Shortcut Recipes: Spicy Roast Chicken + Basic Stuffing

I’m going to admit something blog reader and please don’t judge me, but I’ve never roasted a chicken before. I know, I know, I should be ashamed of myself, but hey, you have to start somewhere right? So on that note here is a very very basic, but delicious recipe for roast chicken and stuffing.

I made a couple adjustments only because I didn’t have everything I needed, and I was in a hurry to get my butt to the gym, so I just threw what I had together and hoped for the best. The chicken actually turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I cooked the chicken for 20 minutes at a really high heat, and then turned it down to a really low heat while I was at the gym. I think cooking it at the low heat for an extended period of time actually helped the flavors to really meld together, and also allow for the chicken to maintain its moisture. I would absolutely make this recipe again.

Basic Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients:

1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery (I didn’t add this)
2 tbs olive oil
two ww bread slices cubed
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
turkey or chicken broth as necessary

Directions:

Roast Chicken Recipe:
Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Rinse chicken thoroughly (inside and out) under cold running water and remove all fat. Pat dry with paper towels. Make to sure remove all the extra bits on the inside to make room for the stuffing.

Put chicken into a small baking pan (I put a little bit of water in the pan just enough to cover the bottom, so the chicken didn’t stick). I then added the stuffing into the canal of the chicken, as much as I could fit. My chicken was super teeny so I couldn’t fit all of the mixture.

Rub the chicken with olive oil. Mix the salt, pepper, oregano, basil, paprika and cayenne pepper together and sprinkle over chicken. I also added chopped onions to the roast pan as well, and just sprinkled them around the chicken. I’m not sure if the onions helped out with the flavor much, but I had some left over from the stuffing, so I thought what the heck?

Roast the chicken in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Lower the oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and continue roasting 40 minutes, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C).

Like I mentioned above I was heading out the gym, and so I did cook the chicken at 450 for 20 minutes, and then I turned my oven down to about 150 or 200 degrees and I let it cook for about an hour and half. If you have the time I would certainly recommend cooking the chicken longer at the low temp because it was delicious, but if you’re in a hurry by all means follow the instructions above, as it will cut your cooking time down quite a bit.

Let cool 10 to 15 minutes, cut and serve. I paired the roasted chicken with left over spagetti squash (recipe here), and stir fried brocoli, but you could opt for more tradtional sides like potatoes and carrots etc.

If you liked this post be sure to check back on Tuesdays for new recipe posts, and while you wait I encourage you to browe the “recipe” section for previously posted recipes.

**Original recipes retrived from:
All Recipes “Spicy Roast Chicken”
Basic Stuffing Recipe