How to Bake a Whole Chicken – Reader Question

The bad thing about cooking a whole chicken in the crockpot is no crispy skin to fight over! Seriously, we fight over the skin. LOL. Luckily, my second son doesn’t like the skin (???), so he hands it off to his brother, which leaves plenty for me and dh.

I have to cook two hens @ a time as my family loves roasted chicken. If I had a pan that held 4 hens, I cook 4 at a time. It’s a really simple, good meal that keeps on giving.

Here’s the version I use: Roasted Chicken

Motherhen68’s last blog post..Lost meets Twilight

[Reply]

I have a question related to this that maybe people could share their wisdom on.

I have never had chicken stock made with bones from a cooked chicken actually gell. Never. And I have used high-quality, pastured chickens. My WAPF leader told me you have to use raw / uncooked bones to get it to gell. And when I do that, I can. (I buy bags of bones from pastured chickens). It would be great to get the cooked bones stock to gell, though. Any tips?

[Reply]

Jessie, maybe you’ve got too much of a water to chicken bone ratio. I recently did a chicken in a crockpot (breast side down), no foil (I don’t believe there are any heating elements on the bottom, and added about 1/4 cup water. When the chicken was done it was almost 3/4 covered in liquids! After I pulled out all of the yummy chicken pieces (the whole thing fell apart) I stored the juice in the fridge. The next day it was almost like jello and made some wonderful stock. I added some filtered water, the carcass, bones, and remaining skin, veggies, etc. and cooked another 24 hours. Really quite easy, but I did miss that crispy, crunchy, salty skin

[Reply]

1. BROTH: we always use a mixture of cooked and raw bones, and our stock gels up into a solid brick! We use one cooked carcass and a few raw backs.

2. ROAST CHICKEN: we always do it the same way. Rub the chicken all over with lots of salt the day before cooking, leave covered in fridge. Then scatter unpeeled garlic cloves over the whole thing, roast at 400, breast-side down for 20 min. Then f lip, roast for 20 min. Flip again, 20 min. Check for doneness. This allows the chicken to baste itself in the drippings!

Sometimes we stuff sprigs of rosemary inside the chicken…but just garlic and salt usually make for a perfect bird.

[Reply]

I am another chicken-in-the-crockpot-all-the-way gal! It is moist, fall off the bone every time! Even for the local, pastured chickens which tend to be more tough – nope, not in the crockpot.

Thanks for sharing about the vinegar in the stock pot with the bones – I’ll try that!

Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS’s last blog post..Link Appeal ~ June 18, 2009

[Reply]

Cavity, carcus, feet…ewwww!!! I have a hard time making hamburger patties because I don’t want to touch the raw meat. I leave that up to my husband for now, but I plan to get over my fears so that I don’t pass them onto my kids. I’m so thankful to those who post, it gives me strength.

[Reply]

Thanks for the tips on the stock! I do use the apple cider vinegar & basically do the recipe from Nourishing Traditions. I will try cooking it down more next time. Thanks sooo much for all the encouragement. Real food websites and blogs have really inspirted me. I feel much more connected & empowered – that I’m not the only one out there trying to do this. You’re all great!

[Reply]

I cook my whole chickens in a covered roaster pan. It is one of those speckled black pans like your grandma may have had. A whole chicken is one of my Sunday dinner items. 250 degrees all morning while we are at church. My boys think it is great fun to gather all of the bones, unwanted skin, etc. off everyone’s plate and put it into the stock pot. In the interest of “easing into” this whole cooking thing here is a thought…one of the first times we made homemade chicken stock was when we had purchased a rotisserie chicken from the store (I know, I know!) but we used the bones, skin, little bites people didn’t eat and made our first stock. It was fabulous and really got us heading down the path of doing the whole thing from scratch without taking on the entire process ourselves for the very first time.

[Reply]

OK, I must inject my manly ways of cooking whole chickens. A grill is the best. I do it a couple different ways.

One of our favorites is beer-can chicken. Yes I know, beer cans aren’t very traditional or even healthy, but you don’t have to drink it. I generally buy a beer I don’t mind drinking (i.e. no Budweiser or other ratty beer). You don’t have to have one of these, but I have a little beer can/chicken stand. First drink half the can of beer (or poor it out). You place the beer can in the stand and then pull the large opening of the chicken cavity over the beer can opening. Then rub your favorite spice blend all over the chicken and maybe shove a small onion or some garlic cloves in the neck opening. Place on the grill (or in the oven with a pan underneath) and cook on medium until done. This makes for a tender and juicy chicken with a lot of flavor. You can also put herbs into the beer for extra flavor.

Since I’m living in a camper right now and stuck with one of those mini-grills, I grill chicken halves. Place the chicken back-side down and take a large very sharp chef’s knife into the cavity along one side of the spine. Using a fair amount of force you will cut through the rib bones and then do the same on the other side of the spine and remove the spine. Then you can spread the chicken apart and cut the other side in half. You may need to pull out the breast bone to do so as it’s pretty thick. Season both halves on all sides and place bone side down on the grill and grill on medium or medium low. The longer cook time will produce a crispier skin.

We’re also a fan of the crockpot method.

Brian Glass’s last blog post..Traditional Education

[Reply]

If I am baking a chicken in the oven, I always fill the cavity (after I have pulled out the “Yucky stuff”) with an onion, a few cloves off garlic and fresh herbs in the summer. Parsley, chives, thyme, orgeno, etc.that come straight from our herb bed. In the winter I add carrots and celery to the cavity. I then place the bird in a 9×13 pan drench it with olive oil and more dried herbs. I baste it a few times while baking. After I roast it my family also fights over the delicious crunchy skin.
If I want chicken for soup or casseroles, I just throw it in the crockpot with onions, celery and carrots. I do not add water, and I end up with a 1 1/2 to 2 cups of wonderful drippings.

[Reply]

I roast a chicken every Monday in the crockpot. I can do different sides to go with it each week and change the whole meal up. Then after dinner I put all the bones back in the crockpot with the drippings, add water, vinegar, celery, onions, garlic, etc. and turn it on low. Tuesday night or Wed morning (24-36 hrs. later) I strain it and freeze the broth. It has been so easy, and I always have broth for anything I need/want. The bones crush easily between my fingers, and the broth gels nicely. It’s actually richer because there’s less water, but I can dilute it if I need to some.

[Reply]

Hmmm…I’m currently making my 3rd batch of chicken stock – with a whole raw pastured chicken. The first time I used the vinegar and an organic chicken I bought at Whole Foods, but I didn’t get a lot of gel. I even added some extra store-bought gelatin. The second time I tried some neck bones from a pastured chicken – and it gelled really well! I have high hopes for the pastured chicken on the stove right now. I actually didn’t know you could use leftover bones and bits of meat/skin from a roasted chicken…thanks for that tip!!! I love roasted chicken, and was getting used to the idea of only having boiled chicken!!! Silly me. I may have to try crockpot chicken…I love how easy that sounds! I might even be able to coerce my hubby into cooking chicken if that’s all it takes!

[Reply]

Two questions.

1) I’ve often done broth from my bones, before knowing any special health stuff. Just figured it was healthier and more economical than store-bought. So I don’t know all the NT type benefits and instructions. What’s the deal with having the broth gel? Is there some secret health bonus if it gels? I just do mine and sometimes they gel sometimes they don’t. I never gave it a thought. But now you’ve got me worried. You know, the, “Maybe I’m doing something wrong!!!” feeling.

2) I’ve always strained my broth with cheesecloth because I don’t care for the gritty bone fragments. Nancyo mentioned the bones crushing easily. Is this grit something I am supposed to strive for and leave in? Or is that just an indication that the broth is fully utilizing the nutrients in the bones. Please tell me we may continue to strain it.

Thanks, Mary

[Reply]

Easiest way of all is on the grill.Marinate the chicken with olive oil, lemon,garlic or whatever herbs you like. Open a can of beer,drink (or pour out) about a third of it. Sit the chicken on the open beer can, so that when it gets hot on the grill the beer will bubble up and “baste” the bird,keeping it nice and moist. You watn the grill to be hot, I usually keep one side of the grill very hot, and perch the bird and beer can in a metal pan on the other side of the grill,away from direct heat.Close the lid andl et itcook about 20 min per pound,same as in oven.Or until about180 degrees F. If you google “drunk chicken” you’ll see all the variations on this simple, delicious chicken, perfect for hot summer nights when you don’t wantto cook indoors.
Enjoy.

Dee’s last blog post..Another reason to ‘buy direct’ from our farmers

[Reply]

I finally did it! I bought an organic whole chicken and (with the help of my DH) cooked it, ate some of it and cleaned the leftover meat off the bones. Delicious!! I put the bones in the freezer to wait until we do it again and I can make a big pot of bone broth. Thank you Kelly for blogging and thank you to all of you who comment, it has given me courage and guidance.

[Reply]

If you don’t have a roasting rack, you can raise your chicken off the bottom of the pan (to prevent sticking, etc.) by making a rack of veggies. Cover the bottom of the pan with celery stalks and carrots cut in half lengthwise (so they lay flat) and set the chicken on top. When it’s done, the veggies can go into the stockpot, theoretically – but it’s hard to resist eating them, since they’re slightly caramelized and infused with rich pan juices!

[Reply]

I tried the crockpot way… Absolutely loved it!!

I thawed it out, took out all of the goods inside (as I planned on a oven baked chicken), then I saw this… And fell in love with the simplicity & less work of the crockpot… after cutting up onion, carrots, garlic, celery, I then placed in my salt & peppered the chicken… Then topped with remaining cut up goods and filled with 1/2 cup of water… Set on low & let it cook… I woke up at 7am approx 10 hours later to an amazing aroma from all of the yummy goodness! I have yet to taste, but I’m sure it will be absolutely mouthwatering & delicious!

Thank you to everyone that contributed to the post… Special thanks to the author! This was sooo helpful! Can’t wait to taste it!

Yay crockpot!!!

What sides did everyone make with their chicken?
What did you do with all that chicken meat?

until next time!

[Reply]