Chicken under a brick

Pollo al mantone or Chicken Under a Brick, is the best method for quickly cooking a whole chicken in a skillet with extra crispy skin

We wanted a perfectly cooked butterflied chicken with super-crisp skin that could be on the table—with some roasted potatoes—in less than one hour. Cooking a butterflied chicken under a brick cooks considerably quicker than a regular roast chicken and produces amazingly crisp skin by keeping the chicken flat, forcing all the skin to make contact with the pan. But after a few trial runs, we noted two big problems: First, the crisp skin often turned soggy as the chicken finished cooking…

Brick chicken, also known as chicken under a brick, delivers a dish with crispy skin and juicy meat. Slathered with a fresh herb and cheese mixture, it’s a flavorful meal that will please everyone.

Brick Chicken - a whole spatchcocked chicken grilled or roasted under a brick. Level up your chicken game.

However Brick Chicken or Chicken Under a Brick is one of our most simple and reliable ways to get tender, perfectly cooked chicken and that crispy skin we all crave.

Getting your chicken super juicy on the inside and extra crispy on the outside requires one simple tool (that’s the brick part) and a few helpful techniques.

Chicken under a brick is an easy way to cook a whole chicken in a skillet. The meat is perfectly juicy and the skin is a wonderful crisp golden brown.

You truly cannot beat this preparation! The weight of the bricks allows the skin to crisp up beautifully. Marinating ahead of time also keeps the chicken so moist and delicious!

The flatter the chicken, the more contact with the cast-iron pan and the more crackly skin to enjoy at the end. We have step-by-step photos to show you how it’s done.

This recipe cooks a spatchcocked chicken under foil-wrapped bricks for perfectly moist meat and crispy skin.