I have found that cooking a whole chicken in the beginning of the week can provide me with enough meal for the rest of the week.
One of the reasons why I like using a whole chicken is because it's pretty cheap. You can get them for around $.95 to $1.19 per pound depending on where you buy it. Another reason is that it kind of brings me back to how we used to cook chickens. Before the processing world and before there were more oversized chicken breast at the grocery stores than the beaches in florida. People use to cook whole chickens and just used that meal. So back to the basics we go.
I will say that none of these recipes are solely my own creation and I will give credit where credit is due.
First all, cooking the whole chicken.
I probably have cooked about 10 whole chickens in my course of living in this house and probably half of those have been within the course of this year. I think for a lot of people couple of the biggest reasons why they just don't deal with the whole chicken is that recipes don't call for it and usually say boneless skinless chicken breast, don't have the supplies to cook it and don't really know what to do. Well today I'm am going to help you overcome all your roasting a chicken fears.
I'm not sure why but it seems like 95% of all recipes call for boneless skinless chicken breasts and while some recipes do need that but many casseroles and other chicken dishes do perfectly find with mixed chicken meat.
I didn't have the proper supplies to roast a chicken for awhile and I think it really affected how often I cooked it but once I bought the string, yes that was all that holding me back, I've been a roasting machine. I could still use a thermometer but that will come in time.
The recipe that I really enjoy using is the Pioneer Woman roasted chicken recipe. Her lemon rosemary roasted chicken tastes amazing and isn't too hard to follow. BTW I love Pioneer Woman, I love her recipes and how it seems like real home cookings and all the photos she includes online and in her cookbooks (check them out if you haven't). I've very much a picture looker when it comes to food. If the picture of the meal is in the menu, I'm 50% more likely to order it, picture in the cookbook, i'm making it. For her recipes, she gives you step by step pictures on the meal so you can tell when you messed up. But back to the recipe.
Recipe #1 - Whole roasted chicken
This is her recipe or a take on her recipe ( I didn't have the rosemary) so I made just lemon chicken. Thats the great thing about this whole roasted chicken, you can really make it your own. Add different spices,using whats you already have.
All you need is a whole chicken, butter (PW most), a couple twigs of rosemary (or not), and some lemons.
You set the butter out to get to room temperature so it's easy to spread.
Once the butter is ready, I start to prep the chicken. I make sure that I take out all the extra stuff they put in the cavity and make sure I dry it really well. If you don't I find it harder to stick the butter to chicken. I added some lemon zest to the butter and then spread it over the chicken.
I like to get it into the wings and around the thighs before I try them up.
Before you try the chicken make sure you add the lemon halves into the cavity, I forgot the first time and messed up my first leg tie.
I place the chicken in the roaster pan and place it in the oven. I'm not sure if it's the size of the chicken or my oven but it takes almost two hours to cook the chicken. Yes two hours but it's not like i'm standing over the stove stirring for two hours. I put the chicken in the over and we are outside or playing in the living room. When I have fresh rosemary I like to cut it up and add it to the some mashed potatoes - AMAZING.
After dinner and giving the time the chicken to cool. After removing the meat, I had about 1.5 lbs of mixed meat to use in future meals.
Recipe #2 - Chicken and Broccoli Bake
This recipe is one that my mom used to make and I'm not sure 100% where it really comes from. I never used to make it but Wes and I once got the Stouffers one and Wes kept saving about how much he liked it and I knew that my mom had a similar recipe and when she asked what she would bring for after James' was born, I suggested this and then stole the recipe. My mom and I do differ on what can of creme to use. I like to use either chicken or broccoli, pretty much depending on what I have in the kitchen but I think my mom is one strictly broccoli team. One of the great things about this recipe is that it has a lot of room to make it your own and what you have in your kitchen. Don't have cream of chicken, use broccoli, no egg noddles, maybe elbow will work and so forth. I think the flexibility of this meal is what really helps with the grocery budget.
All you need for this recipe is 2 cups of cut up meat, some butter noodles, a can of cream of chicken (or broccoli), frozen broccoli, some cheese, butter and ritz crackers (or something similar).
I preheated the over to 350, cooked the noodle to al dente and put the broccoli in the microwave. I usually leave a couple minutes short of the recommended time because I don't want to broccoli to be too cooked. After all the prep, man thats a lot of prep, I mix it all together, except for the butter and crackers, in a large bowl and add it to the casserole dish.
I melt the butter, crushed up some crackers and spread them over the top of the casserole and put it in the oven.
I think it cooks for about 30 to 45 minutes. Remember everything is already precooked so you are just warming up and making it delicious. I pull it out when it starts to look golden.
Recipe #3 - Chicken Enchiladas
This recipe is a campbell soup recipe and one that I found many years ago and still make at least once a month. It's that good and simple.
It calls for 2 cups of diced chicken,1 can of creme of chicken, 1 cup of picante sauce, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of cheese, chili pepper, 5 or 6 tortillas.
You mix the picante sauce, sour cream, cream of chicken and chili pepper in one medium size bowl. Take one cup of that mixture and add it to the chicken and cheese, mix all together. Warm the tortillas in the microwave for about 30 seconds so they are easier to fold. Depending on how fat I make the enchiladas I can usually make about 5 to 6 with this recipe.
I just scope the chicken fillings in to the tortillas, wrap and place face down in the casserole dish.
After using all the filling, I take the picante mixture and spread it over the top of naked enchiladas. I also like to sprinkle a little cheese on the top to make it extra cheesy.
I actually added more than two cups of diced chicken to this recipe because I had some leftover and wasn't sure what else to make with it. If you were really trying to stretch the use of a whole chicken, you can use the leftover bones from the roasted chicken and make a chicken noodle soup.
So here are three, almost four, recipes that you can get from one whole chicken.
What are you favorite spices to use with a roasted chicken?
Do you prefer cooking with dark or light meat?
What is your favorite chef or cookbook?
-Megan
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