There are basically three types of chickens and then there are the wild birds like pheasants. Creating the perfect roast chicken isn’t difficult.
No one wants to serve tough or dry chicken.
Unfortunately, I have had the sad experience of realizing I cooked the bird a little too long or otherwise dried it out. Slicing into dry chicken breast is not very appealing. Poultry processors commonly inject the bird with salt water. This will be on the ingredient label. The water does a couple things, including adding weight so you pay more for the bird, but it’s purpose is to help prevent dry-out with cooking. Natural birds don’t have the added water and salt so they are more apt to be dry if over-cooked.
Now I want to share my secret weapon with you.
Learn more about the health benefits of gardening and get some good tips and instruction too.
Using this marinade and cooking method gives moist, tender chicken without any strong flavors.
I landed on this marinade recipe years ago. I’ve made a few changes and, it makes the perfect roast chicken. Sometimes I use a white wine for marinade, but there is always that lingering flavor. White wine makes a good marinade if I have small pieces of chicken. Wine is tends to create “mushy” meat, especially with long marinade times. It also leaves a fairly strong flavor. If I have a cut up chicken and plan to make Greek soup with the leftovers then I might choose wine.
I use the powdered buttermilk found in the baking isle. It stores well in the fridge and is ready when I want some for a recipe.
Buttermilk is the quintessential marinade for chicken. It penetrates well and does not break down the meat fibers so it avoids the overly soft or “mushy” consistency. If you don’t have easy access to buttermilk feel free to substitute with plain Kefir. What about vegan buttermilk? This question really interests me because I consume very little dairy. I haven’t tried it yet. I did look at some recipes for vegan buttermilk and they all involve mixing a small amount of lemon juice into nut milk. The objective here is to avoid making the marinade overly acidic and breaking down the meat fibers. If you have experience with vegan buttermilk as a marinade I would love to hear about your experience.
I mix the ingredients in a smoothie cup or blender but that isn’t necessary as long as everything gets mixed together.
My birds and they all go to the butcher at the same time, so I am always starting with a frozen bird. This works with fresh poultry as well.
If your bird is frozen you can safely thaw it by:
Avoid these thawing methods:
This makes a perfect roast chicken for Sunday dinner. Consequently, you might want to consider cooking up an extra bird if you are inviting friends to dinner.
The left over chicken can be chunked for soup or stew and/or shredded for salads and tacos. It’s delicious in stir-fry. So give this a try on your most free day and you will have easy lunches and suppers for several days.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the bird from the marinade and place on a rack in a baking pan or in a roasting pan. Put 1 to 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan.
I like to stuff the cavity with a carrot, a couple stalks of celery, an onion sliced in half and a couple sprigs of rosemary if I am not using stuffing (dressing). Feel free to use your favorite stuffing recipe. Alternatively, rub the inside of the cavity with poultry seasoning.
Next: Cook the chicken for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the skin looks dry.
This seals in the moisture.
Now turn the oven down to 325 degrees and cook for an additional 20 minutes per pound
Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Poultry is done when it has an internal temperature of 165 Degrees F
Give the bird a rest! This is one of the secrets to creating the perfect roast chicken.
Move the cooked chicken onto a serving platter and let sit for at least 15 minutes. This gives time to make gravy and mash potatoes. It also lets it finish cooking and stay moist.
The marinade recipe is below. The recipe includes both honey and rosemary. Feel free to adjust both of these to suit taste.
Don’t forget to save the bones and make chicken stock. I love my Instant Pot for creating good bone broth. More on that later but here is the Marinade recipe.
Give this versatile and easy roasting recipe a try.