Roasted Whole Chicken with 18 Spice Seasoning
There are so many good recipes that can be made from a roasted chicken. While you can pick up a rotisserie chicken at the market, there is something to be said for roasting a flavorful bird at home.
There are a couple of things to look for when roasting a chicken. There are different types of whole chickens. Broilers, fryers, roasters and stewing chickens and they are categorized by the chicken's age and weight. For this recipe we used a roasting chicken which is generally less than 8 months old and weighs between 3 1/2 and 5 lbs. Broilers and fryers are younger birds and weigh up to 3 1/2 lbs while stewing chickens are usually over 10 months old and weigh between 5 and 7 lbs.
A store bought rotisserie chicken is often brined in a salty solution adding more than double the sodium per serving. Brining does serve a purpose, but for those concerned about salt intake or don't like 'salty' chicken, roasting a chicken without brining is the way to go. Roasting the chicken with the skin on helps flavor the chicken, but remove the skin before serving to save almost 1/2 the fat.
We like to use a variety of seasoning blends to create flavor in roast chicken. Our 18 Spice Chicken Rub is hand blended from ancho, pasilla, cinnamon, ginger, onion, garlic, cumin, sea salt, demerara sugar, mustard, black pepper, coriander, California paprika, cloves, allspice, fennel, cayenne and de arbol.
- 1 3.5 lb roasting chicken
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 tablespoons 18 Spice Chicken Rub
- 2 large carrots, cut into large pieces
- 4 stalks of celery, halved
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Remove giblets and neck from chicken, discard or save for making chicken stock
- Starting at the neck cavity, loosen skin from breasts and drumsticks by inserting fingers between the skin and meat and gently pushing to separate.
- Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
- Place bird, breast side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.
- Combine oil and 18 Spice Seasoning Blend in a bowl.
- Rub seasoning mixture under the loosened skin and over the breasts and drumsticks.
- Place carrots, celery and onion inside the cavity of the chicken.
- Twist wingtips under the back of the bird and tie the legs together with kitchen string or wire.
- Roast in an uncovered pan 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until meat thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh reads 165 degrees.
- Remove chicken from oven, tent loosely with foil to keep warm.
- Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
