I like to take advantage of sales at the grocery store just like everyone else.  I am always on the look out for great weekly sales on fresh meat or mark-downs on meat that are close to their sell by date.  You can pick up some great deals, take them home and freeze them, and then use them when you are ready.  Uncooked whole roaster chickens will keep up to a year in your freezer.  This one was almost 5 lbs. and was only frozen for a couple weeks, but I had a craving for some juicy chicken for dinner!

For this, I pulled it out of the freezer and stored it in the refrigerator to thaw – roughly about 24 hours.  There are only two ingredients to this dish, it is HOW you cook it that gives you the great result!  The first step is to preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Next step in cooking any roaster chicken is to get it out of the packaging and rinse it clean under cold water.  Make sure to remove any neck or other parts that may have been packaged inside the chicken.

Place the roaster chicken in a 9×13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking.  Make sure you place the bird in with the legs facing up.  Put the roaster chicken in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  Pull the chicken out and add the only other ingredient – butter.  Now that the chicken has begun to warm up, use a fork to run a pad of butter across the skin of the chicken, making sure to coat it all.  This will help the skin brown at the high temperature and lock the flavor in when we reduce the cooking temperature a little later.

Return the chicken to the oven at 425 degrees for another 15 minutes.  At the end of the 15 minutes, pull the chicken out to apply a little more butter to the skin.  Now is the time you will reduce the temperature of the oven down to 375 degrees.  Once you have spread the butter across the skin once more, return the chicken to the oven and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.  At the end of the 40 minutes, make sure you insert a meat thermometer to ensure that the chicken has cooked completely and has been cooked to the proper degrees – generally between 180-190 degrees.

I allow the chicken to sit out for about 5-10 minutes to cool off before I begin to carve it to serve.  This method locks in the flavor and juices and makes the best, juiciest chicken ever!

I will serve the chicken for dinner one night with some fresh steamed vegetables, and then I will pick the chicken for the leftovers.  You can make so many great recipes with the leftover chicken, my favorites being Tortilla Soup and Chicken Pot Pie!  The meat can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or so to be used in leftovers, or it can be sealed up in plastic bags to be stored back in the freezer for 4-6 months.

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The Perfect Roaster Chicken

Author: Heather

Recipe type: Dinner

Serves: 6

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  1 hour 20 mins

Total time:  1 hour 25 mins

Ingredients

• 4-5 lbs roaster chicken
• butter

Instructions

1. For this, I pulled it out of the freezer and stored it in the refrigerator to thaw – roughly about 24 hours.  There are only two ingredients to this dish, it is HOW you cook it that gives you the great result!  The first step is to preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Next step in cooking any roaster chicken is to get it out of the packaging and rinse it clean under cold water.  Make sure to remove any neck or other parts that may have been packaged inside the chicken.
2. Place the roaster chicken in a 9×13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking.  Make sure you place the bird in with the legs facing up.  Put the roaster chicken in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  Pull the chicken out and add the only other ingredient – butter.  Now that the chicken has begun to warm up, use a fork to run a pad of butter across the skin of the chicken, making sure to coat it all.  This will help the skin brown at the high temperature and lock the flavor in when we reduce the cooking temperature a little later.
3. Return the chicken to the oven at 425 degrees for another 15 minutes.  At the end of the 15 minutes, pull the chicken out to apply a little more butter to the skin.  Now is the time you will reduce the temperature of the oven down to 375 degrees.  Once you have spread the butter across the skin once more, return the chicken to the oven and bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.  At the end of the 40 minutes, make sure you insert a meat thermometer to ensure that the chicken has cooked completely and has been cooked to the proper degrees – generally between 180-190 degrees.
4. Allow the chicken to sit out for about 5-10 minutes to cool off before I begin to carve it to serve. The meat can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or so to be used in leftovers, or it can be sealed up in plastic bags to be stored back in the freezer for 4-6 months.

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