Love that rotisserie chicken taste from the store, but don’t love the price? Make your own ‘hack’ rotisserie chicken with this knock off chicken dinner recipe.
I just love picking up the rotisserie chicken whenever we are at Costco, don’t you? After a few hours in a giant warehouse with two rambunctious boys and this momma deserves an easy to make and already done dinner!
But we can’t go to Costco all the time and get those yummy done-for-you chickens. So I have researched the yummiest copycat recipes for making it myself.
Rubber Chicken
I first learned about how great it is to go ahead and purchase the whole chicken from Leanne Ely, from Saving Dinner. Leanne offers an amazing service available where she sends you weekly menus along with complete shopping lists. Her recipes can be sometimes way beyond my skill level – or my families culinary taste level – but if you have the extra money, it’s worth it to check it out.
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Anyway, this one recipe was right in my wheelhouse and as soon as I saw it I knew it would become a staple in our menu rotation. It’s called Rubber chicken… WTH is that?!?! This is apparently an old family recipe for Leann that has been handed down for generations; you start with a whole chicken.
Glove Up
Now, this part used to scare the bejeebers out of me…handling an entire chicken…gross! But a friend of mine suggested sterile gloves. You can get them at most drug stores, and it really does make a difference. With the price of meat these days at the supermarket, buying whole chicken can really save a pretty penny on your grocery budget. Right now, it is by far one of the cheapest ways to buy meat, at least at my store.
Preparation is the worst part of buying a whole chicken; first, you stick your hand right up inside his butt – so make sure you are wearing your gloves! Take out all those gross insides that some people apparently swear by, and just throw them right in the trash.
If you want to get a recipe on how to use these parts…Google it. You won’t get anything like that from me! LOL! Once you have the chicken cleaned up you pat it dry with a paper towel and set it in a roasting pan, like this one.
Knock-off rotisserie taste
Then quarter an onion and stick it right back up in where you took out the gizzards…double eeww…but worth it. If you have garlic clove throw that in too. Melt ½ a stick of butter in the microwave and stir in your favorite spices to get that yummy rotisserie copycat taste; I like: paprika, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, some salt and pepper. Brush your melted butter and spices mixture onto every surface of the bird that you can, this is going to really crisp up the chicken skin and allow you to completely forget it in the oven…no basting required!
Pop it into your oven, pre-heated to 425, and cook for one hour (give or take based on altitude, ovens, etc.). You want your meat thermometer to say 160 in the thickest part of the breast. Set it and forget it for one hour, literally.
Take it out and let it settle, while it is “taking a nap” you can whip up some sides…like those little bags of steamer vegetables that come with cheesy sauce already in them….yuuummmm. I have also done this in the crockpot and it comes out great too. Plus no carving required, after 8 hours in my slow cooker it just comes right apart.
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Now I learned how to carve a chicken from YouTube. If you already know what you are doing, then have at it. Otherwise, it is definitely worth the check out as it can get ugly trying it out on your own…trust me on this one. Serve up your chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies and enjoy!
But we aren’t done yet
Now at this point, you have had one yummy dinner…However, you aren’t done yet…that little bird has some more work to do. After you have eaten dinner and the bird has cooled down a bit more, you are gonna get as much meat off that little sucker as you possibly can and save those for tomorrow night.
The leftover bones go into their own Ziploc baggie to be saved for a later day. Check out my broth recipe here.
Day 2 you get to be a little creative! You are only limited by your imagination as you already have your meat cooked. In our home, we usually go Mexican: chicken enchilada, tacos, or super simple chicken quesadillas! Or, if you want to go healthy pick up one of those bags of salad mix. Toss that with your leftover chicken and wrap them up in tortillas – and voila – chicken wraps!
Get creative. Multiple dinners plus a super healthy, super good-for-you broth on its way….all from that one whole chicken. Now that was one yummy rubber chicken that provided your family a number of yummy meals at a great price!
20 minPrep Time
1 hrCook Time
1 hr, 20 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- Whole Chicken
- one onion, quartered
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp each:
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- rinse and clean the chicken, remove insides
- place quartered onion in body cavity
- melt butter in microwave safe bowl
- stir in spices
- brush all over surface of the chicken so it is completely coated
- Bake at 425 for one hour
