Simple Juicy and Tender Slow Roasted Chicken
This is how I batch cook.
Once I’ve cooked this chicken I will shred ALL the meat off of it, and make it into 4 or 5 meals for our family of four.
The next day I toss some carrots, onions, celery, water, and some herbs and spices (I’ve been loving adding a big chunk of ginger, some sliced lime, and a large piece of seaweed) along with a good splash of apple cider vinegar into the pot with the bones, and put it on the stove top for a day of slow and low broth making.
This means more meals out of the SAME chicken!
I love roasting this chicken on a day when I’m busy and don’t want to spend mountains of time in the kitchen, but want to be magically prepared at dinner time.
You can basically put the lid on the pot, put it in the oven for 2, 3, 4, or 5 hours (depending on the oven temp you choose) and get after the afternoon.
Perfect Sunday dinner that doesn’t require you cheffing away in the kitchen all day!
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Ingredients
1 Organic Chicken
1 Lemon, with holes poked into the skin
1 Onion, peel left on and carefully cut into wedges or rounds. Think of this as the boat to hold your chicken up off the bottom of the pot. I always aim for flat rounds that I keep together to keep them as sturdy as possible.
2 TBSP Olive Oil
A few sprigs of fresh Rosemary, Thyme, and/or Sage
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt and a solid amount of freshly cracked Pepper
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Instructions
You will need a heavy dutch oven or glazed cast iron pot for this recipe. Something with a HEAVY lid.
The first thing you need to determine is HOW LONG YOU WANT YOUR CHICKEN TO COOK FOR?
If you’re going for a 4 - 5 hour cook time, PREHEAT your oven to 250, if you’re looking at around a 3 - 4 hour cook time PREHEAT your oven to 300, or PREHEAT to 325 for a 3 hour cook time.
Once you have decided cook time, preheat your oven and remove any rack that will get in the way of your dutch oven fitting in with the lid on.
Slice onion and carefully place in the bottom of the pot. Creating a little platform or stand for your chicken to sit on.
Carefully rise off and out your chicken and pat dry (ish) with paper towel. (I say “ish” because I never get it totally dry, if you do you’re my hero!)
Please be careful with this process. Make sure your sink is clean and you don’t have any clean dishes or anything around it that might get chicken juicy water splashed on them. Also, once you have place your chicken in the pot be sure to scrub out your sink and surrounding area to make sure it’s nice and clean. And be sure to wash your hands after touching the chicken…
Yes, I sound like your mom. Sorry about that!
Carefully place the chicken on the onions, push the lemon inside the cavity along with some of the fresh herbs. I often use the more woody stalks of the rosemary and sage, along with some thyme for this job.
(I usually put these things IN the pot before I have washed and dried (ish) the chicken so I can do it all in one step without needing to wash my hands a thousand times… yes, I’m that lazy!)
Wash your hands… ;)
Glug a good amount of olive oil over the top of your chicken and then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Toss the fresh herbs over the top, and then using clean hands kinda work it all in a bit. You want the olive oil and salt and pepper and garlic and herbs to be all worked in. Give that bird a little massage and remember to be grateful for it. It’s good to be grateful for our food, where it came from, and what it took to get it. It makes us enjoy it more and remember that it matters.
Put the tight fitting and heavy lid on the pot and place in your preheated oven.
Let it cook while you hopefully either kick back for an afternoon of total chill relaxation, or get after the afternoon and do all sorts of good stuff. Or maybe a bit of both of those things.
What you won’t be doing is stressing about what’s for dinner!
I should also mention that I often cook this in the morning for a bunch of hours, that way I’m really set up for an afternoon of not thinking about cooking.
Once your chicken has cooked you can either take the lid off, put your oven to broil, and crisp up the skin a bit — or just dig in as it is.
The chicken should be totally fall apart ready. If you grab a leg with your fingers or tongs and try and lift it up it should really just melt right off.
As mentioned, I usually shred all the meat off and use it for many different meals, but this does also make a juicy and tender roasted chicken dinner as well!
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Final Thoughts
If we go with Dr. Mark Hyman’s ‘pegan’ diet concept, which I LOVE, this is a great opportunity to try and get creative with using meat as a condiment or side dish instead as the main focus of a meal.
How many dishes can you make out of one chicken? How creative can you get? What other supporting ingredients will help you stretch it even farther?
A few of my favorite ways are: shredded chicken taco bowls with a pile of avocados and salsa, Asian inspired bowls with yam or rice noodles and some ginger dressing, Mediterranean inspired salad bowls, Greek bowls with dairy free tzatziki, stir fry with mountains of veggies and cauliflower rice, a last minute salad with whatever’s in the fridge, soup or stews, mixed into pesto pasta… do you see what I mean?
The options are long and delicious and don’t take all that much time or effort.
This is how I batch cook for diversity in my meals.
Let me know if you give this a try or if you find this helpful! I always love hearing from you.
Xox,
Gwen
A very small sample of the many ways you can use this simple and delicious shredded chicken.