How To Braise A Whole Chicken
Seasoned whole chicken with lemon, thyme, onion in dutch oven.
I love braising a whole chicken. Braising gives you the tenderest, the moistest chicken. It literally takes only 1 hour to cook the chicken to perfection. With some nice herbs, aromatics, stock and some wine you will end up with a chicken that will be your new favorite way of cooking whole chicken. It’s delicious! Watch how to make it on Youtube.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 lemon, cut into 6 wedges
1 yellow onion, cut into quarters
4 cloves garlic
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 c chicken stock
2 glasses worth sherry wine
Seasoning salt
3 tbsp butter, unsalted
Tools needed:
Glass baking dish
Cutting board
Sharp knife
Oven
Measuring cup
Wine glass for measuring
Seasoning salt:
2 tbsp ea garlic powder and onion powder
2 tbsp ea chili powder and paprika
3 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp black pepper
How to make it:
Remove the innards from the chicken cavity. Place 3 wedges of lemon, 1 half of an onion and 1 bunch of thyme in the cavity. Season all outside areas of the chicken with seasoned salt. Stick your finger under the skin on top of breast to make room for 2 tbsp butter and 2 cloves chopped garlic. Using your finger, stuff butter and garlic all around on top of breast keeping skin in place.
Adding chicken stock to cover chicken in dutch oven.
Place chicken in dutch oven. Put 3 wedges lemon, the other half of onion, and 1 more bunch of thyme around the chicken. Add chicken stock and wine. Make sure to cover at least 3/4 of the bird with the braising liquid.
Put dutch oven on stove top and heat over high heat. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat to low setting (3 on the dial. Put lid on the dutch oven and keep at a low simmer and continue the simmer for 1 hour. The legs should temp to 180 degrees when checked with a thermometer when completely cooked through. You’ll know when it is fully cooked because it will completely fall apart when taking the chicken out of the dutch oven!
Finished braised whole chicken.
Carefully carve the chicken and plate to your liking. I like to serve mine up with sliced breast, roasted potatoes and broccoli. The thighs and legs are also delicious with mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Enjoy!
-Logan
