Spatchcock chicken turns into a one-pan meal once you add roasted potatoes and asparagus. Ready to enjoy in about an hour.
Have you ever spatchcocked a chicken before? I know, it sounds like a fancy thing. But it really isn’t. All you’re doing is flattening the chicken out to make it cook more quickly. It also results in more chicken skin being exposed while it’s cooking.
Why do you want this? The exposed surface means there’s more brown crispy skin to eat when you’re done cooking. And that equals more happiness.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
How To Spatchcock A Chicken
To spatchcock (or butterfly) the chicken you use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut out the backbone. You’re going to flip the chicken over so that its breast side is down and then you’re going to cut all the way along one side of the backbone from the neck to the bottom and then again on the other side of the backbone.
Flip the chicken so it’s breast-side-up again. Spread it out. You’ve essentially butterflied a whole chicken at this point. Then use the heel of your hand to squash it down all over so that it’s a uniform height. If you have no idea what I’m talking about (it’s easy though, I promise!), check out this video.
If you prefer to roast a whole chicken without butterflying it, try my Whole Roasted Chicken recipe.
Ingredients
Other than the whole spatchcocked chicken, what do we need to turn it into a complete dinner? I’ve kept the seasoning on the chicken simple with oil, salt, and pepper but you could absolutely use more spices. You could even rub it with my Compound Butter for Turkey that has garlic and fresh herbs in it. (It’s good on all poultry.)
I like to use small red potatoes for this sheet pan dinner, but you could also use fingerling potatoes. Any potatoes larger than that, you’ll have to halve or quarter so they cook in time. These get seasoned with salt, pepper, and some dried thyme.
We’re also adding lemon slices to the baking sheet. The roasted lemon juice with the juices from the chicken gives such great flavor to the final dish.
Finally, because we need some vegetables to complete the meal, we have asparagus. Don’t add the asparagus spears until the last 20 minutes of cooking though, because they don’t need as much time as the chicken and potatoes.
Making Roasted Spatchcock Chicken Dinner
I wanted the spatchcock chicken to be a complete one-pan dinner. To do this you add some little potatoes to the pan with the chicken and some lemon slices.
![A quick and easy roast chicken dinner Raw spatchcock chicken on baking sheet with potatoes and lemon slices.](https://www.cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Spatchcock-Raw-3-edit-portrait-600px-bright.jpg)
Then for the last 20 minutes or so of roasting, add some asparagus. Everything will be done at the same time. Take the pan to the table and eat. I hope you love this spatchcock chicken recipe as much as I do!
![Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus Roasted Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus on sheet pan.](https://www.cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Spatchcock-3-edit-portrait-600px-bright.jpg)
More One-Pan Dinners
Another one-and-done chicken dinner that I’m sure you would love is this Baked Chicken with Tomatoes, Basil, and Red Chilies. Everything cooks in one big pan and all the flavors blend together. It’s great for weeknights, but also so delicious that I make it for company all the time.
![](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Spatchcock-1392x780-150x150.jpg)
Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes, Asparagus, and Lemon
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
How to make a spatchcock chicken meal with potatoes, asparagus, and lemon all on one pan. It looks delicious coming out of the oven and tastes even better.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 2 lemons, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 4 lb. chicken
- 28 oz. small red potatoes (if any are larger than 1 and 1/2-inches, cut those ones in half)
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 1 lb. asparagus, trimmed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Rub a large (18″x 13″) rimmed pan with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the lemon slices in a single non-overlapping layer. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper.
- Take your chicken and flip it so that it’s breast-side-down. Locate the backbone. Using sharp kitchen shears, cut all along one side of the backbone (you’ll be going through some little ribs so press hard to cut). Then cut along the other side of the backbone, thus removing the backbone completely. Discard the backbone or save it for making stock.
- Open the chicken up so that it is one wide piece. Flip it breast-side-up. Push down on it all over with the palms of your hands to flatten it to a more even thickness.
- Transfer the chicken to the middle of the pan, lying it over some of the lemon slices. Sprinkle chicken lightly with salt and pepper.
- In a medium bowl toss together the potatoes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, the thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of coarse pepper. Scatter the potatoes on the pan around the chicken. Put the pan into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put the asparagus into the bowl that the potatoes were in. Add 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Once the chicken and potatoes have roasted for 30 remove the pan from the oven and tuck the asparagus in around the potatoes and chicken. You want everything to still be in a single layer over the lemon slices.
- Put the pan back into the oven until an instant read thermometer placed into the middle of a breast and into the middle of a thigh reads 165°F, 20-30 minutes more.
- Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in February 2015 and was revised and republished in May 2024.
![Spatchcock Chicken with Potatoes, Asparagus, and Lemon](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Spatchcock-6-edit-portrait-600px-text.jpg)
Does the oven temp. remain 425 degrees for entire cooking of chicken…it seems it shoudl be lower.
Nancy, yes, it’s 425 the whole time. Note that if the skin/top of your chicken starts to get too dark, tent it with aluminum foil. But it shouldn’t do that.
I love this recipe. But the ads are so annoying and distracting I probably won’t use this site again. I was constantly closing ads. 😡 I know that’s how you make your money but it’s awful..
I’m sorry you feel that way, Renee. The ads are what allows me to offer free recipes, but I can take a look at the amount that are being placed on the site. Thank you for your feedback.
I recently discovered Spatchcock chicken and I love this recipe! I switch out the vegetables with whatever I have!
That’s wonderful, Deborah!
When does the chicken get seasoned.?
Sorry about that, Luanne! The chicken gets seasoned in step 5. That instruction was missing but I’ve added it back in, thanks for letting us know.
This looks so delicious! The potatoes look so yummy.
I need to try this!! Your chicken looks glorious!!