Roasted Chicken

There are tons of different recipes that call for shredded chicken. You can add it to soups, make chicken enchiladas, use it for sandwiches, and so much more! I like to buy whole chickens and roast them. They're inexpensive, and you can use the meat from one chicken for multiple meals. At SAM's I bought 2 whole chickens, a total of 12.50 lbs, for $13.40.

Usually I'll roast a chicken and eat some of it that night with some vegetables and rice. Then I'll use the rest of the meat throughout the week in a bunch of different meals.

All you need is a chicken, a lemon, and your favorite seasonings!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the plastic from the outside of the chicken and rinse it with water, inside and out. Check and make sure theres not a bag of giblets inside. If there is, take that out. Then pat it dry with a paper towel and let it sit for about 10 minutes. If the chicken isn't dry the skin won't crisp up.

Place the chicken in a baking dish and season with whatever you want. I used salt, pepper, and some thyme. Don't be a wimp when it comes to seasoning! There's no need to spray the baking dish with any nonstick spray either. 

Take your lemon and using a toothpick or a fork, poke holes in the outside. 10-15 should be enough. This lets the juice escape while the chicken is roasting. 

Take the lemon and stick it inside of the chicken. 

This is when you would normally use butchers twine and tie everything up and make it look nice, but I don't have time for that and I don't really care what it looks like since I'm the only one eating it! So I just used toothpicks and sealed up the chicken so the lemon stays put.

Next, turn the chicken over so that the breast side is down and season that side of the bird. 

Now place the chicken in the oven.

The cooking time depends on how large your bird is. Mine was about 6 lbs. The total cooking time should be about 20-25 minutes per pound. You're also going to raise the temperature for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

To figure out the cooking time, multiply the weight (in pounds) of the bird by 20, then subtract 20 and divide by 2. This will give the amount of cooking time for each side, then an additional 20 minutes at the end.

For example, 6 lb bird:

6 x 20 = 120
120 - 20 = 100
100 / 2 = 50

So I cooked my chicken for 50-55 minutes on each side. Increased the temperature to 400 degrees, and cooked for an additional 20 minutes.

This is what it looked like when I flipped it the first time.

Once your chicken is done, give it about 10 minutes to rest before eating. Then remove the rest of the meat from the chicken and save for later! I know its not the prettiest chicken ever, but it sure is delicious! Make sure to remove all of those toothpicks!

Happy Cooking!