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Miso Maple Butter Roast Chicken

Miso Maple Butter Roast Chicken

The critical takeaway of this recipe is the miso-maple butter. You can cook the chicken however you like it: skin on or off, bone-in or boneless, a whole trussed bird or even just a few pan-fried wings. Just give the meat a good bath in the miso maple butter towards the end of cooking. If you love the darker, more toasted flavors of burnt miso, maple caramel and brown butter, you can start applying the butter earlier, or use your grill instead of roasting in the oven. If there are vegetarians at your table, try drizzling the butter on smoky grilled eggplant or roasted winter squash.

— Shauna of SecretLanguagePDX.com

Course Main Course
Keyword butter, chicken, maple, miso
Servings 4 people
Author Shauna Galante

Ingredients

  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 bone-in skin-on split chicken breasts (about 2 ½ pounds)
  • 2 bone-in skin-on, whole chicken legs (about 2 pounds)
  • 2-4 Tbsp. high-heat vegetable oil, such as avocado oil or peanut oil as needed
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
  • 1/2 cup good quality miso any variety
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon good quality maple syrup
  • 6-8 peeled garlic cloves
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 1 packed cup fresh sage
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon fresh sage thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. At least 1 hour, and up to 24 hours before cooking, season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Salting in advance allows the seasoning to fully penetrate the meat, resulting in a more flavorful and tender final product. Cover and place chicken back in the refrigerator.

  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

  3. Set a large cast-iron skillet over high heat and add oil, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Pat any excess moisture off of the chicken with a paper towel. When the pan is very hot, sear the chicken pieces, skin side down, in the oil, rearranging as needed to crisp up all available surface skin, until lightly golden brown (about 2-3 minutes per side).

  4. Leaving the chicken skin-side down, add garlic cloves, thyme, and most of the sage (reserving some for garnish) to the pan, around and underneath the chicken. Roast, uncovered, in oven for about 10 minutes.

  5. To prepare the miso-maple butter, melt the butter, miso, and maple syrup together in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking to incorporate. (Especially if you use a chunkier miso, it will likely not stay emulsified. Just give it a good stir before each use.)

  6. Remove chicken from the oven, brush the meat with some of the miso-maple butter, and, using tongs, turn the pieces over so they sit skin side up. The skin should be deep golden brown. Brush the skin with miso-maple butter.

  7. Return to the oven and roast until a thermometer inserted into the center of each piece registers 165 degrees, about 20 more minutes. (Pulling the chicken out of the oven to check the temperature is another opportunity to give it another layer of butter.) Depending on the size of your pieces, the thighs may be done quite a bit sooner than the breasts; pull them aside to rest.

  8. Rest chicken at least 10 minutes on a sheet tray fitted with a rack before carving. Give it a little more butter and a squeeze of lemon as it rests.

  9. Slice meat off the bone, drizzle with one final kiss of butter, and serve garnished with a sprinkle of thinly sliced fresh sage.