is about 10 minutes away from being done, brush the entire skin with a little bit more pomegranate juice, and pour ¼ cup or so in to the pan with the veggies to make a sauce and semi-glaze on the skin.

Let it rest! Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving. Devour! 

How to serve Crispy Roast Chicken

For serving, I like to take both breasts off the bone completely, slice them and put them on a platter with the drumsticks and thighs. This way more than two people can have breast meat and dark meat.

Scatter the veggies around the carved chicken. Pour the drippings on top and around the chicken and veggies. Or, you can strain it into a gravy boat or pitcher so everyone can serve themselves. You can also make a quick gravy with the leftover juices. 

How to make an easy gravy

If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll make a really quick and easy gravy to go with the crispy roast chicken. All I do is:

• Pour about 1/4 cup of the juice from the pan into a small saucepan. 
• Whisk two tablespoons flour with 1/2 cup COLD chicken stock. 
• Whisk the chicken stock into the pan . Season with a little bit of salt. 
• Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce to a simmer until thickened, about 3-4 minutes. 
• Season with salt and pepper one last time. 

What should I serve with Crispy Roast Chicken?

• Our Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes are smooth, fluffy, and SO delicious. The perfect blank canvas to serve with Crispy Roast Chicken.
• This Everyday Kale and Brussels sprout Salad is a quick, easy side salad. We’re obsessed with it. 
• Of course, we also love to serve this with our Perfect Creamy Dreamy Garlicky Mashed Potatoes.