Quick and Easy Roast Chicken Recipe

by Kelly
(Wa State)

This is my "go-to" method for a great chicken recipe, if I just need to cook a chicken that is moist, juicy, and flavorful without going to much trouble. It's also handy if I need it to come out of the oven in about an hour after I start.

I always buy whole broiler/fryers and cut them up while the oven is heating, but, of course, you can do this with a pre-cut bird as well.

Not much to it, really. I just lightly spray a 9 x 13" glass baking dish with PAM or something similar, then put the chicken parts in. Thighs go skin down at first. Then I dust them down with seasoning salt, (I use Johnny's) granulated garlic, and Hungarian sweet paprika. I then turn the pieces over, and do it again. (thighs are now skin-up) Any giblets go in the pan and get the same treatment. I seldom bother to bone the breasts, so they just get seasoned on top. If I'm feeling extravagant, at least for this dish, I will spread minced garlic over the pieces instead of using the granulated. (I buy bags of peeled cloves, mince them with a slap chopper, and keep them in a jar in the fridge.)

Now, I've done this hundreds of times, so I can look at how full the chicken makes the baking dish, and decide "This looks like 45 min at 325," or "That looks like 50 min at 350." Your first few times, it's best to use a thermometer to check, but about that time and about that temperature will yield nice and juicy results. At least in MY oven. :)

This is about the most forgiving method I've ever used to cook chicken, though. I've NEVER had one turn out bad this way, never had dry breast meat and so on. Oh, make sure to put the baking dish in the MIDDLE of the oven. If it is too near either of the burners, the chicken will get dried out.

When you take the chicken pieces out, just by adding a couple tablespoons of flour to the pan juices you can whip up a very good gravy by the usual method. You may need to add some milk; play it by ear once it is simmering. I think I may get more juices this way because my chicken was cut up just before it went in the oven. Seasonings from the chicken will be in the juices, of course, so taste before adding any more. Often I don't need to alter the seasonings at all. Although, again, if I'm feeling fancy, I might wad up a sage leaf or two and throw it in there, then pull it back out before I serve.

This is an almost ridiculously easy method of preparing chicken, and if you take the extra steps of using minced garlic, and making a pan sauce, it will look as though you worked hard at preparing the meal.