Sunday is my favorite day for family dinner. Tonight, dinner was at our house. I was going to make a lot of chicken, so why not have people over to enjoy it with us?
Before Ina Garten taught me almost everything I know about cooking, I could not have told you how to roast chicken in the oven. Once I learned, though, I realized that it was almost fool-proof. Yes, as I said in my last post, I still buy rotisserie chickens sometimes. But, I have no excuse on most Sundays, so I make it myself. The technique is easy; once you have it down, you can try different herbs and spices to flavor it however you want.
This recipe is for a whole chicken, cut up. You can make just a few pieces if you want, though. The cook time is still the same, but you won’t need to make as much of the butter mixture if you make fewer pieces. What is important is that the bone is still in, and the skin is still on. Yes, chicken skin is bad for you. But, it tastes good, and keeps the flavor in while roasting. If you’re trying to be healthy (which you should be), just don’t eat it.
I served this with salad, twice-baked potatoes, and sautéed chard. And brownies. Delish.
Roasted Chicken
Serves 4-5
Prep: 5-10 minutes (+ defrost time if your chicken is frozen)
Cook: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut up into pieces (you can buy this already cut up), bones in, skin on
3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread the chicken pieces out on a large baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the butter, garlic, and parsley. If the butter is unsalted, add a sprinkle of salt to the mixture.
Gently separate the skin from the meat of the chicken. Using your hand, take a small amount of the butter mixture and slide it under the skin, rubbing it into the meat. Replace the skin.
Once you’ve done this with all of the pieces, sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes until done. You can tell that it’s done when the skin is crispy and golden and the juices are clear. If you aren’t sure, you can sacrifice a piece to check. If you really don’t know anything about cooking (that’s okay–everyone starts somewhere), buy a meat thermometer and wait until it is 160F, which is fully cooked for poultry. I used to have this one from Ikea. You can actually leave the thermometer in the meat while it’s cooking and set the timer to go off when the meat gets to the right temperature. Pretty cool.
Possible substitutions, omissions, and additions:
- use olive oil instead of butter
- change out the parsley for another herb, or add different herbs
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