Roasted Rotisserie Chicken

I call this chicken roasted rotisserie chicken because, while it is technically roasted chicken, it's soooo tender and juicy that it tastes like a rotisserie chicken!  You will LOVE this chicken!  I promise!  And if you don't, I will lovingly come and eat yours for you!

And a little budget saving tip...Smart & Final (in the San Diego area...please check your local ads if outside SD) has whole Foster Farms chicken on sale for $0.79 lb!!!!  This is a great deal, so head over and get one...or take the ad (you can print it online too) to your super Walmart and have them price match!

Now, on to the roasted chicken!  This is a simple recipe, way too easy for something that tastes so good!  However, it's not a quick meal.  You'll want to cook this when you have a lot of house cleaning to do.  When you are at home but can't stand over the stove to fix dinner.  It takes about 2-2 1/2 hrs to cook but only about 20 minutes to prep!

Roasted Rotisserrie Chicken

1 whole chicken (mine was about 5lbs)

Chicken spice rub

1 whole onion, quartered

Chicken Spice Rub

 

Salt

Pepper

Onion powder

Garlic powder

Paprika

Creole seasoning

Thyme

Take equal parts of all spices and mix.  I use 1 tbsp of each.  Once you try this though you may decide to make a large batch and store in the spice cabinet.  In that case, use 1/2 cup of each and mix.

Here are my spices.  I use fresh thyme because I grow it in my herb garden, but feel free to use dried thyme.  If using fresh, use a little less than you would dry (if you are using 1 tbsp of each, go w/ 1/2 tbsp of fresh thyme or 1 tbsp dried).

Take out your whole chicken and clean him up, removing the innards.  My husband likes chicken necks so I keep that but toss the rest.  Rinse well an then pay dry.

Take your little birdie and stick your finger under the skin to loosen it from the meat.  Be careful to not tear the skin...you need the skin on to help keep the moisture in.  Add some of the spice rub under the skin and rub around until the meat under the skin is covered.

Do the same to the back of the chicken (I put the rub everywhere...breasts, thighs, legs, back...not the wings because they are so tiny).  Add a few spoonfuls inside the cavity of the bird too.  ***this is where you take your quartered onion and stuff it inside the chicken.  I completely forgot and had to go back and add it later!  Don't forget!!! The onion helps the chicken to stay super juicy!***

After your chicken is all rubbed down under the skin and the onion is stuffed inside, you want to cross it's legs.  This helps the onion to stay inside (you could tie it with kitchen twine but I dot have that).  Just take a knife and poke a hole in the flappy skin at the cavity opening.  Make sure it isn't right on the edge as the hole will tear a bit and you don't want it to rip in half.

Take the leg opposite of the hole (if hole is on right side, take left leg and vice versa) and poke it into the hole.  

Do the same thing on the other side. Poke a hole and insert leg.  The legs should be crossed and holding the onion in!  Who needs kitchen twine?!

Now rub the spice mix all over the outside.  I did the outside rub before crossing the legs but whichever works for you.  

Don't forget to rub the backside too!

Stick it in the oven, BREAST SIDE DOWN, at 275F for 2 hrs (for a 5 1/2lb chicken...adjust more or less time for larger/smaller chicken).  After 2 hrs, flip the chicken BREAST SIDE UP for 30 min at 300F to brown the skin and finish cooking. I am using my toaster oven but feel free to use the regular oven. 

The way I test my chicken for fineness is by pulling gently on the thigh...if it tears off easily (like fall off easy) it's done.  For a more technical way, stick a meat thermometer in the upper thigh and have it read 160F.

See how beautiful it is?!  And it's super juicy and falls off the bone!  The flavor is in every bite all the way through the chicken!  This is my favorite way to cook chicken and will surely become one of yours!  Enjoy!

Happily Homemade

Sandra