Published September 1, 2004.
Our goal was to create a quick and simple weeknight roasted chicken breast recipe that would yield perfectly cooked meat and skin. One-and-a-half-pound whole, unsplit breasts rated best for availability, portion size, meat texture, and crispy skin—we made the skin even more crisp by oiling the top and smearing salted butter underneath. Elevating the meat was also key to our roasted chicken breast recipe: We not only perched the bird on the slotted top of a broiler pan, but also created a natural rack by pulling out the rib cage on each side of the whole breast so that it could stand up on its own, allowing the heat to circulate evenly around the meat.
To make sure that the breasts cook at the same rate, purchase two similarly sized whole breasts (not split breasts) with skins fully intact. Whole chicken breasts weighing about 1 1/2 pounds work best because they require a cooking time long enough to ensure that the skin will brown and crisp nicely. If you do not own a broiler pan, use a roasting pan fitted with a flat wire rack. This recipe can easily be increased by 50 or 100 percent. If you do increase it, just make certain not to crowd the chicken breasts on the broiler pan, which can impede the browning and crisping of the skin.
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