Baked whole chicken is a great way to entertain when you are having friends over. Most people love chicken and this dish is so very easy to do. A lot of folks have had dried out chicken before and they do not like it so they will be very impressed with this dish when it comes out of the oven.
One of your concerns about this is that you want to make sure that your chicken is cooked all the way through. As humans we cannot eat our chicken rare - or even medium rare. when you take the chicken out of the oven, it the meat is pink, then it needs to be cooked more.
A well cooked roasted bird will have some juicy tender meat and this will be fully cooked and crisp. So here is how we come out with that.
We are going to pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees with the roasting pan (but not the rack) in it. While the oven is pre-heating we can take the neck, giblets and all of the trimmings from out of the inside of the bird. Unless you are planning on using them for something then you can just throw them away. Rinse the bird inside and out and pat dry.
Now take some butter and melt it down. Then right at the neck, insert your fingers and loosen the skin away from the bird. Put some of that melted butter between the skin and the meat of the chicken. Then season with salt and pepper between the skin and the meat...mmm..this is going to be some great tasting baked whole chicken!
Now generously season the inside of the bird (the cavities) and the outside with salt and pepper. And for this baked whole chicken recipe I will take about three medium lemons which have been washed and dried and cut them in two and insert them into the chicken.
Next, take about three or four big sprigs of rosemary and insert them into the bird. Now you can brush the outside of the bird with the rest of that melted butter. Place the bird onto the rack and then place the rack into the pre-heated pan in the oven.
Now for this baked whole chicken dish which I call Lemon rosemary chicken, you can turn down the oven to 375 degrees and cook this for about 1 and a half to two hours. I would set the timer for an hour and then when it goes off, what I do is to check to make sure that the chicken is not too brown. It will not be done, so do not let the brownness fool you.
Just because it is brown on the outside does not mean that it is fully cooked. And this is where a lot of 'newbies' get lost. They take it out of the oven, thinking that it is done and then serve it up to their family only to have half of it still red with blood. Nope, don't want to go there with baked whole chicken!
Here is what you do. If it is too brown, simply cover it loosely with aluminum foil (shiny side out) and keep cooking until the internal temperature is 165 to 170 degrees. You will need an internal thermometer for that. I use an instant read one which will tell you right away.
If you do not have one then you can simply wiggle the leg back and forth. If it moves very freely then most likely it is done. But I would still cut into the joint right there where the leg meets the body and if the juices run clear, clear, clear, not red, then it is done.
By all means you can now set it out on the counter and cover it loosely and let it rest for about fifteen minutes before you start to carve it us and serve it.
Now this is probably the easiest baked whole chicken dish which you will ever do and folks will love it. It will have that lemon rosemary flavor and be moist and juicy and people will think you slaved over that all day.
Lemon Rosemary Baked Whole Chicken
1 whole chicken, rinsed and dried
3 medium lemons, washed and dried and cut into halves
3-4 whole sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
melted butter
If you like this recipe and advice please check out more recipes and advice free on my blog at: Baked Whole Chicken.
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