Whole Chicken Recipes

Rosemary Roasted Chicken

1 Whole Roasting Chicken
1 Stick of Salted Butter
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
2-3 Sprigs of Rosemary
1 Medium Onion
1/2 Cup of Cooking Sherry
1 Cup of Water or Chicken Broth
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Here’s something warm and comforting. It’s not a quick fix for a weeknight supper, but it’s certainly a great for a Sunday night family meal. With a little bit of butter and fresh rosemary sprigs, how could this slowly cooked chicken not taste great?

The preparation was easy. I started by lining up all my ingredients first so I wouldn’t need to go looking for anything once my hands were all chicken-y from handling the raw meat. For this recipe, I’m using a whole chicken, one whole medium onion, a stick of salted butter, a few garlic cloves, cooking sherry, a few fresh sprigs of rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees, then get take the chicken out of its packaging. Rinse it very well in the sink — under the wings, the legs, and over all the skin. Once you’ve rinsed everything well, start moving your hand in between the breast meat and the skin. See how I got overzealous and tore the skin? That’s bad. Really bad. We want the skin intact for flavor and final presentation, so try to be a little more careful than I was here:

Next, put the chicken, breast up, into a casserole dish you’ll use for preparation. I’m pretty messy while I’m getting this bird ready for the oven, so I usually switch over to a different baking dish once I’m done with the prep work.

Now head over to your cutting board with a few fresh sprigs of rosemary. Chop it all up really well so there are no big chunks:

Next, dice a few cloves of garlic until they’re very fine:

Now add your rosemary and garlic into half a stick of softened butter and mix well:

Then carefully lift the skin with one hand while handling a flexible rubber spatula with the other. Gently spread about half the butter mixture underneath the skin of the bird. Again, without tearing the skin like I did:

Then spread the rest of the mixture on top of the skin, including all the ticklish spots: the wings, thighs, in all the creases, and underneath the bird, too:

Now go back to your cutting board and cut up your onion into big chunks…

… and put about half of them into the cavity of the bird. **Check now for any extra little inside body parts they may have included with the bird! They usually come in a little baggy that you can take right out and do whatever you want with. You don’t want the heart, liver, or any other organs inside while it’s in the oven for this recipe!** Once the onion is in, tie her legs together with a string of baking twine. They should be nice and tight together, even crossing over a little at the exposed bone (shown where my thumb is here):

Now’s the time I usually move my bird over to the baking dish that I’ll be serving from. Still breasts up. Now measure out 1/2 cup cooking sherry. Believe me, this makes a world of difference with the flavor of the chicken when it’s finished cooking. So if you don’t have cooking sherry, splurge a few bucks and grab some before you bake this chicken! So, like I said, measure out a 1/2 cup of the stuff:

Then add in 1 cup of prepared chicken stock. I use the low sodium stuff because we’re already using salted butter, and that’s plenty of sodium for this amount of meat. I just pour both the cooking sherry and the broth into the measuring cup at once, like this:

Sprinkle the remainder of your fat-chopped onion into the baking dish around the chicken, then pour the liquid mixture over the chicken and into the dish:

Annnnnnd, here’s the bird, prepared and ready to go into the oven. If you did manage to manhandle your bird like I did and tear he skin on top, simply squish it back together the best you can before it goes into the oven:

Every now and then (meaning, about every 20-30 minutes) pull the chicken from the oven and baste the juices back onto it. All over it. In every crevice, over every surface.

Bake the chicken, uncovered, in the oven for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until the thickest part of the meat measures 180 degrees with a meat thermometer. My bird came with one of those pop-out ready timers, but it never did pop out. They’re not always trustworthy, and that’s why I always double check with my stainless meat thermometer.

And there you have it! It takes some time. It takes a little attention and patience. But it’s well worth it. Serve this chicken alongside some roasted broccoli and carrots and fingerling potatoes. And maybe a little crusty bread on the side. You’re sure to bring hoards of compliments from your family members, the book club girls, or holiday visitors all evening long.