Making this Convenience Food At home is Easy with this recipe
Anyone who is a fan of 30-minute meals knows the value of a grocery store rotisserie chicken. They are piping hot and can be picked up for a song if you need dinner tonight. You can get one even cheaper if you only want the chicken and are willing to pick up a previously cooked chicken shelved in the deli refrigerator as a day-old.
These day-old chickens are the backbone of dozens of meals, from chicken salad to chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas, chicken soup, chicken alfredo, and chicken sandwiches - do I need to go on?
Rotisserie chickens have tremendous merit for busy cooks. I’m all for them, but do you know how easy it is to make your own rotisserie chicken at home?
When whole chickens go on sale, this is a perfect hack. Since fresh poultry doesn’t store for long in the fridge, most people will bypass a whole bird because who has time for that on a Tuesday night? Buy the chicken on Saturday. Cook it on Saturday or Sunday and store it in the fridge. It is already cooked and ready for quick weekday dining.
If you have 40 minutes, a sheet pan and an oven, you can absolutely make your own rotisserie chicken at home - I promise.
Buy small chickens
Grocery store rotisserie chickens are small, so they cook quickly. You want the same quick cooking size. Aim for something around 1.5-2 kg (about 3-5 lbs.)
Spatchcock for speed and flavour
Break out your knife and do a little butchering. Remove the backbone of the chicken and lay the chicken out flat on the sheet pan - this is called spatchcocking. The method speeds up cooking and ensures a more even cook. A small chicken will cook in less than 45 minutes. The same bird left intact and trussed will take about 90 minutes to cook. Imagine how fast you can cook a larger bird like a turkey; I’ve done a small turkey in as little as 90 minutes using this method. It’s a technique worth mastering. Fortunately, spatchcocking is one of the easiest techniques to learn.
The other benefit of spatchcocking is flavour. With the inside of the bird exposed and lots of flat surface area to work with, you can get your seasoning over every nook and cranny of the chicken. Season the skin side, but sprinkle the underside generously with seasoning as well.
Season seriously
Grocery store rotisserie chickens are so cravable because they are so flavourful. By this, I mean they are salty. We think their secret is some special BBQ seasoning, but it’s just generous amounts of salt bringing out the flavour.
Chicken is one of those ingredients that most cooks under season. Chicken can handle salt - needs it, actually. Grocery stores have this nailed, keeping us coming back for more. In my recipe for rotisserie chicken, there is a serious amount of salt in the seasoning rub - that’s okay - it’s one chicken - we aren’t eating this every day (even if you want to).
Prepare with time
You should never cook meat straight from the fridge right into the oven. Give all meats a minimum of half an hour at room temperature to take the immediate chill off before putting them in the hot oven. This time is the ideal opportunity to let your chicken bask in seasoning. Spatchcock your chicken, season it all around, lay it on your sheet pan and let it sit for 30 minutes before you preheat your oven.
The bird will warm up, and the seasoning will permeate the meat before cooking.
Roast on high heat
425F seems hot. It is. Let’s not fool around. Cook this chicken hot, and let's get it done.
Keep your probe thermometer handy. Check the chicken at the 30-minute mark. We want the temperature to be 160F in the breast. When you remove it from the oven, the temperature will rise to the 165F mark.
Rest
After all that high heat, ensure the chicken rests before you carve into it. Twenty minutes will allow the bird to relax and will redistribute the juices throughout the meat.
This time cools the chicken to a point where it is easy to handle without burning yourself.
Debone while the chicken is hot
While the chicken is warm remove it from the bones. Use a small paring knife to help you detach any stuck bits, but for the most part, a warm chicken will fall from the bones so much easier than the meat will carve if the cooked chicken is chilled.
I remove all the bones. Eat the wings because they are my kryptonite. And pack the roasted chicken into a resealable container for the fridge. It makes meals later in the week much easier because the chicken is entirely ready for use with no fiddly carving to do.
Refrigerate
Once the chicken is ready for storage, get it into your refrigerator. Otherwise, you risk picking away as it sits on the counter. Before you know it, your family will have eaten the entire chicken you intended to have on hand for Tuesday’s Thai Noodle Soup and Thursday’s Chicken Caesar Wraps.
We also want to quickly cool the chicken to a safe storage temperature if we will reheat it later in the week. Food safety is essential to maintain in planned leftovers.
Dream of your next meal with Rotisserie Chicken ready and waiting
Knowing you have cooked chicken in the fridge ready to go will make you dream about what meals you’ll make. So what will you make?
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