Even a photo of baked chicken in the oven causes pleasant emotions in the soul of every gourmet. Is it possible to remain indifferent, looking at the ruddy peel, snow-white meat of the breast or juicy nourishing thighs? What can we say about a dish with a fragrant golden carcass, which is fragrant and attracts? If you want to please your family with this incomparable treat, choose a recipe from our selection and get started soon!
For such a meal, even a special reason is not needed, because chicken is an inexpensive and affordable meat that is sold in any grocery store. Cooking this type of meat is not difficult. But some skill is still needed. In our article you will find several recipes, as well as many useful tips that will help you to understand in detail how to bake chicken in the oven.
Choice of carcass and preliminary preparation
It is better to use for baking carcasses of domestic chicken meat breeds. They require more heat treatment, but their aroma and taste will be the reward for the diligent cook and his friends.
But if you have to work with a regular farm chicken, you can also count on a good result.
When choosing a carcass, carefully examine it from all sides. Try to choose a chicken with whole skin, it will look neater.
It is important that the bones in the legs are not broken. This is not a problem if you are cooking stews or goulash, but for carcassing whole carcasses with damage it is extremely undesirable.
After washing the meat from all sides and slightly wiping it with a paper towel, carefully examine the skin. If feathers remain on it, they must be removed before cooking. You can use tweezers, this will facilitate the work.
On the heap of chicken there is an unpleasant taste of iron the size of a cherry stone. To such an unpleasant surprise did not get any of the guests, it is better to cut it off with a sharp knife.
Very carefully you need to inspect the neck. Is there no esophagus or trachea under the skin? Both of these organs are similar to tubules, usually it is not difficult to take them out. If the neck (or peel from it) is too long, it is better to cut it off and leave it to prepare first courses.
Pickling
Many cooks prefer to pay attention to this moment before baking the whole chicken in the oven. The crust due to the marinade will acquire a beautiful shade, and the meat will cook faster. Marinating allows you to nourish the pulp with the aroma of spices.
Tender poultry does not need too active flavors. In this case, the main thing is to emphasize the delicate taste of the product, and not overshadow it.
Great carbonated mineral water is great for marinade base. Just add some spices to it and slightly salt. In an hour, it will be possible to send the carcass to the oven. This versatile marinade is suitable for most recipes.
Sour-milk marinade is good for chicken: kefir, homemade yogurt, yogurt. Add a little finely chopped young herbs and garlic to make the taste spicy. Do not be afraid to experiment with seasonings, but never add lemon to such marinades. A mixture of sour milk and sour citrus will ruin the taste.
A good result can be obtained using soy sauce marinades. White wine, spices, honey are added to it. The sauce is fast, half an hour is enough for pickling.
And if you want to cope with cooking faster, and there’s no time to go shopping for the components for the marinade, you can use the method that many housewives love. Just mix in a bowl a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise with the same amount of sour cream, squeeze a clove of garlic, add a little salt and season with ground pepper. Hands spread the mixture over the carcass, not forgetting about the inside. You can send the carcass to the oven after a quarter of an hour without washing the marinade.
Is it possible to do without marinade? Yes, this step is optional. But nevertheless, for the sake of completeness, it is better to take the time to this moment.
Secrets of delicious dishes
Let's look at a few points that come in handy for cooking this bird according to any selected recipe.
How much to bake chicken in the oven? Time depends on the size of the bird. A carcass weighing 1.5 kg or more will take about an hour. Small young chickens will cook in half an hour. If you plan to cut the carcass along the keel or spine, it will bake a third faster.
Poultry requires more time. It is difficult to say exactly how long the preparation will take, but do not expect to get the result in less than an hour and a half. Readiness is checked with a sharp skewer: pierce the thigh and see what liquid flows out of the pulp. Reddish and pinkish shades indicate that you still have to wait. A transparent golden fat is a sign of readiness.
What seasonings to use? Rosemary, curry, paprika, marjoram, and zira are great for tender poultry meat. You can make a choice in favor of ready-made solutions, for example, a mixture of spices "Provencal herbs", "Italian herbs", hops-suneli. An unsuccessful partner is dried dill, which harmonizes better with fish. But you should not be afraid of garlic.
There is another small trick that will allow you to maintain the aesthetic appearance of the product during baking. Probably, many noticed that the open bones of the legs and the thin tips of the wings can become almost black. To avoid this, simply wrap these parts with foil.
Sleeve Chicken
If you've never tried cooking an entire bird yourself, start with this simple recipe. You can bake chicken in the oven entirely in the sleeve. The meat is well baked and will surely turn out juicy.
Salt the prepared carcass slightly (if soy sauce was used for the marinade, salt is not necessary).
Cut large rings into large rings, distribute it along the bottom of the sleeve. You can add some garlic and seasonings. Lay the carcass on top and tightly tie the sleeve. Send the deco with the bird to the oven preheated to 150 degrees, after a quarter of an hour, slightly increase the temperature.
After 30 minutes, cut the bag with scissors and expand the edges. Try not to let the steam get into your hands; its temperature is very high.
Return the dish to the oven. If your model has a grill function, it's time to use it. But even without it, after 10 minutes you will receive a finished dish with a golden brown.
Rice Stuffed Chicken
For this dish you will need a carcass weighing about one and a half kilograms, a glass of raw rice groats, carrots and onions (1 pc each), a little mayonnaise, salt and your favorite spices. If desired, the recipe can be varied with products such as prunes, peeled orange slices, apples of sour varieties, mushrooms.
Boil the rice until half cooked, without waiting for the croup to turn into a sticky sticky porridge. Fry vegetables in vegetable oil or chopped chicken fat. Stir fry with rice, salt.
If you want to add mushrooms to the filling, lightly fry them with vegetables.
Rinse the chicken, let it weather a little. Fill the inner cavity with rice, but do not fill too tightly. The filling should fill the cavity by no more than 2/3.
Sew the skin carefully with cotton culinary thread. Do not hide the tips so that after baking they can be easily found. Generously grease the surface of the carcass with mayonnaise, sprinkle with spices and salt.
How much to bake chicken in the oven depends on its size. For an average carcass, it will take about two hours, for especially large specimens, the time needs to be slightly extended.
Before serving, the thread must be carefully cut.
Cooking on a jar (bottle)
This tricky way allows you to get tender juicy meat. The vessel, on which the carcass is put on, warms up, warming the hens from the inside.
If you still do not know how delicious it is to bake chicken in the oven on a jar or a bottle, follow our instructions. A half-liter capacity should be washed well with warm water and poured into the water to about half. You can add bay leaf, onions, peppercorns, orange slices, prunes and any seasonings to the water. Instead of water, you can use beer.
Use strong cotton thread to tie the carcass into a shape.
Through the incision on the lower back of the carcass, put the chicken on a jar or bottle. Carefully place the structure in a ceramic pot or pan, on the bottom of which a little warm water is poured.
You can only put the pan in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 180 ° C and get ready for the fact that the bird will prepare for about an hour and a half.
In the process of baking, the juice will drain into a jar. In the future, this aromatic broth can be used for making sauces, gravy, first courses.
Meat with vegetables
Chicken baked with vegetables in the oven can be a decoration on the festive table. This is a bright aromatic dish that everyone will surely enjoy.
For the recipe, these vegetables are suitable:
- potatoes;
- broccoli and cauliflower;
- eggplant, zucchini, young squash, squash;
- bell pepper and rotunda;
- Tomatoes
- carrot;
- bow;
- green beans.
You can improvise with proportions. On average, vegetables should be about the same as meat.
Cut the carcass along the breast, unfold, flattening. Grease the deco, lay the sliced vegetables: in layers or randomly. Try to use ingredients of different colors to make the dish more beautiful. If you plan to add eggplants to the dish, be sure to peel them. Broccoli and cauliflower must first be blanched.
Lay the chicken cut down on top of the vegetable layer. This will allow you to get a beautiful crust, and the juice flowing from the carcass during heat treatment will impregnate vegetables and fill them with aromas. Add about a glass of liquid to the deco: it can be plain water, broth, tomato juice or cream sauce. Pour directly onto the back, and if using water or broth, coat the skin with sour cream or mayonnaise.
It will take about an hour to cook this dish. Send the deco into an oven preheated to 180 ° C and periodically check for readiness. Before serving, decorate the dish with fragrant young herbs.
A simple holiday meal with potatoes
This recipe gained distribution back in the 90s, when broiler legs seemed like a real delicacy. Times have changed, the variety of products on the shelves of supermarkets has become simply huge, but many still love this simple, satisfying and tasty treat with an amazing aroma.
Even a high school student can master the recipe for baked potatoes with chicken in the oven. There is absolutely nothing complicated in it. You can use shanks, thighs, whole legs, breasts or sliced carcasses for dishes.
Cut peeled potatoes (1.5 kg) into large cubes or circles 1 cm thick. Add 2 tbsp. l sour cream or cream, salt and spices, garlic (2 cloves). Stir and spread evenly over the greased baking sheet.
Sliced chicken with a mixture of mayonnaise and garlic. Put on top of the potatoes.
Bake in the oven for 0 minutes. During baking, potatoes need to be carefully turned over several times with a spatula.
With honey sauce
To bake chicken in the oven with a crust, you can use honey. Do not worry, there will be no sweet food. During heat treatment, the honey will melt, forming a crust.
There are different options for the sauce. Usually, soy sauce, lemon juice or garlic is added to honey. A very common recipe with honey and mustard. For him, you will need the following:
- broiler chicken carcass - 1 pc.;
- honey, vegetable oil and mustard - 2 tbsp each. l .;
- seasonings and salt;
- garlic - 2 cloves (optional).
Mix the ingredients for the sauce, pass through the press garlic, salt. Rub the chicken thoroughly with the resulting mass (it is advisable to work with gloves). Try to keep the sauce evenly distributed on the outside and inside. Leave the carcass for an hour and a half, covering it with foil.
Put the chicken in a preheated oven. It will be prepared an hour. Once every 10 minutes, open the oven, pour the carcass with flowing juice. If you notice that the crust has started to burn, and the meat has not yet been baked, cover the bird with foil.
How to make a cheese crust
Many housewives for the festive table choose recipes for chicken baked with cheese in the oven. Typically, delicate breast meat is used for such dishes, which goes well with cheese crust.
To prepare such a meal, cut each half of the breast into two or three parts, beat off slightly, trying to give all the pieces the same shape. Arrange the meat in a greased form, fill it with cream and lightly salt it. Bake in the oven for half an hour, and then generously sprinkle with cheese. Return the form to the oven for another 10 minutes. The cheese will melt, and the meat will be baked enough.
You can use cheese for other recipes. If you want to get a crust, give preference to not too wet varieties, such as "Edam", "Russian", "Parmesan". In no case do not add cheese immediately, because it needs very little time to melt. While the meat is cooked, it will simply burn out. It is enough to add cheese about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking process (and how much time we bake the chicken in the oven, we already know: an average hour, but it all depends on size).
A few words about cutting the finished chicken
If you cook the whole chicken, check out the cutting recommendations in advance so as not to get into an awkward position in front of the guests. There are different ways that are generally similar. You can act on the following algorithm:
- Lay the bird on its back.
- Cut off both wings.
- Gently separate the legs along the joints, cut the legs from the hips.
- Turn the carcass on its side.
- Moving from the bottom up, cut one side of the breast. The incision should be perpendicular to the ribs, to the clavicular joint. Repeat with the other side, completely separating the breasts.
- Cut a piece of keel cartilage from the breast.
- Cut the remaining part in half lengthwise, divide each of the halves in two.
When cutting, try so that the skin does not peel off the carcass. When cutting meat, try to hit the joint with a knife: it is easier to separate the cartilage than to cut the bone.
Serving to the table
Vegetable and cereal side dishes are perfectly combined with chicken meat. You can choose durum wheat pasta as a supplement. Seasoned vegetables, home-made pickles, sauerkraut, pickled mushrooms are recommended for oven-baked chicken meat.