Made this last night for 2nd time with some minor changes, and it was SO good - hubby said it was possibly the best chicken I ever made and as good, if not even better than the store rotisserie chickens (which, in our opinion, are extremely yummy). The only things I did differently were I used a large 7+ lb. roaster instead of the 2 smaller ones. For the spices, I eliminated white pepper (who has that?) and cut the cayenne and paprika in half, and increased the garlic powder to a full teaspoon. Even doing that there is still plenty of kick in the spice mix. Like another reviewer I added a couple Tbsps. of minced garlic to the onions in the cavity. The biggest change? Last time I just seasoned and stuck in oven. This time, I wrapped in double plastic wrap (with the onions/garlic in place in the cavity) & ended up marinating for over 24 hours in the fridge - purely by accident, but it made all the difference!! Slow-roasting at 250 (I did go up to 275 for about 45 min. in middle of cooking to ensure it would be done in time for dinner) cooked the bird perfectly in exactly 4 hours (Use a meat therm. - take out at 170, and let it rest before carving, it will be perfectly cooked but not dried out). Made gravy with the drippings, but the white meat was so moist it didn't even need it. I will never make a roast chicken any other way!! P.S. when the chicken is done, drizzle some pan drippings over it, the chicken will suddenly glisten and look picture perfect for the table.
I love this recipe and make it often. My only suggestion is to get a jar and mix up a lot of the seasonings at one time to keep in your cabinet. I changed the servings to 64 and the ingredents came up in cup and tablespoon amounts for easy mixing. Then when I make a chicken I have the "mix" at my fingertips. It takes 3 to 4 tablespoons of mix per chicken. I normally serve this "rubber chicken" style with lots of veggies so I have leftover chicken. The next day I make enchiladas with the leftovers. Then I boil the bones for tortilla soup. This gives 3 meals my family of 5 loves. Even my picky son eats these 3 meals.
I normally make this in the crockpot for easy cooking, but the roasting it in the oven yeilds better results.
My kids simply LOVE this chicken recipe (7 year old & teenagers)! Chicken always comes out so tender & flavorful. They especially love the gravy this makes: I add a can of chicken broth mixed with a tablespoon cornstarch to the pan juices, and let boil till thicken. And here's another tip for those days where I can't find 5 hours to spare to roast a chicken: I take 5 or 6 chicken breasts with bone, I skip the onions & skip the overnight marinating step. Instead, toss seasonings & chicken in a large oven roasting bag, shake till chicken are all evenly coated. Bake in 350 oven for 1-1/2 hours. MOST REQUESTED CHICKEN in my household! I highly recommend this recipe!!
Wow! What a great "fix it and forget it" recipe! So moist, so tender, I cut it with my fork and barely had to chew it! My chicken was 4-1/2 pounds, so I found I only had to roast it about 3-1/2 hours, roasted to 170 degrees. I marinaded it in the spice rub the night before, using half the salt called for and a tad less pepper, and it suited our tastes perfectly. Overooking this, of course, would totally ruin it, so I would treat the directed roasting time only as a guide and use a meat thermometer if possible.
Wish I could give this one more than 5 stars. I followed the recipe as stated, exception of white pepper, did not miss it. I did leave in fridge overnight. And then I cooked for 4 1/2 hours. I also did not have a whole chicken, but had wings as I always do. I greased my roaster pan with little oil then laid layers of onions in my pan I laid my wings over my onions I roasted for three hours then I put my rack in my roaster pan and put my wings on the rack and cooked 1 1/2 hours more, this was the best chicken ever, can not wait to roast a whole bird. but it's good to know that chicken pieces work as well. My wings came out very juicy and moist. this is more than a 5 star chicken. YOU MUST TRY IT!!!!!!!.Update!!!! I cook this again using a whole bird and it was as great as my wings, very juicy and the skin was crispy. I did let it sit overnight and then on my lunch break at 12:30pm yesterday I went home and popped it in the oven. When I got home the house smelled so good and I still had and hour left to prepare my rice and fried cabbage. This time I also made pan gravy from the drippings. A Sunday meal on a Thursday with little effort. Yum Yum.
This is THE BEST chicken ever! We buy lots of chickens when on sale, then coat with the seasoning mixture and freeze. Recently I have been making the sticky chicken in the crockpot and it turns out just as delicious and it's lots easier. The drippings make the most fantastic gravy ever. I try to have this on the menu a few times each month. Terrific!
This is a GREAT chicken recipe. I'm sure most of it has to do with the baking technique, but the spice combination is great too. This chicken was falling off of the bones! I baked a 4 lb chicken for approximately 4.5 hours, and that was probably a bit too long. I followed the recipe, halving it as I was only baking one chicken. I did make some changes as follows:
*Only used 1 tsp salt
*Kept the onion powder and garlic powder amounts the same, didn't halve them.
*I didn't have an onion to put in the cavity, but did have a bunch of green onions. I cut them in 3rds and stuffed them inside the chicken along with some minced garlic.
*I brushed the chicken with melted butter prior to rubbing the spice mixture on (had some spice mixture left over).
* I took four pats of butter (about 2T total) and shook them into the remaining spice mixture, completely covering them. I then put 2 pats under the skin of the chicken on top of the breast on each side.
* I cut up potatoes and carrots and placed them in the bottom of the pan, placing the chicken on top when baking it.
This turned out great. The skin was crisp, the meat was juicy and tender. The juices made an EXCELLENT gravy. Definitely a keeper!
YUMMERS!!! Hands down THE BEST chicken I have ever made and I have made alot of chicken in my day!!! I took the pan drippings while the chicken "rested" and added 1 can chicken broth and tablespoon of cornstarch (shaking the stock and cornstarch in a mason jar prior to adding to the drippings) and made a gravy...No need to add additional seasoning to the gravy...it was FANTABULOSO!!!! This recipe is definately one of my favorites! Will make again and again! UPDATE: My 10 year old son has asked me 3 times this week to make this "yummy" chicken (as he calls it)....he LOVES it and it's on the menu tonight!!! I will put it in at 2:00 and by the time we get home from Trick or Treating.... dinner will be done...I will put Yukon gold potatos and carrots in the roaster as well so all I will have to do is make the gravy!!! TIP: The last time I wrapped fresh corn on the cobb (breifly blanched buttered and seasoned) in foil and slow roasted it along with the chicken.....YUMMERS!
This was honestly the best whole chicken I have ever eaten. The seasoning went all the way through the meat. I doubled the seasoning recipe and then only used one chicken as I love lots of flavor. I lifted the skin and rubbed the seasoning directly onto the meat as well as on top of the skin. I cooked it on 250 like the recipe said until the internal temp reached about 175 then I turned it up to 350 to get the skin extra crispy until the chicken was done. This was a great recipe!
We followed the recipe exactly and the skin turned out very dry and tough. The meat was still moist but it did not remind me of rotisserie chicken. It was really just okay. Not bad but not amazing. I honestly think the 5 hour cooking time was just too long and that's why it ended up being so dry.
