Buttermilk-marinated roast chicken from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (page 340) by Samin Nosrat

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Ingredients

whole chicken
buttermilk

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Accompaniments: Summer panzanella (tomato, basil, and cucumber); Autumn panzanella (roasted squash, sage, and hazelnut); Winter panzanella (roasted radicchio and Roquefort); Spring panzanella (asparagus and feta with mint)

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

dmdmdmmm on May 15, 2026

One of the best roast chicken recipes i’ve tried. Soooo juicy and even tho it just asked for salt as seasoning, it was perfect!
JDeMarois on April 28, 2026

Has become my go-to roast chicken recipe.
lindsey_5xsrit on April 20, 2026

The best simple roast chicken to eat alone or to prep for the week. I only brined 8 hours and it was still incredibly moist.
brenda_g37ugk on April 12, 2026

Excellent! Just don’t overmarinate. It gets tough/rubbery.
julia_on97ln on April 07, 2026

BELIEVE THE HYPE. I was also skeptical of the lack of seasoning, but this method allows you to focus on the juicy goodness of the chicken. Still, the drippings were so good I couldn’t let those go to waste, so used as a semi-gravy anyway. This is so simple I shared with my son to cook for his roommates – no special tools or long list of pricey ingredients needed!
william_twih48 on March 15, 2026

Made this with bone-in Chicken Breast instead of a whole bird. Simple and turned out perfectly!
dosojosazules on March 12, 2026

Flawless and so easy to execute
Aubr3yy on March 08, 2026

Wow! This recipe was so good and easy to make! This was my first time making a roasted chicken and I was really happy with the results! I didn't marinate for the full 24, I could only make it for 22 hours. The chicken was super tender and it had awesome flavor throughout! This chicken is a new house favorite and I can't wait to make it again!
kathleen_h2gxr0 on February 25, 2026

A perfect recipe
carter_x6o02f on February 22, 2026

Incredible recipe. Great for bone in chicken breast too. Need 24hrs to marinate.
alexis_rjpppn on February 16, 2026

Our favorite roast chicken recipe
jennifer_vszvd1 on February 11, 2026

Modified for boneless skinless chicken breast. Flavor was great, but not appearance. I’d probably sear next time. Served over the winter panzanella.
caresan on February 04, 2026

I know I'm in the minority, but I didn't find this recipe all that interesting. I get the science behind a buttermilk brine, the flavor felt a bit underwhelming. My favorite roast chicken recipe is still the one in It's All Good by Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen.
rebekahbryce on January 28, 2026

Very good! Only had time to marinate for >12 hours and used reconstituted powdered buttermilk but still tasty. Will follow to a T next time.
j_sf02gc on January 04, 2026

Easy prep, great main dish for special occasion. Guests raved about it. I have also made this a few times for a weeknight dinner, which provided a ton of leftovers for lunch & dinner salads. Juicy, flavorful, and easy to prepare. We didn't have cooking twine, and it still turned out wonderfully. Two thumbs up!
simon280586 on December 05, 2025

I agree with twoyolks in finding this recipe a bit underwhelming. It produced a perfectly fine roast chicken with a nice crispy skin, but I'm not sure it's really worth the extra steps and the added cost of buttermilk. It came out maybe 5-10% more moist than a regular roast chicken.
Zormasa on November 30, 2025

This recipe did not disappoint. The juiciest whole chicken I’ve ever cooked. I made two for our alternative Thanksgiving dinner. The only downside is you have to prep it the day before.
Partyof7 on October 07, 2025

Amazing roast chicken recipe! I marinated a 6 pounder with buttermilk and salt for 48 hours. Then spatchcocked it and grilled it indirect for 45 mins. Outrageously good. The wings are soooo good- wish there were more than 2! Between this recipe and a Peruvian roast chicken, we are set!!
amandabeck on August 31, 2025

hands off recipe that produces moist and well-seasoned chicken-- even the toddler, who hates chicken, gobbled it up!
ellabee on May 14, 2025

Had planned to roast chicken with my usual method, but a big container of yogurt that I wasn't going through very fast convinced me to give this a try. Excellent results, and I figured out a method for wiping the marinated chicken that minimized mess and potential contamination (did that work entirely on a big acrylic mat and used my favorite silicon jar-scraper spatula). Planning to try the Persian roast chicken version next month.
bernalgirl on December 13, 2022

I could probably start and end by saying my Jewish MIL, a wonderful cook and daughter of a wonderful cook, a veteran of many a Shabbat roast chicken, said this is the best roast chicken she’s ever had. I don’t have roast chicken mojo and this came out wonderfully moist and flavorful throughout, with that beautiful burnished skin. I can’t believe I waited so long to try this.
Wende on April 13, 2022

I LOVE this way of making chicken. This is absolute simplicity so buying the highest quality chicken possible is key to flavor success. The leftovers stay incredibly moist, even if reheated, so they are spectacular in chicken salads or sandwiches. There are other, more involved, buttermilk chicken recipes out there - Nigella's Tenderest Chicken and the variation of it in Hesser's latest NYT cookbook, to name two - but neither are really any better than this, imo. If you live in the South, it's easy to get smaller-sized containers of buttermilk, but if you're stuck with a big carton, you might want to plan on making buttermilk biscuits, pancakes, ranch dressing, etc to use up the rest of the buttermilk.
twoyolks on January 06, 2021

I'll be a contrarian and state that this wasn't really any better than any other roast chicken I've made. The chicken was fine if a bit bland. It did brown a lot but it was closer to too much. Not bad, just not exceptional.
anya_sf on December 23, 2020

So good! Truly the moistest chicken ever. My chicken weighed a little over 4 lbs and needed an extra 15 minutes for the thighs to cook through. We sprinkled extra flaky salt on top at the end. I wonder if this technique could be used for just breasts.
inflytur on November 27, 2020

Excellent for turkeys also. I followed her modified recipe for brining a turkey that was published in the NYTimes in Nov. 2020. Three quarts of buttermilk for a 13 lbs bird.
sofull on November 24, 2020

So good. So easy. Very moist and no fuss recipe.
Ro_ on September 07, 2020

This was great in terms of the moistness and the perfectly crispy skin. However, it lacked flavour for me - possibly this is because I forgot to dissolve two tbsp of salt in the buttermilk, so I just ground salt into the buttermilk-chicken bag as best I could, but maybe not enough. Next time I'd probably add some other seasonings to the buttermilk too - some interesting suggestions in the other comments.
KaraCooks on February 14, 2020

I make this chicken regularly...I have sometimes added Franks Red Hot to the buttermilk for a nice hit. Super easy and YUMMY!
excurvatus on July 26, 2019

I feel like the whole internet already knows this, but this truly is as amazing as everyone says it is. Relatively blank slate to add other flavours to your leftovers, too.
Tweedles81 on February 12, 2019

This was my first time roasting a whole chicken, and I don’t think I am ever going to do it any other way! This was juicy and flavorful - even the leftovers were moist the next day! I look forward to building on it next time - maybe stuffing the cavity with aromatics, adding a few spices to the buttermilk marinade, etc.
Barb_N on January 24, 2019

This does make for a very moist chicken, but it terms of flavor and ease of prep I prefer Zuni Cafe's technique. Now looking for recipes to use up buttermilk...
shesketh on January 21, 2019

Wonderful way of cooking chicken - tender, moist and full of flavour. Everyone loves it.
BasicStock on December 08, 2018

This is going to be the way I roast chicken from now on. Moist and slightly elusively tangy. Makes me want to tackle more of Samin's recipes.
Tatiana131 on January 28, 2018

Fabulous recipe, amazingly tender and well seasoned chicken. Rivals our house recipe of roast chicken with lemons and garlic.
bwhip on November 23, 2017

So simple, yet so great. Perfectly moist and flavorful chicken.
raybun on September 17, 2017

I know it's not much of a recipe but the method is excellent! The chicken is SO moist after its salt rub and 24 hr buttermilk marinade. That varnished mahogany look is not from a strange photo filter, it really looked like this! (Photo)