Ina Garten's Engagement Chicken Sauce Is Irresistibly Easy

In 1982, a fashion editor at Glamour Magazine shared a recipe for roast chicken with her assistant, claiming it was the best she'd ever made. The assistant made the chicken for her boyfriend that night, and the couple was engaged a month later. "Indeed, the proposal was likely due to the fact that their committed, loving relationship was heading in that direction and not because of a roast chicken," writes Glamour. 

Still, a trend was afoot. The assistant passed on the recipe to three of her colleagues, and each of them got asked the big question by their respective partners shortly thereafter. Coincidence? The jury's out. 

In 2004, the magazine published a recipe for said "Engagement Chicken," and rumor has it that dozens of marriage proposals have risen from it over the years. Ina Garten, the unofficial queen of roast chicken, hosted former Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive on an episode of "Barefoot Contessa," and has since published her own take on the nuptial-inducing recipe. Like so many of Garten's recipes, this one yields high rewards for relatively low effort. 

If you think Garten's signature "Perfect Roast Chicken" recipe is easy, you might find that the Food Network star's take on "Engagement Roast Chicken" is even simpler, as it doesn't involve melting butter. For the latter, Garten starts by patting the chicken dry and seasoning it generously with salt and pepper, dousing the skin in olive oil, and placing a halved lemon and head of garlic inside the cavity. That's it for the bird. 

Next, Garten gives a rough slice to a couple of Spanish onions, seasoning them with olive oil, salt, and pepper and adding the mixture to the roasting pan along with the remaining lemon slices. When the chicken is done (it should take a little over an hour in a 425-degree oven), Garten lets it rest in aluminum foil while she tackles the simplest part of the dish: a pan sauce that comes together in about a minute. 

After watching Garten demonstrate how to make her "Engagement Chicken" on "Barefoot Contessa", via Twitter, it's easy to see why it comes with a swooning hazard. The whole process is incredibly simple, and while roasting a whole chicken is impressive enough on its own, the dish gets extra points for the rich sauce that happens right in the roasting pan. 

While the chicken rests, Garten adds half of a cup of dry white wine to the onions, which have had time to develop deep flavor in the oven. The wine helps release the brown bits at the bottom of the pan — a process called deglazing — which are packed with flavor and serve as the backbone of the sauce. Next, she adds a half cup of chicken stock and one tablespoon of all-purpose flour, stirring "constantly" for one minute, or until it thickens slightly. 

To serve, Garten surrounds the chicken with saucy, lemony onions and pours the pan sauce over the bird. Et voilà — a deceptively simple dinner is served. Regardless of your romantic situation, we're sure you'll be committed to this recipe through sickness and in health.