What is the best way to bake a whole chicken?

Question

I would like to know temperature and how long, and also what I should cover or baste it with? All ideas are greatly appreciated!

Happy Holidays!

Answer 1

Do you want it to fall off the bones? Be tender and juicy?

Try this method.

Be sure the chicken has been cleaned out on the inside and that there is no bag of giblets (liver, gizzard, neck) inside.

Rinse it out.

Dry the outside and rub with a little butter or oil.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees farenheit. Put the chicken in a shallow baking dish. Pop in the oven on a middle rack and bake for at least 2 hours. 2 1/2 is best. You can baste it if you want to about every half hour or so but is not necessary if the chicken has it's skin on and intact.

For extra flavor you can put some coarsely chopped onion, garlic cloves (2) and a stalk or two of celery inside of the chicken before it goes into the oven. You can even bake potato with it. Either wrap washed potato in foil or rub washed and dried whole potato with oil, poke once with fork to keep potato from breaking open in oven and bake along side of chicken.

Happy Holidays to you too.

Enjoy this succulent chicken.

Answer 2

Whole chickens can be a headache.. they have a tendency to dry out... here is a tip. 1) Heat oil in a pan and browh the outside of the chicken... this will seal in the juices 2) Season it well... salt garlic pepper taragon lemon any combination of these... 3) Bake @ 350 for about an hour and a half... but check it for temp with a thermom.. let the chicken set for about 10-15min before cutting up...

Answer 3

I'm going to be doing this later tonite actually. Bought some stove top chicken stuffing for the inside of it.

Mashed potatoes and gravy as well.

I like to put the chicken in the pan, season the inside and outside of the chicken with salt and pepper. I'll put thyme on the chicken as it always goes great there. Some garlic powder. Some old bay seasoning.

Then I'll bake it in the convection oven until its done. If I didn't have a convection oven I'd use an oven bag to cook it and the last half hour I'd take it out of the bag to brown it up.

Good Luck :)

CONVECTION OVENS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

You can bake chicken whole or in pieces and season it any way you like. No matter which baked chicken recipe you use, it's best to leave the skin on, even when baking chicken breasts, to protect the meat from drying out.
Instructions
Difficulty: Easy
Things You'll Need
Groceries
Chef's knife
Roasting pan or oven-proof skillet
Oven
Meat thermometer
1 (2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pound) broiler-fryer chicken, whole or cut up
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh or dried herbs (oregano, thyme, tarragon or rosemary)
Olive oil
Marinade (optional)
Steps
1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2 Remove the giblets from the cavity if using a whole chicken. Rinse the chicken under cool water. Pat it dry with paper towels and season the chicken (inside and out, if whole) with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3 Click to enlargePlace the chicken in a roasting pan or a large oven-proof skillet, skin-side up. Rub with olive oil or pour a marinade over the chicken if desired (see the Related eHows).
4 Click to enlargeBake, uncovered for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the skin is golden brown and the meat is cooked through.
5 Use an instant-read meat thermometer to check the chicken near the end of cooking. When the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees for breast meat, 180 for thighs (measured in the thickest part), the chicken is done.
6 Test for doneness without a thermometer by cutting into the deepest part of the thigh. If the meat is no longer pink and juices run clear, it's done.
7 Let a whole chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Tips & Warnings
Experiment by rubbing the raw chicken with different dry seasonings, from international seasoning mixes to your own blends.
Squeeze a lemon over the chicken (and inside the cavity of a whole chicken) before you cook it.
Try an easy glaze--equal parts melted butter, apricot jam and white wine--applied for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Be sure to carefully clean everything that the raw chicken touches to avoid contamination.
Partially raw chicken is not safe to eat. Bone-in chicken parts are done when juices run clear and a meat thermometer shows they have reached an internal temperature of 170 degrees F.

Answer 5

Simplest Roast Chicken
1 5-6lb chicken,wing tips removed
1 lemon -- halved
4 whole garlic cloves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (optional)
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup homemade or canned chicken broth -- water,
fruit juice or wine, for deglazing
Place oven rack on second level from bottom. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the fat from the tail and crop end of the chicken. Discard the neck and giblets or freeze for making chicken stock later. Reserve chicken livers for another use.
Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon, garlic and butter, if using. Season the cavity and skin with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in a 12-by-8-by-1 1/2-inch roasting pan, breast-side up. Put in the oven legs first and roast 50 to 60 minutes, or until the juices run clear. After the first 10 minutes, move the chicken with a wooden spatula to keep it from sticking.
Remove the chicken to a platter by placing a large wooden spoon into the tail end and balancing the chicken with a kitchen spoon pressed against the crop end. As you lift the chicken, tilt it over the roasting pan so that all the juices run out of the cavity and into the pan. Pour off excess fat from the pan and put the pan on top of the stove. Add the stock or other liquid and bring to a boil, scraping the bottom vigorously with a wooden spoon. Let reduce by half. Serve the sauce over the chicken or, for crisp skin, in a sauce boat.

"If there is no lemon, garlic or butter on hand, roast the chicken without them. Or play. Use peeled shallots or a small onion, quarter ed. Add a couple of sage leaves or orange wedges. To avoid a smoky kitchen, be sure your oven is clean before you start and use the right-size pan

Answer 6

Marinate the chicken at least the day before roasting, place in an aluminum pan palce in the Bar B Que with aluminum foil covering it but not touching it at low temperature basing it every half an hour or do the same procedure in the oven preheating it at 350 and then bringing it down to 250 for a couple of hours and you will have yourself a really juicy chicken.

Good Luck

Answer 7

Ok,
1.Preheat oven to 375
2.Gently loosen skin with out tearing it, rub breast with softened butter or margirine.
3.Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder all over the out side and inside cavity of the bird.
MOST IMPORTANT STEP
4. Get a 16 ounce can of your favorite beer, drink half of the beer.
5.Put the remaining can of beer in the middle of an oven proof pan and replace what you drank with Italian dressing
6. Now slide the chicken over the can as far down as you can.Use his legs to balance him so that it looks as though he is standing up right.
7.Push a half or quartered lemon in the neck cavity to hold in the steam.
8. Carefully slide pan into the oven and bake for 1 hour 15 to 30 minutes.

Your chicken will be golden brown crispy skinned on the out side and tender and juicy on the inside. Delicious.

Answer 8

Lets keep it easy:

Covered in small roaster or backing dish with lid. Or cover tightly with foil.

300 for 2 hours.

Seasonings are to taste, usually an onion, some garlic, pepper, maybe a carrot and or celery stalk, in the cavity.

I add a half cup water, together with the juice, can make soup or gravy later.

I do remove the skin for health reasons (less fat), which is probably the most difficult thing in this recipe, but is not that difficult.

Answer 9

REMEMBER THIS, since the white meat dries out more quickly during cooking, its best to turn the chicken over in ur roasting pan, breast side down. Just use a knife to break the rib bones so when u place it this way u can push down on the bird and it will stay breast side down. Cook covered with foil or in roasting bag at 325 for as much time per pound as required.but during the last 30 minutes uncover and turn bird over for that nice crispy touch to the skin.

Answer 10

heat oven to 350..... how big is the chicken... you cook according to weight.
heres the directions!!!