Chicken is an excellent alternative to turkey and goes well at Christmas, Easter, or other special occasions. You could even use it at Thanksgiving for a smaller family or just a couple. Who says you have to serve turkey?
You can vary the Brine with the spices you use but don’t recommend changing the salt, sugar, and water ratios.
Herb Roasted Chicken
Brine
Brine
Aromatics
Seasoning Rub
Chicken
Instructions
Roasted Chicken Instructions
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The Brine
Brine
You can prepare this brine up to 3 days before your meal.Â
Prepare the brine by bringing the water and the rest of the ingredients, except for the ice, to a simmer.
Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
Remove it from the heat and let it rest and steep for an hour. This will allow it to cool down before you add the ice and chicken stock.
Add the ice and chicken stock and submerge the chicken in it. and refrigerate.
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The Chicken
Chicken
Use a thawed chicken.
The day before your meal, remove the wrapping and anything else that may be packed with the chicken, and wash the chicken with clean water.
Submerge the whole chicken into the cold brine. Do not place it in warm or hot brine. You may use a large pot for the brining or a large cooking bag filled with the brine and the chicken in a large clean plastic container or bowl. I use a 2.5-gallon ziplock bag.
Place the brining chicken in the fridge overnight. If you do not have space in the refrigerator to keep cool overnight, use the bag method and place it in a cooler with the bag sealed and ice on top of the bag.
About 2 hours before you plan to put the chicken in the oven, remove the chicken from the brine, and discard the brine.
Place chicken on a roasting rack in the roasting pan and pat dry. If you do not have a roasting rack, you can make one by rolling up a large foil coil for the chicken to sit on. You can see mine in the picture below.
Leave in the open air in a safe, clean place in the kitchen to remove some chill before cooking.
Aromatics and Seasoning
Roughly slice the apple and onion and place them in the breast cavity along with the fresh herbs.
Make the seasoning rub by combining all the rub ingredients in a small bowl.
Using your hands, rub the mixture all over the top side of the chicken. Make sure it is evenly coated.
Roasting
Insert a probe thermometer in the thickest part of the breast from the neck end going under the skin. Do not place the thermometer tip next to the breast bone. You want it in the thickest part of the meat.
Place the turkey in the center of the oven. Allow about 18-20 minutes per pound to reach an internal temperature of 162. It will reach 165 while it is resting. Â
Remove the chicken from the oven when it reaches the proper temperature.
To tent or not to tent. That depends on how you like the skin. If you want to keep it as crispy as possible, don't cover the breast when you remove it from the oven. But you will need to cook it to 165 before removing it.
If you don't care about the skin or whether it is crispy, tent the breast with foil immediately after removing it from the oven, and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. The temperature will continue to rise, and once it reaches 165, you can carve and service it.
Carve and serve.
