How to cook a whole chicken

or as I like to say, How to make many meals out of one little chicken!  If you are squeamish about cooking with chicken, then this might not be the meal for you but I encourage you to try your best because it's totally worth it.

You will need:

1 - Whole chicken (also called a fryer chicken in some stores); size of your choosing
1 - Apple of any variety
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Seasoning of choice:  In our case, we used Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute

The first thing you'll need to do is clean the chicken up a little bit.  Like turkey at Thanksgiving, there are parts of the chicken that need to be removed before you can cook it.  If you're lucky, like we were, they will come already in a little baggie for you to remove.  Pull out the baggie and discard.  Note: Apparently you can use them to make gravy but I never have nor do I know how.  Run water through the chicken and say a little "Hey chicken, sorry for this but I appreciate you" It will start at the top of the body and come out the other end.  Rinse off the outside of the chicken from all the juices from packaging.

Ok, now you're ready to prep for the oven. Preheat the oven somewhere around here to 350 degrees F and prep a roasting pan for said chicken.  Take your hands and put some oil in them (maybe 1- 2 tablespoons).  You'll want to coat the skin of the chicken but not so it's dripping.  As you are rubbing the oil into the chicken, take your fingers and go under the skin as much as you can.  This will help keep your meat moist as well as the skin moist.

Take some salt, pepper and seasoning of your choice and follow the same steps at the oil.  Making sure to season evenly so that your chicken is tasty all around.  I've used just salt and pepper; I've used salt, pepper, garlic powder.  It's really your preference.

Take the apple and gently place it :) inside the body cavity of the chicken.  If you're having trouble doing it, close your eyes and push it quick.  It will be over before you know it and it will help make your chicken better.

Place in the pan and cook according to the directions on your package (Mine was 20 minutes per pound) until you have the delicious smell of roasted chicken engulfing your house.

Enjoy!


If you want to make more than just roasted chicken with that whole fryer, then cut off the meat after you are done eating and place the carcass in a large stock pot.  Fill pot with water, cut up onions, carrots, salt and pepper.  Cook until you have some amazing tasting chicken stock.  Drain off the pieces and freeze for making chicken noodle soup on a cold day!