Roasting a chicken for Thxgiving, any tips on this method/ recipe?

Question

For thanksgiving we roast chicken (because some people don't like turkey, and everyone likes chicken). In the past I've "marinated" turkey in applejuice for 24 hours before roasting, and it came out great (more like put it in a bag or bowl full of applejuice). Has anyone tried this with chicken, or do you know if it will taste as good? And if I do this, what other types of things would taste good with the apple flavor? I obviously want to stuff the inside for the taste, and was thinking about several ingredients:
Onions (chopped)
Apples (chopped)
Rosemary (fresh)
Thyme (not fresh)
Cinnamon (maybe)
If you know of any that will work great or will be terrible, please let me know, or if you know of others that will be good with the applejuice bath, feel free to add that too.

Not looking for a new recipe 1st...

But for the rest, thanks for the input. I'll be chopping the onions and apples and I'll saute them for a minute to release the flavors. I like your basting technique, Krystal and I'll likely use it.

Answer 1

Chicken, like turkey, is poultry. I have never marinated either in just apple juice, but if you have done a turkey this way and it was wonderful I would totally do the chicken this way. (it makes sense, as for the citric acid tenderizing the meat) As far as the aromatics - things to put inside the chicken - ALL of the things you mentioned are actually what I would do. And you definitely want to chop them up - when you open the fruit or veggie up, it reveals the inside, therefore the flavor. I use everything you mentioned inside my turkey and it's a wonderful flavor - I also add sage leaves, but that is personal taste!
Have a wonderful Holiday!

Answer 2

I have roasted a chicken stuffed with couple of oranges and a lemon, sliced in quarters with the peel on, along with a sliced onion and then some rosemary and I love the flavor it gives the chicken and it stays very moist. I think adding apples will be ok along with some thyme but I'm not so sure about the cinnamon.

Answer 3

Perfect Roast Chicken

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

--Ina Garten

Answer 4

Put a whole onion in the chicken...not diced. Just peel it and put it in. Then mix butter with garlic, thyme, and sage. Baste the chicken with this. I won four 1st place blue ribbons with this recipe. Also in the pan put a little chicken broth in the pan and use that to make gravy when you are done.

Answer 5

Anything that works with Turkey will work as well with chicken.
Be sure to roast your bird breast side down to keep the breast from drying out...and keep all the flavour in the meat...

make sure you only stuff the neck cavity not the breast cavity or the bird will not cook thoroughly

Answer 6

my husband did this once with a root beer glaze, basically how you would normally cook a chicken, just baste with root beer. tasted great! moist with really good flavor!