This recipe works with any sort of waterfowl. Domestic ducks typically serve two to four. As for wild birds, a mallard, canvasback, redhead, gadwall or pintail will serve two (if you have other things on the plate), a wild goose four and a wood duck, bluebill, wigeon, ringneck or teal one.
Recipe by Hank Shaw on January 28, 2015
Prep time: PT30M
Cook time: PT90M
Total time: PT120M
Rating
4.8 stars (43 reviews)
Keywords
duck, goose, roasted meats
Ingredients
1 domesticated duck or 2 very fat wild ducks ((see above))
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 lemon, (cut in half)
4 sprigs sage, rosemary, parsley or thyme
Categories
Main Course
Cuisine
American
Steps
Set your oven to 325°F. Using a needle or a sharp knife point, prick the skin of the duck all over -- but be sure to not pierce the meat itself, only the skin. This lets the fat render out and will help crisp the skin. Pay special attention to the back, the flanks, and the very front of the breast.
Rub the cut lemon all over the duck and stick it inside the cavity. Liberally salt the bird; use a little more salt than you think you need. Stuff the duck with the herbs. Let the bird sit out for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature, while the oven heats up.
When you are ready to roast, put the duck in an iron frying pan or other ovenproof pan and surround it with root vegetables. Set the pan in the oven. Small ducks (wood ducks, wigeon, teal, ruddies, etc.) only need 40 minutes in the oven. If you are roasting mallards or a typical, store-bought Pekin duck, you will want to increase the roasting time to 90 minutes. A goose may take as long as 2 hours. After the allotted time, take the pan out of the oven and set the ducks on a cutting board to rest. Spoon any fat that has accumulated over the vegetables and salt them well. If the veggies are ready to eat, remove them. If there is a lot of excess fat, spoon it off.
Now increase the heat to 450°F. When the oven hits this temperature, return the birds to the oven and roast them for up to 30 more minutes, or until the skin is crisp. The reason you take the bird out of the oven is because a) the resting time helps redistribute the juices in the bird midstream, and b) you are crisping skin without totally overcooking the duck by only returning it to the oven when it is hot.
Remove from oven and let the birds rest. Small ducks need 5 minutes resting time, large ducks 10 minutes, geese 15.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 serving
Calories: 780 kcal
Carbohydrates: 3 g
Protein: 22 g
Fat: 75 g
Saturated Fat: 25 g
Cholesterol: 145 mg
Sodium: 1866 mg
Sugar: 1 g
Reviews
Jean on 2025-11-09 (5 stars): When making this recipe, would you remove the tail and skin and render fat? or you leave them as a whole
Robert Scarola on 2025-11-05 (5 stars): This is the recipe handed down by oral tradition on my Mother’s side of the family,I always thought everyone cooked it this way
Mary Schnittker on 2025-02-11 (4 stars): Duck skin was not crisp . We were sad. But the dog was happy .
anne on 2024-12-06 (5 stars): Thank you for this recipe! simple and delicious!
Ian on 2023-11-03 (5 stars): I have used this recipe and minor variations of it many times. It consistently results in an excellent roast duck. Although I agree with Hank about the breasts being better seared medium rare, in my opinion they still turn out really good with this method. I’ve never found them livery or heard anyone complain about them and I think they are a good bit better than Turkey breasts usually turn out. I often do ducks on Thanksgiving and far prefer slow roasted European style duck, or goose, to almost any Turkey preparation. Although I have cut them off and finished the breasts separately a few times, usually I find that to be too much trouble since they still turn out good roasted, even if less than optimal. As far as the compromises of life go, I can usually live with fully cooked duck breast :)
Cullen Groves on 2023-01-06 (5 stars): Roasted another (store bought) duck tonight for Christmas this year using this as a guideline (Christmas season ends 6 January--12 days of Christmas, after all!) . It's been a new "family tradition" for the past three years, using these guidelines each time, and each has turned out great. This third year is no exception!
Looking forward to the duck soup with the carcass this weekend!
Thanks, and merry Christmas and happy new year!
Colin on 2021-09-08 (5 stars): This simple recipe has drastically improved the quality of my waterfowl cooking.
Jesse G Winston on 2021-01-26 (5 stars): Making this recipe for the second time with pintails, basically foolproof and works amazingly, thank you Hank your resources are invaluable and I'm a professionally trained chef????
Will on 2020-11-13 (5 stars): I substituted Herbs de Provence instead of the herbs called for in this recipe. The domestic duck still came out excellent! I used an oven thermometer in the breast and removed it from the 450F oven when the internal temperature hit 150F knowing that the temperature would still rise after. In retrospect, I probably should have let it hit 155F to remove that last bit of redness.
Josh Kimminau on 2020-11-10 (5 stars): Nothing like a classic roasted duck! My bad on leaving it in a little too long. The low cooking temperature then the hot crisping of the sink it spot on. If you want to be brought back to meals with family during the holidays, this will do it!
Rob on 2020-10-27 (5 stars): Years ago I bought Hank Shaw’s book Duck Duck Goose. This was the first recipe I tried. It was simply amazing. If you’re a beginner waterfowl cook this is a good place to start. Every year I try to make something new from Hank’s book. However, I will always cook at least 1 duck using this recipe.
Jerry on 2020-04-13 (5 stars): Cooked a five-pound duck on a rotisserie in a gas grill. Came out excellent.
mary on 2019-12-28 (5 stars): This turned out really well. I did rotate the duck after 30 minutes and basted it a bit. It was delicious and very flavorful, cooked perfectly, not overdone. I did a lot of research to find a good recipe and glad I chose this one!
