A coating method, which uses a coating apparatus including a rotatable tray having a recessed portion for accommodating a substrate and rotatable together with the substrate, a nozzle for supplying a coating liquid, and an applicator for spreading the coating liquid, includes the steps of placing a substrate into the recessed portion of the tray, positioning the nozzle over a non-recessed portion of the upper surface of the tray, supplying a coating liquid from the nozzle, and forming a coating liquid pool only on the non-recessed portion of the upper surface of the tray, moving the applicator in a horizontal direction while maintaining a certain distance with respect to the upper surface of the substrate for spreading the coating liquid of the coating liquid pool over the entire upper surface of the substrate, and releasing the substrate from the recessed portion of the tray.