How Ina Garten Carves a Roast Chicken Like a Pro—And the Recipe for Her Perfect Bird

Ina Garten has been making perfect roast chicken for years—so much so that it’s become one of her most famous recipes. But while the cooking part is straightforward, carving the bird can feel like an intimidating task. Thankfully, the Barefoot Contessa never leaves us hanging in the kitchen. In a March 19 Instagram reel titled, “Ask Ina,” Garten demonstrated her method for carving her Perfect Roast Chicken recipe, making it look simple and effortless. The video quickly took off, racking up over one million views. Ready to carve yourself? Here’s how Ina Garten does it.

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How Ina Garten carves a roast chicken

“There’s something about a roast chicken…the way the house smells, it’s just very homey, which makes us all feel good,” says Garten. “I’m gonna show you how I do it. I’m not an expert, but I’ve done it a lot of times.” Here are the tools you’ll need:

• A cutting board
• A carving fork
• A sharp knife

Removing the legs and thighs

First, Garten uses scissors to cut off the string that held the chicken legs together. “The next thing I do is cut the legs off.” She takes each leg and pulls it down towards the cutting board with one hand, then “wiggles the knife a little bit” until she finds where the bone is attached. Then, she cuts it off. After that, Ina separates each leg from the thigh. “The thighs are usually pretty small, so I just put that completely whole on the plate,” she says, laying them out with the carving fork.

The best way to carve the chicken breast

Now, the interesting part: the chicken breast. “Traditionally, people used to slice it, but then you get these fine shredded slices which aren’t very appealing,” says Ina. So what she does—and she learned this from Julia Child—is take the entire breast off at once using her fork and knife. She cuts down from the top first, then slices horizontally across. Then, she cuts it thicker, which she says adds more flavor. “Every portion gets a little bit of meat and that crispy skin,” she adds.

“See how juicy this chicken is? I think the biggest mistake people make is overcooking it.” Ina says to take the slices and lay them on your knife, then carefully lift them up with the fork and arrange them on the plate.

Finishing touches

Then, Ina cuts off the two wings, again wiggling her knife around until she finds where it connects.

Finally, Ina takes the juices and vegetables from the pan and pours them on top of the carved chicken. “A little fleur de sel (salt) gives it even more flavor,” she says. “And that’s carving roast chicken. How good does that look?” Just by watching the video, we think delicious (and masterful).

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Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken recipe

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You can’t carve a chicken without roasting it first. Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken recipe is one of her most popular. “If there’s one thing you wanna learn how to make, it’s roast chicken,” she says. “It’s so simple, and I do it with vegetables in the pan so it’s an entire meal.” The recipe comes from her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, and it’s Jeffrey’s favorite Friday night dinner. You can simply pour the pan juices onto the chicken or click the link to make her easy gravy.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole (5- to 6-lb.) roasting chicken
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large bunch fresh thyme
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
• 2 Tbs. butter, melted
• 1 Spanish onion, thickly sliced

Directions:

• Total time: 2¼ hours
• Yield: 3-4 servings

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Remove the chicken giblets, then rinse the chicken inside and out, remove any excess fat and pinfeathers and pat dry.
2. Place the chicken in a roasting pan just large. enough to hold the chicken and vegetables. Generously season the inside of the chicken with salt and pepper. Stuff the cavity with thyme, lemon halves and garlic.
3. Brush the outside with melted butter, then sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body. Surround it with the onion slices (or other preferred vegetables).
4. Roast for 1-1½ hours, or until juices run clear when you cut between the leg and thigh. Then, remove the chicken to a cutting board and let it cool before carving.
5. Carve the chicken using Ina’s method, drizzle with the pan juices and vegetables and serve.