How To Cook A Whole Chicken FAST!
I took a 6-pound chicken out of the refrigerator at 3:45, thinking I could oven roast it in time for guests arriving at 5:15. Not! Obviously, I should have consulted a roasting chart earlier in the day, because a 6-pound chicken takes 20-30 minutes per pound roast. In this case, 3 hours! Turning to Google, I found a couple references about oven roasting a chicken at 500 degrees for 10 minutes per pound. Fingers crossed this works and I don’t end up with a 6-pound piece of charcoal.
Update: the chicken came out of the oven cooked to perfection. Nice crispy brown crispy skin and the meat was tender and juicy.
INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken (be sure to note the weight to calculate cooking time)
1-2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
Sea salt
Garlic flakes
Optional: 1 lemon or orange cut in half, sliced onion, and/or cloves of garlic for stuffing cavity
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Move oven racks so the chicken will be on the rise second from the bottom.
Let chicken come to room temperature on the counter. Remove any giblets. (My lucky dog gets them for a treat!)
Rub the chicken with oil and season with salt, garlic or herbs of choice inside and out. Stuff optional choices into cavity.
Place chicken on a roasting pan, breast side up. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes per pound of chicken. For example, if your chicken weighs five pounds, roast for 50 minutes or until the skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh.
When roasting time is up, check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh, innermost part of the wing and the thickest part of the breast—the meat thermometer needs to reach 165 degrees F.
Remove chicken from the oven, transfer to a cutting board with a well and let rest 10-20 minutes to let the juices settle. Remove and discard items from cavity before carving.
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