A Mother's Heart

Whole Chicken Woes

I know this is going to shock most of you out there, but Tuesday was the VERY FIRST time I have ever roasted a whole chicken.  My other whole-bird efforts have consisted of one turkey on each Thanksgiving. 

The reason for this was pure laziness, I'm sorry to say.  Deep down I knew that whole chickens actually taste better, go farther in meals and are cheaper, but I was still unwilling to put in the effort.  I mean, come on, first you have to roast it, then carve it up, to say nothing of boiling the carcass and picking the meat off, something I truly despise for some reason.  See?  Lazy!

So, I finally got my lazy self in gear, bought the chicken and roasted it.  Did we ever have a bang-up dinner that night!  It was delicious!  I was converted to a whole-chicken believer!

Then, the meal was over.  The party had ended and I was faced with a half-eaten chicken carcass.  What to do?  Well, I was smart enough to carve most of the meat off and use it for the next evening's meal, but that left a mostly-eaten chicken carcass.  Back to square one. 

Ok, so now I make soup with this nasty thing, right?  So I boiled it in a big pot for a couple of hours, then promptly put it in the fridge because I didn't want to deal with it.  I'm very embarassed to say that my wonderful husband picked all the meat off, and took care of it for me. 

All that to say, ladies, please help me!  Not to overcome my laziness (which I will have to do!) but to help me with some whole chicken tips!  I want to be one of you!  How long do I boil it?  How much water?  Then what?  Do I strain it?  Any other tips to make it easier?

I knew that if anyone could help, it would be you!

Leslie

Untitled Comment

4:23, 2/29/2008 .. Posted by smmagers

I love to roast my chickens. When I boil one I save the juice for my dogs. I love to use a boiled chicken for pot pies, tacos, and so much more. My advice is to play around with eat, just try this or that and see what you guys like. God Bless ..mj

several things to do

6:29, 2/29/2008 .. Posted by kjprice616

I handle cooking a whole chicken in 2 ways.

1. Boil/Stew the entire chicken for a few hours on low. Put the chicken on a plate and take the meat off. Save part of it for future meals and put part back into chicken broth. Add celery and carrots to broth and cook until soft. Then add a package of egg noodles and serve soup the 1st night.

2. Roast a chicken. My favorite way to do this is to make Sticky Chicken (recipe is here - http://mycozylittlecottage.com/kitmaindisheschix.html). I use any leftover chicken for future dishes.

Future dishes with leftover chicken from above 2 recipes can be used to make chicken pot pie, chicken tacos, stir-fry, chicken salad or whatever recipes you can find that use small amounts of chicken.

It's really easy and an inexpensive way to stretch the meat from one chicken! You can also freeze any leftover meat to use again at a future date in case you don't want to eat chicken all week - LOL!

Kris

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10:34, 4/6/2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

I found a recipe that I use that is sooooo simple. I take a whole chicken rub whatever spices you want inside and out, place it in a crock pot on low for 5-8 hours. It will be falling off the bone moist and it will be swimming an awesome juice. I take it out(if you leave it in long enough it will basically fall apart for you) in pieces, remove all the meat and put most everything back in except the skin. I add an onion, celerey, peppercorns, bunch parsley and whatever you like and let it cook on high for awhile till you think the broth is done. My last chicken was around 4 pounds and I got a little over a pound of meat and 3 quarts or so of AWESOME broth.

Enjoy!
Robin