I love everything about roasting chicken. What is there not to love really? The easy peasy preparation, not having to deal with raw poultry fabrication (fancy chef speak for jointing chicken), the thrill of having the oven cook dinner for you instead of slaving over a hot stove top, the delicious smell of well seasoned meat roasting in the house, the crispy skin at the end and the countless ways I do not have to cook again for several meals. Have I sold you yet? I bet!
One Roast Chicken 6 Ways
This week we are focusing on the art of easy. You know me, I live in my kitchen. I am always making meals there and as I earn a significant portion of my living in the kitchen. One of the reasons my award-winning food blog www.chefandsteward.com has a dedicated following over the years is the simplicity and practicality of my recipes. I am a woman who knows the kitchen and knows how to get in and get out quickly.
If you intend to eat much of your meals at/from home for any reason: special diet, fitness, or financial prudence, you will want to make your time there as efficient as possible. I guarantee you that this one recipe will do the trick. Here is one roast chicken, four ways.
If you have a family, I suggest you buy the juiciest corn fed chicken you can find and double the recipe. You will want extra. If you are cooking for one, I still suggest you double the recipe. It is that good!
Friday Roast
On Thursday night marinade the roast chicken in the recipe. You can toss in some potatoes and other root vegetables in a baking tray tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper along with the chicken and roast on a large sheet pan. Serve one piece of chicken (if you can stick to just one) with the vegetables for dinner.
Saturday Stir Fry
You can refresh your pre-roasted dinner in a way no one will ever know that it wasn’t all from scratch. Slice pieces into strips and sauté in a wok or hot pot with a plain oil like sunflower or peanut oil and add all the vegetables you have on hand. Broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas, sugar snap peas, string beans, bok choi, cabbage, onions, spring onions and carrots are great for this. AddKikkoman Soy Sauce and Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce instead of salt.
Sunday Salad
Start you week of with a great salad combining your favourite leafy salad greans and small pieces of the chicken. Add some sliced avocado on top. Carry olive oil an a lemon to work to drizzle on top if packing for lunch outside the home. Or you can try my Jerk Chicken Waldorf Salad and improvise with the your leftover Jamaican Roast Chicken.
Monday “Manwich”
I am using the term “manwich” here creatively for a huge sandwich. Pile up shredded roast chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, iceberg lettuce and some avocado for a decidedly moreish sandwhich using your favourite bread or baguette. I love mine on the popular Filipino Pan de Sal bread from the Panaderia bakery. Or with freshly made bread from my Jamaican HardDough Bread Recipe or if you are looking for a Keto alternative, here is my very simple and easy 3 Ingredient Keto Cloud Bread
Tuesday Rasta Pasta
Jazz up any pasta meal with strips of your roast chicken. Just cook pasta, make your favourite sauce and add the chicken. Grate parmesan or romano cheese on top and voila!
Wednesday Soup
On Wednesday, strip of the last bits of meat off the chicken carcass and put the bones in a pot of chicken stock and water or use your favourite stock cube and cook for 45 mins with carrots, celery and onions. Serve plain or add baby bok choi for a low carb meal or add noodles if you so desire. Drizzle some toasted sesame oil on top at the end. Chances are you will have enough soup for Thursday as well.
Chef and Steward’s Jamaican Roast Chicken
This is the only Roast Chicken Recipe you will ever need. Tasty, fully of layered flavours, seasoned to the bone if you leave to marinate overnight. Just the right amount of spice. Authentic Jamaican and Caribbean flavours and technique that makes for a moist, juicy roast chicken!
Ingredients
- 1.4-1.5 g 3lbs whole fresh chicken
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 teaspoons coarse cracked black pepper freshly cracked
- 2 teaspoons coarse cracked allspice freshly cracked
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 7 sprigs thyme
- ½ scotch bonnet pepper substitute with habanero or extra tsp blackpepper
- 2 teaspoons cane vinegar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 stalks scallion/green onions
Instructions
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Wash and pat dry the chicken. Yes. This. Is. A. Thing. Wash with half lime/lemon or about 1tbsp vinegar and water.
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Finely chop scotch bonnet/habanero, discarding the seeds
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Finely dice the garlic and strip thyme leaves from stems and combine with black pepper, allspice, scotch bonnet/habanero, salt, oil, vinegar and mix in a small bowl.
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Thinly slice the green parts of the stems of the green onions and set aside.
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Rub the spice paste all over chicken, getting into every nook and cranny and the cavities as well as the neck area. Gently ease skin away from chicken in the breast and back areas and rub marinade underneath.
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Tuck the sliced green onions under the skin as well.
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Place the white stems of the green onions along with the stems of the thyme inside the cavity. Truss the legs together with kitchen twine. Tuck the wing tips underneath the back of the chicken so that the chicken will present nicely on the table when done.
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Marinate for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
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Bring the chicken to room temperature before cooking.
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When ready to cook, preheat oven to 180C.
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Bring butter to room temperature, diving into two portions and stuff underneath the skin of each breast
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Roast chicken for an hour, then crank up the oven to 220 for another 5-minutes to brown.
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Allow chicken to rest for at least 10 minutes before cutting. Present it whole at the table and carve tableside for extra fanfare.
kickasscook says
Delicious! We love jerk chicken and usually do it on the barbecue, but this is perfect for colder weather. Thanks for sharing!
Chef and Steward says
This is not a jerk recipe but a roast chicken recipe and yes, it is different in flavor but similar and done in the oven. Happy that you will find this useful and practical!
Marta says
I love these different ways to roast chicken. It’s such an economic meal for my family.
Chef and Steward says
Yes, it is a great way to elevate chicken to a very prestigious place on the dinner table and extremely budget friendly even when feeding large families. I would suggest two chickens if you want to use this to feed a large family over six days.
Stine Mari says
What a great way of repurposing the chicken! I’ve especially got my eyes on that Waldorf salad, yum!
Chef and Steward says
Stine, you are going to have a blast!
Lesli Schwartz says
Always, always looking for new chicken recipes and repurposing a whole roasted chicken. Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Chef and Steward says
So happy to help Lesli, this should be mighty useful right now as well as more people are working from home and homseschooling is on the agenda of so many who are new to it.
Ramona says
I love a good roasted chicken any time and I particularly love the leftovers (if any). I really like the spices and herbs you’ve used in here and I cannot wait to make it now ?
Chef and Steward says
Thanks much Ramona. You can marinate it overnight for an even more scrumptious chicken!
Jacqui DeBono says
I love this. We are having to really make things stretch at the minute, and knowing that I can get so much out of a chicken is so useful. Not just economical, but also so tasty!
Chef and Steward says
Precisely! Thaanks for your feedback, Jacqui!
Jacque Hastert says
I can’t decide which way to make first. I am loving each one of these and can’t wait to make one of these.
Chef and Steward says
Start with the roast chicken and then work your way through
Gloria Duggan says
What a great idea. We all need lots of ways to make things easy and delicious right now. Cook once and enjoy many ways sounds like a great plan to me..
Chef and Steward says
Yes, absolutely. And with my young child being home everyday, it really helps to limit the amount of cooking from scratch that I am doing daily. I am sure many who are homeschooling and working from home will also find it useful.
Kacey Perez says
I have always wanted to roast a whole chicken and I never have. Seems silly because I have done turkeys for Thanksgiving! Thanks for inspiring me with this post!
Chef and Steward says
You absolutely must! It is such an easy way to get dinner on the table especially while you are busy doing other things. Talk about the era of multitasking!
Anna says
We always have roasted chicken on Sunday, and there are always some leftovers, so this post couldn’t have come at better time! I’m having my eye on that delicious salad, definitely will be trying it out!
Chef and Steward says
SO happy to hear that you find the timing of this post great for you! Have fun making the additional meals!
Whisk It Real Gud says
Mmmm yummy! Perfect way to stretch chicken especially during this trying time. They all sound so amazing but my favorite would be the jerk waldorf salad! I gotta try that one!
Chef and Steward says
You absolutely must! And you will never go back to same old, same old! Speaking of which, I just roasted two chickens today for meal prep so you just reminded me what’s the perfect lunch for tomorrow because I also have grapes and apples!
Denise says
Thanks for sharing how to use up roast chicken. Especially that chicken salad, it looks incredible!
Chef and Steward says
Happy you like it!
Amy Liu Dong says
We love chicken and I love learning the different way of roasting a chicken, looks delicious!
Chef and Steward says
Yes you can add this to your roast chicken recipes.
Analida Braeger says
I had all the stuff to make this while sheltering in place and it was amazing! Thanks so much!
Chef and Steward says
Thats is such great news to hear! Thanks for sharing that!
Veronika says
I love roasting chicken and have extra leftovers for the next day! Thanks for all these ideas, definitely will use it in the future!
Chef and Steward says
So happy that you find it useful. Thanks for visiting!
Sharon says
What a wonderful way to make one meal with so many different possibilities! Great to make on a Friday and have enough to last the whole weekend.
Chef and Steward says
Yes, I wrote this originally for the Middle Eastern weekend which starts on a Friday with the Sabbath but it works even with other calendars.
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness says
I do love it in a soup! Thanks for all of these ideas. I will definitely be trying the “manwich” which is completely new to me!!
Chef and Steward says
Yes! Soup is such a great way to repurpose a whole roasted chicken like this! And let me know how the “manwich” goes!
The Kitchen Whisperer says
I am loving all of the options you give for the chicken. I LOVE jerk chicken and this looks fantastic! I cannot wait to try it!
Chef and Steward says
You will certainly not be disappointed. This is not a recipe for jerk chicken but it comes close.
Jo says
It’s hard for me to pick one of my favorite. I love roast chicken and all of the variations looks amazing!
Chef and Steward says
So happy to hear that you are loving all the variations!
Lathiskitchen says
This is great. The roast chicken in 6 ways. I love all and it’s really hard to pick one.
Chef and Steward says
You don’t have to pick one- do all of them from the one chicken and thank me for it later!
Hello! I'm Bernice. says
Wow! Everything looks fantastic!
Chef and Steward says
Thanks Bernice! Hope you subscribe and keep on coming!