Prince Harry's Favorite Roast Chicken Only Requires 2 Ingredients

You can dress up roast chicken however you like, with multitudes of secret ingredients, and pretty much everything will taste good. But what if you just want a no-frills roast, where the plainness and the simplicity is the point? After all, Ina Garten considers this the simplest dish in the world. This is the case with Prince Harry's favorite roast chicken. According to the chef (Darren McGrady) who formerly cooked for both Harry as well as his brother, the heir to the throne Prince William, it consists of just two ingredients: a whole chicken and kosher salt (per YouTube).

Chef McGrady revealed that all he did for the meal, which got served up on a weekly basis when the two princes were boys, was sprinkle a hefty amount of kosher salt all over a whole chicken, then pop it in a 425 degree Fahrenheit oven for an hour and 15 minutes. That's it — that's the entire recipe summed up in one sentence. McGrady has really demystified the intimidating-from-the-outside roasted chicken, so much so that Prince Harry may have made it with Meghan Markle the night he proposed.

Chef Darren McGrady, in addition to serving up for Prince Harry the possible meal he and his now-wife ate the night they became engaged, also doesn't waste a tray with baked-on fond and leftover rendered chicken fat. He uses it to make a rich, flavorful gravy to go along with the roast poultry, and there is no additional salt needed because the chicken was already seasoned with plenty. The chef simply adds flour to make a roux, a little chicken stock, and some black pepper for his gravy.

However, while your chicken might only consist of two ingredients, your gravy doesn't have to — you can add in things you have in the fridge or pantry, like herbs — fresh or dry parsley, thyme, sage, or rosemary are delicious — or give it an umami boost with mushroom powder.

When you're done eating the chicken (hopefully with a side of mashed potatoes and buckets of gravy ladled on), don't throw out the carcass, either. You can save it to make an incredible chicken stock, much like you would with a leftover rotisserie chicken. If you have an Instant Pot, too, it only takes about two hours at the very most, and it's very much a hands-off process once you have everything in the appliance. All that, from a two-ingredient roast chicken? Cluck yeah.