If you are a sucker for buying Rotisserie chicken from your local deli when you’re out of dinner ideas, then you will LOVE this super simple recipe.
Cooking a whole chicken is such a “mature adult” thing to do, but surprisingly it actually isn’t difficult at all. You will definitely impress your friends and family with this recipe. Not to mention, its super budget friendly.
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All you will need:
- 1 whole chicken
- 1/2 lemon or lemon juice
- fresh thyme (dried, powder thyme will actually work well too)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp of unsalted butter (melted)
- Poultry rub
- Salt
Here’s how to do it:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
- Remove any chicken giblets from inside, and thoroughly rinse inside and outside of chicken
- Melt the butter in the microwave. I like to add a minced clove of garlic and a dash of thyme to the butter to infuse it with flavor as it melts.
- Stuff the chicken with half of lemon, about 2 tsp of salt, and a bunch of thyme. Drizzle a small amount of butter into the chicken too.
- If you’re like me and are too lazy to do this, just squeeze some lemon juice in there, shake a few dashes of thyme in there, add a few cracks of salt, and drizzle in a little bit of butter. It’s not as fancy, but it has worked for me every time.
- Add the rest of the minced garlic to the butter.
- Choose your baking dish. Since I do not have kitchen string, I use a 9×9 nonstick baking pan to keep the chicken tightly tucked together. If you do have kitchen string, now is the time to tie the legs together.
- With the chicken in the pan you will be baking it in, drizzle on or brush on half of the butter to the breast side of the chicken. Evenly spread out the butter with your hands if you drizzle it on.
- Liberally coat the chicken in the chicken rub.
- Sprinkle on a little bit of extra thyme and a few pinches of salt.
- Flip over the chicken, and repeat the last 3 steps. Keep the bird breast side down. This will allow for more flavor in the breast meat. If you’re going for presentation, cook the bird on it’s back.
- Place the chicken in the oven for 1.5 hours. The baking time will vary depending on the size of your bird.
- Once the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees, take the chicken out of the oven and cover it with tin foil. Let it set for 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pan, and place it onto a dish or cutting board to prepare for serving. Remember to flip the bird onto it’s back if it was cooked breast side down!
