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Cast Iron Chicken

Here’s a low hassle way to get perfectly roasted chicken every time. All you need is an oven, a cast iron skillet, and a ThermoWorks DOT®. Your chicken will have that wonderful golden skin and equally important you’ll know exactly when it’s ready to come out of the oven.

Cast Iron Chicken works perfectly because we start off with the oven and the cast iron skillet preheated to 450 degrees. Once the DOT tells us that the chicken has gotten to 120 degrees we’re going to turn the oven off and let the chicken gently cook in the hot oven until it reaches 150 and we’ll pull it out of the oven and the temp will continue to climb. Chicken held at 150 degrees for 2.7 minutes will give us safe and perfectly golden chicken. Read more about food safety and time and temp here.

And you’ll have an incredible pan sauce that will make you look like a genius.

I consider my ThermoWorks instant-read thermometer an essential part of my kitchen tools. I’ve given them to kids when they’ve gotten their own places- sort of a housewarming gift, or a stocking stuffer at Christmas. But the ThermoWorks DOT® takes it to another new level! It takes the guesswork out of roasting meat and it lets you pull the protein at the ideal time. Every time.

Kitchen Essentials

Here’s a list of some of the essential items you are going to need for this recipe as well as other items that I very highly recommend.

For this recipe: 

AuthorJim BrownPrep Time10 minsCook Time1 hrTotal Time1 hr 10 mins

Chicken roasted to a perfect golden brown, incredibly juicy and a wonderful pan sauce- what's not to love.

Kitchen Essentials

Prep

No prep needed. 

Ingredients

 4 - 5 lb Chicken
 1 - 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 Salt & Pepper
 1 Lemon- Quartered
 1 Shallot - Minced
 1 Squirt or spoonful of Dijon Mustard
 1 ½ tsp Fresh Thyme- minced
 1 cup Chicken Broth
 2 tbsp Butter- Unsalted
 Cast Iron Skillet
 Thermowork DOT
1

Preheat Oven and Cast Iron Skillet to 450 degrees

2

Pat chicken dry with paper towels and rub with EVOO and salt and pepper the bird. Insert the DOT probe in the thickest part of the breast and avoiding the bone.

3

When oven reaches 450 degrees carefully remove the skillet, place the chicken breast side up and return to oven.

4

Roast the chicken until the DOT registers 120 degrees. About 20-30 minutes.
Place the lemons in the skillet cut side down and turn off the oven and return the skillet to the oven until the DOT register 150 degrees.

5

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.

6

While chicken is resting, when lemon is cool enough to handle squeeze the juice through and mesh strainer into a bowl. You're shooting for 2 teaspoons of juice.

7

Pour off the fat except for about a tablespoon, add the shallots and cook over medium heat- until softened- about 30-45 seconds. Stir/whisk in the broth & mustard. Be sure to scrap up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet- that's where the magic is. Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup- about 3 minutes. Stir in any of the chicken juice that pooled on the plate. Take the skillet off heat and whisk in butter, lemon juice and thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!

Ingredients

 4 - 5 lb Chicken
 1 - 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 Salt & Pepper
 1 Lemon- Quartered
 1 Shallot - Minced
 1 Squirt or spoonful of Dijon Mustard
 1 ½ tsp Fresh Thyme- minced
 1 cup Chicken Broth
 2 tbsp Butter- Unsalted
 Cast Iron Skillet
 Thermowork DOT

Directions

1

Preheat Oven and Cast Iron Skillet to 450 degrees

2

Pat chicken dry with paper towels and rub with EVOO and salt and pepper the bird. Insert the DOT probe in the thickest part of the breast and avoiding the bone.

3

When oven reaches 450 degrees carefully remove the skillet, place the chicken breast side up and return to oven.

4

Roast the chicken until the DOT registers 120 degrees. About 20-30 minutes.
Place the lemons in the skillet cut side down and turn off the oven and return the skillet to the oven until the DOT register 150 degrees.

5

Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes.

6

While chicken is resting, when lemon is cool enough to handle squeeze the juice through and mesh strainer into a bowl. You're shooting for 2 teaspoons of juice.

7

Pour off the fat except for about a tablespoon, add the shallots and cook over medium heat- until softened- about 30-45 seconds. Stir/whisk in the broth & mustard. Be sure to scrap up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet- that's where the magic is. Bring to a simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to 3/4 cup- about 3 minutes. Stir in any of the chicken juice that pooled on the plate. Take the skillet off heat and whisk in butter, lemon juice and thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!

Cast Iron Chicken

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