7 Chef-Recommended Tools for Roasting Chicken and Turkey

As a professional chef of over 15 years, I have roasted a lot of birds. This year alone, I’ve easily roasted over 100 between cooking at home and in restaurants. A roast chicken is hands-down one of my favorite meals to cook at home: It’s simple, delicious, and relatively easy, especially if you have the right tools.

If you’re looking to roast more birds this year — or are thinking ahead to your Thanksgiving turkey — then listen up. These are my seven favorite tools to use at home and at work, including the best meat thermometer I’ve ever tried and a neat way to store the leftovers, starting at $14.

Best Chef-Loved Tools for Roasting Birds

• ChefsTemp ProTemp Wireless Meat Thermometer, $140
• Joyce Chen Kitchen Scissors, $20, originally $25
• Checkered Chef Baking Sheet With Rack, $20, originally $27
• Cotton Craft Dish Towels, 12-Pack, $14
• Henckels 8-Inch Chef’s Knife, $70, originally $116
• Le Creuset Stoneware Serving Platter, $75
• Stasher Storage Bags, 4-Pack, $46, originally $55

ChefsTemp ProTemp Wireless Meat Thermometer

If there is one thing you should really invest in, it’s a good meat thermometer. And, in my opinion, it should be the ChefsTemp ProTemp. It’s extremely precise; after using it all year, I can say I’ve never overcooked a chicken as a result. Another one of my favorite features is its unlimited range: Since it works with Bluetooth and WiFi, I can go to the store if I forget, say, parsley or lemon as a garnish, and I’ll still be able to track the internal temperature of my chicken breast from over five miles away. It displays the temperature via an app on my phone as well as on a screen on its portable stand. Plus, it has a rechargeable battery, so it’s always ready when I need to use it. 

Joyce Chen Kitchen Scissors

I highly recommend these shears for spatchcocking your bird. Not only are they relatively inexpensive, but they’re small. This means you can get in all of those nooks and crannies with laser-like precision to make sure you’re roasting every last piece of meat on your bird. And they might not look it, but these things are sharp — even cutting through bone is a breeze.

Checkered Chef Baking Sheet With Rack

Roasting pans are a little too unitasker for my taste. Especially if you’re spatchcocking your bird (which I recommend for more even cooking results), a baking sheet with a wire rack is really all you need. This half sheet from Checkered Chef fits the bill and is plenty durable, with ample space to collect all those delicious drippings along the way.

Cotton Craft Dish Towels, 12-Pack

Instead of using oven mitts when removing my piping hot tray from the oven, I always rely on dish towels. They’ve been the kitchen standard and a crucial commodity for cooks in restaurants all over the world. I find that they are easier to wrap around the edges of pans and baking dishes, and of course, they’re more versatile than an oven mitt. I also use them to keep my station clean and to sop up messes. At just over 1 dollar a piece, I find that these are exceptionally durable for the price tag. 

Henckels 8-Inch Chef’s Knife

I’m really not a big fan of carving knives. What I am a big fan of is a chef’s knife like this one. This Henckels knife is easy to keep sharp and relatively agile, offering a lot of control when you’re slicing through the joints and carving out the breasts. You can use it to carve a chicken, chop onions, or even open boxes. This isn’t my sharpest knife, but at home, it’s one I find myself reaching for most frequently — and you should too, especially now that it’s 40% off. 

Le Creuset Stoneware Serving Platter

Presentation is key for holiday feasts. Once you’re done beautifully carving your bird, you need a great place to arrange it all. Recently, I’ve been enjoying this uniquely shaped Le Creuset Stoneware Serving Platter. It’s not quite an oval, but it’s not quite a rectangle, either. Since it measures 16.5 x 14 x 1.5 inches, it can fit your average chicken quite well. It also has ample room for sides of potatoes, vegetables, or a rich pan jus utilizing all those tasty drippings caught on your roasting tray. I also like that it has handles so carrying it to the table is far easier. 

Stasher Storage Bags, 4-Pack

You can’t forget about leftovers. And while these Stasher bags are great to leave in the fridge, I have another use for them. Because they are freezer-safe, I use them to store all of my chicken bones, and once I have enough, I use them to make a great chicken stock. The bags keep the bones free of any freezer burn, so I can have flavorful stock all winter long for other cooking projects, like risotto.