No.71
The 100 Most Popular Recipes Ever · October 2026
Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken
Made famous by Samin NosratPhoto: Andy Li, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
From Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, 2017.
The recipe Samin made famous on her Netflix series: an overnight salt-and-buttermilk soak, then a hot oven. It became one of the most cooked roast chickens of its decade.
4Makes
About 1 hour 15 minutes, plus an overnight soakTime
Written in our own words and tested in a home kitchen. Get the original in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
Salt and buttermilk do the work overnight, so the meat stays juicy and the skin browns deep mahogany. You need almost nothing else.
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Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 lb (1.6 to 1.8 kg)
- Kosher salt: about 1 tbsp for the chicken, plus 2 tbsp Diamond Crystal (or 4 tsp fine sea salt) for the buttermilk
- 2 cups (480 ml) buttermilk
Steps
- The day before, cut off the wingtips (keep them for stock). Season the chicken generously all over, inside and out, with salt. Leave 30 minutes.
- Stir the 2 tbsp kosher salt (or 4 tsp fine salt) into the buttermilk until dissolved. Put the chicken in a gallon zip-top bag and pour in the buttermilk. Seal, squish it around to coat, and refrigerate overnight, up to 48 hours, turning the bag once or twice.
- An hour before cooking, take the chicken out of the fridge. Heat the oven to 425F (220C) with a rack in the center.
- Lift the chicken out of the bag and let the excess buttermilk drip off; scrape off what clings, it will burn. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine.
- Put the chicken in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a shallow roasting pan, breast up. Slide it into the oven legs first, toward the back left corner, pushing the pan all the way to the back.
- After about 20 minutes, when the chicken starts to brown, turn the oven down to 400F (200C) and rotate the pan so the legs now face the back right corner.
- Roast about 30 minutes more, until deeply browned and the juices run clear when you pierce between leg and thigh (165F / 74C in the thickest part of the thigh).
- Rest 10 minutes on a board, then carve.
Chef's tips
- The buttermilk's sugars brown fast, which is why the oven starts hot and comes down.
- Keep the drippings: toast bread in them, or pour over the carved meat.
This is Chef Amazing's write-up of the dish, tested for a home kitchen. The original is in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat: get the book, No. 4 on The 100 Greatest Cookbooks.
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