I have never cooked a whole chicken. For some reason I am freaked out by a whole chicken. Not sure why, I was in FFA and 4h and have held chickens at auction. So, its not like i’m an animal activist and don’t eat meat but I just don’t like dealing with the whole bird. I also think it’s because I am afraid to cook it wrong or it turn out dry. Well, I have been doing a lot of research and I decided to tackle this obstacle and boy it turned out great. It was super moist and had tons of flavor.

Ingredients:

4-5 lb Whole Young Chicken

2 cups whole milk

3/5 bay leaves

3/4 sprigs rosemary

1 lemon (sliced)

2 tbs lemon zest

1 cinnamon stick

Kosher salt and Pepper

3 tbs butter

Optional * 1/2 stick butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Melt Butter in a cast iron skillet. Rub salt and pepper all over the whole chicken. Even in the cavity. Also, make sure you remove the neck from the cavity and dispose. After you have seasoned the chicken, you will brown it in the skillet. Place great side down first and let the outside brown for about five min. Flip it and let the other side brown for 5 min. I use tongs to pick it up and brown the sides of the chicken as well but you don’t have to. Next, you will pour milk, cinnamon stick, rosemary, lemon zest, and rosemary into a dutch oven. Bring to a simmer and turn off. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the lemon slice. Add the chicken into the milk mixture and put the lid on, or foil if you do not have a lid. Bake on 375 for 45 min. Remove dish from oven and check the temperature. Place back in oven, with no lid, and bake for 30 more min. The internal temperature needs to be around 165 in the thickest part of the thigh.

I put a half a stick of butter in the cavity of the chicken with the lemons but if you plan on using the liquid as a sauce on your chicken afterwards, do not put the butter in the cavity. It makes the liquid a weird consistency if you use the butter. I do it because it makes my chicken super moist and I usually make a separate sauce to go with it, because I’m extra as hell.

I served mine with lemon broccolini and mac and cheese :)