How to Roast Chicken in the Steam Oven

There are many benefits to roasting a whole chicken in the steam oven, the combination of heat and humidity ensures amazing flavor and texture, and vegetables can be roasted at the same time. Not only is this an easy meal to cook, but there is so much value in roasting a whole chicken. In addition to enjoying a great meal, any extra chicken can be used in salads or sandwiches and the carcass can be turned into a delicious homemade stock.

Steam Oven Mode for Roasting a Whole Chicken

Cooking with a combination of heat and humidity ensures amazing results, however cooking in a moist environment is not conducive to achieving crisp skin when roasting poultry. For best results begin the roasting process in the Convection mode at 400 - 425 F for 15 minutes. Then change the oven mode to Combination Convection Steam or use a moderate percentage of humidity (60%) if your oven has that option and set the temperature to 340 - 350 F and cook the chicken for 50 - 60 minutes.

While the chicken is roasting you will see moisture bubbling under the skin of the chicken. In effect as the chicken heats, the natural juices poach the meat and while the skin browns it doesn’t become really crisp. 

If your oven has a Broil function you could also use that function for additional browning at the end of the cooking. However, I would recommend pouring off the juices that accumulate in the pan first.

Best Type of Pan for Roasting a Chicken

Placing the chicken on a rack in a shallow pan provides the best results when roasting a whole chicken.  Roasting on a rack allows the heated air to circulate unimpeded around the chicken, cooking it evenly and prevents the heated pan from leeching moisture from the chicken. 

When chicken is roasted directly on a pan, as the pan gets hot the convection fan will pick up moisture and splatter it all around the oven. Placing the chicken on a rack not only ensures a juicy chicken but also a much cleaner oven.

Timing 

It stands to reason that very cold meats will take longer to cook and may not cook as evenly so letting the chicken sit outside of the refrigerator for an hour before cooking is ideal. Depending on how cold the chicken is, the cooking time for a 4 - 5 lb chicken is approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. Keep in mind steam ovens are smaller than regular ovens so the cooking time will be a little less than in a regular-sized oven. However you should also allow 15 minutes for resting and carving.

In my experience using an oven meat probe can be tricky when roasting a chicken because they are not very meaty. If the probe is not inserted correctly the oven may turn off earlier than it should and interrupt the cooking process. Certainly you can check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer but the traditional method of checking for doneness, making sure the leg swings free is best. 

When chicken is roasted in convection you may notice some redness around the bone, don’t panic. This is because cooking with convection is not as drying as cooking with radiant heat. As long as the meat is cooked you are perfectly safe.

Do you have chichen left overs? Try our Chinese Chicken Salad with Noodles and Cabbage

How to Roast Chicken and Vegetables at the Same Time

Vegetables can be roasted at the same time as the chicken but so they are ready to serve at the same time it’s important to calculate the cooking, resting and carving time so you add them to the oven at the appropriate time. Once the chicken has been removed from the oven the temperature can be increased for extra browning or crisping if needed.

The vegetables can be roasted in the large solid oven pan or a shallow rimmed baking sheet. Be sure to stage the oven when cool to ensure both trays will fit at the same time.

Steam ovens are amazing tools but remember recipes only provide generic information so it’s up to the user to understand how to benefit from the more sophisticated tools they are cooking with.

Practice, pay attention, keep notes and plan your cooking and in no time cooking in your steam oven will be second nature.

Larissa, Your Convection Enthusiast