Directions |
1. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 1-2 hours before cooking to bring to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. 3. Remove the chicken from its packaging and pat dry with paper towels. 4. Place chicken skin side up in cooking pan. A 10" cast iron skillet holds two chicken breasts nicely. 5. Sprinkle the skin with salt and pepper (right side of photo above) or a barbecue rub (left side). 6. If using a leave-in thermometer or probe, place thermometer/probe into the thickest part of the largest chicken breast. 7. Cook until chicken reaches 165 degrees. This will be between 1 - 2 hours. 8. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving or cutting up for another dish. 
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Good to know |
For health reasons, I do not eat the chicken skin, however I recommend skin-on chicken because the skin keeps the breast meat moist during cooking. Since I remove the skin, I usually just use salt and pepper before cooking, but Rub with Love (I use the rub made for salmon) is also delicious. There is one breast of each in the photos above.
Allowing the chicken to come to room temperature before cooking leads to more even cooking. It is safe as long as the meat sits out for no more than 2 hours, or 1 hour if your kitchen is above 80 degrees. If the chicken rests for 10 minutes before serving, cooking juices are reabsorbed into the meat. I didn't believe it, but scientific minds have measured this and it really matters! Any leftovers can be kept, covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week or tightly sealed in plastic in the freezer for no more than a month. If you de-bone the chicken for another dish, you can simmer the bones and skin (if lightly salted) in water for 90 minutes to make chicken stock which itself can be frozen for up to 3 months or used immediately in the many soup recipes on this blog and elsewhere. You can also put the cooled homemade stock on your dog's dry food at dinner and he will love you forever. |