There is no greater kitchen flex than a perfectly cooked roast chicken—crispy golden skin, juicy melt-in-your-mouth meat. When it’s good, it’s great. When it’s fantastic, you lick your chops like Wile E. Coyote. Easily adaptable with herbs, spices and oils, flexible to pair with any seasonal vegetables, a good chicken recipe should always be in your back pocket.
Being such a blank canvas, roast chicken is an ideal meal for go-to wine pairings or lavish wine dinners. To help select your next dinner party showstopper, we’ve selected six standout recipes to keep in your repertoire, all with wine pairings—from a paprikash-inspired Hungarian roast to a Moroccan harissa-slathered bird, spatchcocked and served with chickpeas. See what’s for dinner!
6 Top Roast Chicken Recipes, with Wine Pairings
- Roast Chicken with Celery Root, Mushrooms and Pickled Mustard Seeds
- Za’atar Spatchcocked Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
- Roast Chicken with Crispy Potatoes, Kale and Grilled-Scallion Vinaigrette
- Hungarian Roast Chicken Paprikash
- Roast Chicken with Lemon and Sumac
- Honey-Harissa Roasted Chicken with Chickpeas
Roast Chicken with Celery Root, Mushrooms and Pickled Mustard Seeds
From chef Lee Wolen of Chicago’s acclaimed restaurant Boka, this roast chicken rests on a bed of sautéed celery root and roasted mushrooms; it’s a celebration of end-of-winter veggies. What makes this recipe really pop—quite literally—is the addition of pickled mustard seeds, providing a bit of heat, tang, sweetness and earthiness all in one.
Best wine pairing: This recipe is incredibly easy to pair with wine, working with medium-bodied reds, including Côtes du Rhône, and equally weighty whites such as Bordeaux white blends.
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Spatchcocked Chicken with Za’atar and Roasted Vegetables
For roast chicken, using a spice mix like za’atar is a simple way to pack in plenty of flavor. With a history tracing back to ancient Egypt, za’atar is a blend of Syrian oregano (or standard oregano) with sumac, toasted sesame seeds and salt. Used across the Levant as an herbaceous and tangy accent to breads and meats, here, it’s dusted on top of a spatchcocked chicken that’s roasted on top of a bed of veggies.
Best wine pairing: Pair this recipe with a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which offers fruit but enough savoriness to complement the spice mix.
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Roast Chicken with Crispy Potatoes, Kale and Grilled-Scallion Vinaigrette
“Part of great cooking and great entertaining is the journey,” says Nashville-based chef Andy Little. Easily adaptable, this full menu makes for a dreamy, light weekend lunch or early spring dinner: A simple roast chicken is served with smashed fingerling potatoes, fried in olive oil, alongside a salad with a mouthwatering dressing made with charred scallions.
Best wine pairing: With such a simple yet refined meal, grab a wine that feels equally effortless—like a cru Beaujolais.
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Hungarian Roast Chicken Paprikash
Chef Jeremy Salamon’s restaurant Agi’s Counter has reigned as one of Brooklyn’s most exciting eateries, bringing his Hungarian Jewish roots to the dining room. In 2024, Salamon brought that taste home with his first cookbook, Second Generation: Hungarian and Jewish Classics Reimagined for the Modern Table (HarperCollins Publishers). Eat the cover with this recipe for roast chicken paprikash—bringing the flavors of the Hungarian classic to the whole bird by first buttermilk brining it, then topping with hot and smoked paprika and fresh dill.
Best wine pairing: To pair, be like Salamon and pour a bottle of dry Hungarian Tokaji, made from the grape Furmint.
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Roast Chicken with Lemon and Sumac
The taste of Provence hits the table with this recipe for roast chicken with mouthpuckering lemon and sumac, published in Mostly French: Recipes from a Kitchen in Provence by Makenna Held (Simon & Schuster). The recipes from this cookbook evoke the simple classics of Provence cuisine—in fact, in 2016, Held bought the famous house La Pitchoune, which was the summer abode of Julia Child.
Best wine pairing: Paired with a Provence rosé, this roast chicken is a great way to welcome spring and warmer weather.
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Honey-Harissa Roasted Chicken with Chickpeas
Fruity and spicy, Moroccan harissa is one of those sauces that, once it lands in your fridge, you’ll use it in everything. This roast chicken makes the case, slathered with harissa combined with honey and garlic and then roasted over a bed of chickpeas, which turn addictively crispy when served with a swirl of salted yogurt.
Best wine pairing: To pair, opt for a young and fruit-driven Rioja crianza, which can balance the smoke and spice from the harissa.
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