Michael Symon’s French-Style Roasted Chicken

This recipe comes straight out of the south of France, where bold, fresh, and simple foods are a way of life. When the landscape is this beautiful, nobody wants to spend hours cooped up in the kitchen, and there’s no reason you can’t take a pan-roasted chicken outside to the grill. I never grow tired of cooking whole chickens, because the possibilities are limitless, and there are always delicious leftovers. If you aren’t yet in the habit of buying a whole chicken and breaking it down, you need to start! It’s more economical and you have more control over the size of your bird. When you first put the chicken in the pan, don’t be tempted to mess with it. Let it sear until it takes on great color and releases from the pan. That’s where so much of the flavor in the pan sauce comes from!

French-Style Roasted Chicken

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 small bunch of thyme

Olive oil, for drizzling

1 whole chicken (6 pounds), cut into 8 pieces

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 garlic cloves, sliced

½ cup sweet vermouth

1½ cups chicken stock

2 beefsteak tomatoes, cut into wedges

½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives

3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Prepare and preheat a charcoal grill for indirect cooking, with one hot side and one hold (unheated) side.

Bundle up the thyme with a piece of butcher’s twine and set aside.

Place a large cast-iron skillet on the hot side of the grill to preheat. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the skillet. Season both sides of the chicken with a few pinches of salt and twists of pepper. Place the chicken skin-side down in the skillet and cook until nicely charred, about 8 minutes.

Flip the chicken, add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute until aromatic. Add the vermouth and deglaze the pan, scraping with a wooden spoon to get up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Cook until the vermouth reduces slightly, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, olives, and thyme bundle and bring to a simmer. Season with a pinch of salt and twist of pepper. Move the skillet to the hold side of the grill, cover the grill, and cook until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165°F at the leg/thigh joint, about 20 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the chicken to a platter. Remove and discard the thyme bundle. Stir the basil and butter into the skillet sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Excerpted from Symon’s Dinners Cooking Out. Copyright © 2025 by Michael Symon Photographs copyright © 2025 by Ed Anderson. Published in the United States by CLARKSON POTTER/PUBLISHERS. An imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.