Make the Perfect Roasted Chicken

SparkPeople.com


By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com
from "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight"

Roasted chicken is not just a special-occasion meal, it's one of the most versatile foods you can make.

Save time and energy by roasting two chickens at once. Carve the second chicken, let cool, and then freeze the meat and bones separately.

Instead of buying expensive deli meats, which can be full of sodium and fillers, use homemade roasted chicken. Use the meat in soups, throw it on pasta or pair it with a simple salad. Use the bones to make homemade, low-sodium chicken stock

WATCH: Perfect roast chicken

RECIPE: Perfect Roasted Chicken


Minutes to Prepare: 15

Minutes to Cook: 75

Number of Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 T rosemary, chopped
1/3 t black pepper
1 t kosher or sea salt
1 T butter, softened
1 T olive oil
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1 3-pound chicken

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix oil and butter together in a small bowl. Gently lift up chicken skin from the breast and rub oil and butter mixture between the flesh and skin.

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Place chicken in roasting pan on a roasting rack or bed of vegetables. Place lemon inside the cavity of the chicken. Tie legs together with cotton string.

Roast chicken 20 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roast chicken until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of inner thigh registers 180 -185 degrees Fahrenheit, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Lift chicken and tilt slightly, emptying juices from cavity into pan. Juices should be clear. Transfer chicken to cutting board.

Cover chicken with aluminum foil to keep warm and wait 10 minutes before carving.

NOTE: Save about 125 calories and 11 g fat per serving by removing the skin.

Dark Meat vs. Light Meat

One 3-ounce serving of light or white meat typically contains 140 calories and 3 grams of fat. Dark meat is more caloric (160 calories and 7 grams of fat) but it also contains twice as much iron-about 15 percent of your daily recommended intake.

Reprinted in part from "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight" (c) 2011 by SparkPeople, Inc. Permission granted by Hay House, Inc., New York, NY 10033. Available wherever books are sold.

SparkPeople Healthy Cooking Expert Meg Galvin is a World Master Chef, culinary instructor, and the author of "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight." A farmer's daughter and marathon runner, she lives in northern Kentucky with her husband and three teenage sons.