Million Dollar Chicken
For this Million Dollar Chicken recipe, a whole chicken is stuffed with garlic, lemon, and rosemary, and brushed with a luxurious creme fraiche while it’s roasted. A slice of sourdough underneath the chicken collects all the delicious juices and flavors too!
I’m always eager to try new ways of making chicken, and this was a recipe I tried back in 2013 after seeing it featured on an episode of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa on Food Network.
Ina was at the Standard Grill restaurant in NYC where the chef was showing how to make this signature dish, and I was immediately intrigued.
At first everything seemed pretty standard for roast chicken. The cavity is stuffed with aromatics like lemon and garlic, and gets a good rub of salt, pepper, and olive oil.
But then the chef did a few curious things.
First, he put the whole chicken on top of a thick slice of bread, resting in the roasting pan.
The result is a golden brown, crusty piece of bread that has spent an hour in the oven soaking up all the chicken juices and flavor. It’s SO good!
It’s kind of like a gigantic crouton, as it’s very toasted on the bottom, but because it’s soaking up juices and creme fraiche on the top too, it takes on a more moist and stuffing-like upper.
The chef also brushed the chicken with creme fraiche right at the end, which admittedly is an ingredient I like but hadn’t cooked with much at home.
I had always thought of creme fraiche as a very “restaurant” ingredient, but it’s actually really easy to find in most grocery stores.
How to Make Million Dollar Chicken:
To get started, set up your bread base by placing two slices of thick sourdough bread into a cast iron skillet:
I make a point to use a loaf that’s at least a day old, so it’s not too soft, and I cut the bread myself, about 1.5″ thick.
For the cavity of the chicken, you’ll want a few lemon slices, a sprig of rosemary, a bay leaf, and fresh garlic cloves:
I smash the garlic to release the flavor, then put everything inside the cavity.
Rub the entire chicken inside and out with plenty of salt and pepper, then truss the bird with twine and place it into top of the bread.
After a little rub of olive oil, the chicken is now ready to head to the oven:
While the chicken is roasting, prepare the creme fraiche mixture, which is creme fraiche, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper flakes:
The Standard Grill uses Aleppo pepper in the episode, but I have used smoked paprika and had success, and also Gochujaru flakes, which I’m using here. I have a jar of it in my fridge and it’s something I can easily get from my local Whole Foods, whereas I haven’t seen Aleppo pepper anywhere except online. You want something that’s relatively mild and fruity, and Gochujaru works well as a substitute.
Also, if you’re not familiar with creme fraiche, it’s like a cross between sour cream and mascarpone, both in flavor and in texture. It’s creamy, silky, tangy, and flavorful.
When the chicken is almost done cooking, brush the creme fraiche mixture generously all over the chicken:
Continue roasting the chicken, until fully cooked and golden on the outside, then let it rest on a board.
In the meantime cut the bread into pieces for serving with the meal. The bread should be thoroughly crisped on the bottom, like a big crouton, but have a fair amount of moisture as well from all the chicken juices and creme fraiche. It’s such a treat!
Just a few more notes for this recipe:
The chicken skin won’t be crispy once you brush it with the creme fraiche, so if you’re obsessed with crispy skin, that’s a tradeoff that maybe you won’t want to make here.
In the original recipe, you prepare the chicken by stuffing it and seasoning it a day ahead of time. If you can plan ahead, that advance step will make it better. Most of the time I don’t get that far ahead, and it’s still great.
Be very careful not to overcook the chicken. Unlike my Spatchcock Chicken recipe, I find that whole trussed birds can go dry pretty easily if you overcook them. Make sure to use a thermometer.
Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Cauliflower, and Charred Broccoli are some great vegetable side dishes to serve with this meal. Enjoy your Million Dollar Chicken!
Million Dollar Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 lb whole chicken patted very dry with a paper towel
- kosher salt*
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves fresh garlic smashed
- 3 slices fresh lemon
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 1.5 inch thick piece of day-old sourdough bread
- 1/2 cup creme fraiche
- zest of 1/2 a lemon
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 tsp aleppo pepper, gochujaru flakes, or smoked paprika
Instructions
- Take the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before roasting, then preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
- Season the inside cavity of the chicken generously with salt and pepper, then stuff the cavity with the garlic, lemon, bay leaf, and rosemary. Truss the chicken with kitchen twine, then season the outside all over with plenty of salt and pepper.
- Place the pieces of bread in a cast iron skillet and set the trussed chicken on top of the bread.
- Roast the chicken for 25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 400, and continue cooking for approximately 40-50 more minutes (this time varies depending on bird size).
- While the chicken roasts, mix together the creme fraiche, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pepper flakes. Set aside.
- When the chicken is almost done cooking and reading at about 150 degrees F, brush the chicken all over with the creme fraiche mixture (you will not use all of the creme fraiche). Continue roasting the chicken until it reads 165 degrees F between the breast and the thigh/leg, which should take about 10 more minutes.
- Remove the chicken to a board, and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. Slice the bread into pieces to be served with the chicken. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated in April 2019. Originally published in August 2013.
30 Comments on “Million Dollar Chicken”
This chicken is very good! The garlic, lemons and rosemary made it very flavorful but the next time I make it I’ll leave out the creme fraiche. The skin was getting crispy until I brushed the creme fraiche on, it took away the crispiness. I also used 4 slices of bread which browned nicely, sliced it into smaller pieces and served it with the chicken. The family loved it!
Hi Teresa, I’m so glad you tried it and enjoyed! Yes, this is definitely not a crispy skinned chicken with the addition of the creme fraiche, so sometimes I just do the bread. The bread is one of the best parts of this dish. Cheers!
Oh man, this sounds soooo good! I’m making this…this week!! Wish I could stick a whole loaf of bread at the bottom…hahaha!
I think I need to have chicken for dinner tonight. Gorgeous!
We have cable but we work all the time so we record a few things. I could happily leave my laptop and phone behind and go to a hotel and do nothing but watch cooking shows and eating room service. 🙂
This chicken sounds very special!
Trying this for sure. 🙂
That looks good!
By the way, if you really want to, you can watch the episodes on the food network site, go to the show section and select which one you want and then enjoy, depending on the show, they update the newest episode on a certain day. Not sure. You should watch MasterChef, it’s AWESOME!! It’s currently season 4, if your wondering.
Yeah, sorry about my ranting/rambling, I’ll try the chicken.
Have a nice day!
Happy Baking/Cooking!!!
YUM! Love the bread idea!
Hi, does the bread affect the actual chicken or is it just a nice extra for the chef for doing all the hard work? 😉 x
Hi Bobbie, the bread doesn’t affect the chicken in terms of cooking or flavor, it’s really the chicken passing on all the flavors and such to the bread instead of having them run out into the pan and evaporating. And yes, it is definitely a treat!
Never mind flavor. I like the idea of putting bread underneath the chicken simply because I wouldn’t have to clean the rack after I’m finished cooking. Hahahahaha
LOL yes, cleaning racks is the worst!!
This chicken is gorgeous – love the crusty skin! There would definitely be a fight for that bread in my house!
What an awesome idea! The skin on that chicken looks just perfect and the crusty bread….YUM.
We basically have cooking shows on all the time at our house. Love the inspiration that you can get from the recipes. I can’t wait to try out this million dollar chicken.
Hi Joanne,
I’ve tried many different roasting techniques and was just wondering the temp you use, etc. Your chicken is beautiful! Thanks! 🙂
Hi Kelly, I know what you mean, I’ve tried quite a few roasting techniques as well. The one I use is from Thomas Keller’s book Ad Hoc at Home and it starts the chicken out in a really hot oven and lowers the temperature down shortly after. This method has been my personal favorite.
Do you actually Eat the bread under the chicken?? Or does it just act as a “sponge”?? How do you serve the bread? THANK YOU SO MUCH, BLESSINGS,
Jan Patterson
Hi Jan, yes the bread is eaten. It is rich but delicious. You can cut it into slices to eat, and you don’t really need much per person. This is an old post from a show I saw with Ina Garten. I’ll see if I can dig up an old clip.
I notice that you also used a skillet that is the perfect fit for the size of the chicken. With the sides of the pan in close proximity to the more dense thigh meat, the breast roasts and stays moist while dark meat roasts more evenly and gets tender. My husband would rather stay home and have my roasted chicken than go out to dinner in a restaurant.
Hi Mindy, yes that is a great rule of thumb with cooking, to try to fit the pan to the food. And it sounds like you must make some fantastic roasted chicken!
Hi!
Thanks for posting this – I’m looking forward to trying it. Could you talk a bit about how the creme fraiche affects the texture or flavor? I’m curious. Thanks!
Hi Jane, the creme fraiche doesn’t really affect texture a whole lot because it’s not a super crispy skinned chicken. As far as flavor, creme fraiche is very rich and creamy, but will mainly just flavor the skin. Hope that helps!
I have never seen this recipe but I have to try it!! Love the idea of the creme fraiche.