Chicken on a Bed of Salt | Never Enough Thyme?

Baking with salt has various ways and a long history around the world. One involves using pastry wrapped around meat; another one is burying, say a whole fish, in a pile of loose salt before baking. Other methods call for adding egg whites to make a salt paste. In my family, the salt bed technique is quite popular. Chicken is particularly well suited to this treatment: it comes out of the oven crispy, tender, and juicy, and delicious every time. All thanks to the bed of salt, the magical minerals!

Spilling salt to make a bed for your chicken will never bring you bad luck.

Oh yes, there is a lot of salt involved. But the result is exceptionally moist meat, surprisingly, with only a hint of saltiness in the flavor. The bed of salt gives tenderness to meats that tend to dry out. How? It absorbs the moisture that leaves from the chicken while baking, and the meat cooks to perfection in the dry, hot steam. Find out here which salt is the best for baking.

Never enough thyme?

It is my go-to recipe when I entertain a smaller group. Especially if I don’t have too much time for prep. A whole baked chicken resting on a snowy bed of salt is bound to stir curiosity at the dinner table. I also use it when I know that I have a busy week ahead. I make it on a Sunday and have homemade meals even later in the week. The simple seasoning of this baked chicken allows me to be creative with the leftover. I can add it to arugula salad on Monday, use the leftover breast for a stuffy sandwich on Tuesday, or mix it into spicy Asian noodles on Wednesday. #zerofoodwaste

A one-pan recipe that makes clean up a breeze.

Baking this chicken is like giving yourself the gift of time. No need to marinate or stand by the stove. The oven does most of the work. And even the cleanup is minimal!