The Kitchen Tool People Use For Way Crispier Baked Chicken

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If you enjoy chicken with crispy skin, you've probably tried everything from baking it on a high heat to coating the chicken with panko breadcrumbs. However, one underrated kitchen tool can reliably deliver perfect crispy chicken every time if you know how to use it.

It involves one of the most unexpected uses for a pizza stone — and unexpected cooking methods for poultry, for that matter. Instead of oiling the skin and hoping the oven's dry heat does what you want, you use the preheated surface of the pizza stone to make baked chicken with an irresistibly crispy skin. It works because pizza stones are made from materials like ceramic, stone, or cordierite and hold heat better due to these materials and the stone's thickness. 

The pizza stone distributes heat evenly, preventing the uneven cooking caused by an oven with hot spots, which is most of them. A pizza stone also holds heat longer than a thin baking sheet and ensures a more uniform heat. Additionally, a pizza stone's porous surface reduces the amount of moisture that builds up during the cooking process, creating the conditions for crispier food. In fact, the pizza stone is so effective, it reduces cooking time compared to more traditional methods, so you'll need to start checking your chicken's internal temperature earlier than normal.

You can convert almost any basic roasted chicken recipe into a pizza stone recipe. To start, set the stone in a cold oven and allow it to heat for an hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. To get the crispiest chicken, it's best to cut it to provide the most skin-to-stone contact. You can spatchcock a whole chicken, then split it in half to fit it on the stone. Or you can cut the chicken into the same types of pieces you'd use for fried chicken. However you cut it, you just need to make sure the chicken is skin-side down on your parchment-lined pizza stone, adding another pizza stone or cast-iron skillet on top (something heavy-ish and large enough to put even weight on the chicken without breaking) pressing it to flatten your chicken. Roast the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, which is usually about 45 minutes.

If you're in the market for a pizza stone, check out Chowhound's list of the best pizza stones according to customer reviews. Quality pizza stones come at a range of price points. For example, the Le Creuset 15-inch round pizza stone and Emile Henry 14.5-inch round pizza stone are closer to the $100 mark. But if you're willing to stick with something a bit more basic-looking, the best on our list is still the Unicook 15-by-12-inch rectangular pizza stone for less than $50. And because a pizza stone is so versatile, you can also use it to bake bread, make crispy pie crusts, and even prepare a perfect steak.