How do YOU bake a whole chicken?

[Sarah K]

We're getting tired of the same old baked chicken. All I do is rub it with butter, and salt and pepper it. Sometimes I'll use a different seasoning.
But Dh always thinks it is too dry. He likes saucy dishes or gravy on the side, nice and moist. I suppose I could cut up the whole chicken, but I'd do a bad job of that.
So what some of the yummy ways YOU bake a chicken? :yum:

[Melissa]

Here's one for the crock pot that I like to use:

http://wholelife.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/roasted-chicken/

[KristenS]

Do you rub on top of the skin or under the skin?

Usually I rub the outside with oil, and dash on salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. One time I went all out with a cool recipe where you had to put stuff UNDER the skin, and I think there was something about brining the chicken first. Whatever it was, it was the best chicken I ever cooked in my life.

[Lynna]

This is what I do

In a dish compine
dice up 2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup or to taste of Old Bay seasoning

Then take
2 lemons and cut in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl
4 cloves of garlic and just smash them a little and put one clove into one half lemon and place inside the chicken.

Then pour the lemon juice over the chicken and rub the Old Bay and garlic in the skin.

Bake for about 2 hours at 350 uncovered.

It will be so tender and juicy! This is a family fav!

Good Luck
Lynna

[ShayChristie]

The best way to get a tender, juicy chicken(or any meat) is a meat thermometer!! Believe me, when I wing it, :p . But when I use my thermometer, :yum: :yum: !

A $5 instant read from Walmart will work, or you could get a fancy digital one that has a probe and a beeper. I like my PC one, I stick the probe in meat,
put it in the oven and set the temp. It beeps when it's done. No more overdone, dry meat! :D

For the record, I use several seasoning blends such as rotisserie, garlic and herb, rosemary garlic, lemon pepper, etc. :yum: Rub them over the outside and roast in a stoneware roaster. If I'm using the lemon pepper seasoning, I fork a whole lemon, squeeze some juice over the chicken and stick the lemon in the cavity. Great flavor! :)

[Sarah K]

Melissa, I totally forgot about trying it in a slow cooker! I'll have to plan for that one day.

KristenS, I usually rub on top of the skin, though I have put it under before.

Putting a lemon in the cavity, hmm. I'll have to try that one too!

This is what I did for tonight since I couldn't wait, hunger just hits me all of a sudden lately, lol, I wonder why! I prepared the whole chicken like I normally do with the addition of dried thyme and basil to the rub. Then I covered the chicken with a foil "tent". Baked it like that for 45 minutes. I just removed the tent to see what it looked like, and it looked like it needed more cook time. So it's in uncovered now for probably about 15 minutes more. We'll see if the tent thing made any kind of a difference.

ShayChristie, I used to have one of those instant read digital thermometers, until my kids got ahold of it and ruined it. I just haven't bought another one yet. They ARE really good to have.

Thanks for the ideas!

[Loren]

When baking, I put my chicken on a poultry roaster at 350 for 20 minutes/pound. It is a small dish with a stand attached. The stand goes in the body cavity of the chicken and all the juice runs into the dish. My MIL introduced this to me, and her family calls it "chicken on the pot."

My spices change every time I cook, but I have decided that the meat is more flavorful if I rub the seasonings under the skin. I always start with salt and pepper, then I usually add garlic. Sometimes I use sage, sometimes parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, even chili powder. Bay leaves or sliced onions under the skin make for a pretty presentation of the bird.

I use the juices as is over rice and chicken or make gravy from them.

[Renee in IN]

Don't forget about soaking the chicken in salt water. Even 1-2 hrs seems to make a difference, but overnight is best. And also try oven bags. They do sell chicken size. Both of these tricks should work like a charm.

[Linda]

You can cook it in a bag, keeps it nice and moist. :yum:

I cook mine in my PC stone roaster, top and bottom. I've heard them refered to as clay bakes before as well.

I butter all around the bird, cut some butter and put it under the skin, salt & pepper, veggies all around the side, then add a little bit of chicken broth or white wine to the pan, cover it and cook it at 350 for a couple of hours. It is almost always moist. The only times it's a little tough is when the bird has been previously frozen from the grocery store. I hate it when they do that and don't tell you. :(

[Steve Lambert]

Didn't you just KNOW some knucklehead GUY was going to wander into this thread? :roflol:

My first off-the-wall answer on how to bake a whole chicken was to put some chicken feed in a little trail leading into the Sauna and then slam the door after the chicken goes inside.

But THEN I figured - What if they want to bake it without the feathers and feet and stuff still attached? :lol:

Now that I've amused myself...

I know that in barbecuing (and I suspect it might work in an oven as well) they fix what's called "beer can chicken" though the word "beer can" is just a generic euphemism for any can.

The idea is to fill a can with water after cutting away the top with a can opener. Then "stand" the chicken over the can with the can inside the body cavity- neck UP, drumsticks pointing DOWN. The can just sort of keeps the chicken upright and as the water inside the can (could also be wine or apple cider, etc.) heats it continuously STEAMS the inside of the chicken as it cooks to keep it moist.

Can't imagine why you couldn't do that by placing the can inside an oven-safe roasting pan. Then stand the chicken on the can and any juices/fat that drip off the bird will land safely in the roasting pan. Might want to add some water to that pan too so that the juices don't burn and smoke on the pan.

Of course in a bbq grill it doesn't matter if the juices fall into the fire below.

OK... there's my .02 worth: Beer can chicken in the oven!! (For if you don't have a sauna and prefer your chickens sans feathers and feet!)

Blessings,

Steve

[Christi in VA]

I don't know how you like yours seasoned, but I just put the whole bird in my crock pot and let him go!!!! No meat thermometer for me on this one! My dh loooves it that way and he will pick every last bone clean! Then, I have lots of juice to use for other things!