It took me quite awhile to get up the courage to cook a whole chicken.
I think it was two years ago that I finally decided I could do it and embraced the challenge.
And guess what?! It wasn’t hard to deal with at all.
I’m someone who generally is weirded out by touching and cutting and looking at raw meat, but a whole chicken is honestly one of the more natural meats. It’s all there as it should be.
Here are some other reasons why you should cook with a whole chicken:
- It’s cheaper (instead of getting a few chicken breasts, you can get a whole chicken for the same price)
- It adds more flavor
- You get more bang for your buck
Trust me- you can do it! You can cook with a whole chicken, too, so here are some ideas after you buy said whole chicken.
Slow cook it all
One of the easiest things is to just chuck that chicken in a slow cooker with some broth and aromatics to where it cooks to falling off the bone. Then, you can use it in tacos, enchiladas, salad, chicken salad, or anything you would normally use shredded chicken for.
Recipe Idea: Curry Chicken Salad
Make a soup
This is one of my favorite ways to use a whole chicken. I’ve started doing this with my chicken tortilla soup (cooking it whole first with water, carrot and celery to make a killer broth), and I recently used this method in Jamie Oliver’s curry chicken soup. It’s amazing how much flavor the chicken bones and meat give to the broth! (Click on the names below for the recipe links!)
Recipe Idea: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Red Curry Chicken Soup
Roast that chicken
This is such a classic meal, roast chicken with vegetables. It’s honestly one of the easiest things to throw together and cook for 1 1/2 hours or so and it’s all in one pan! I really like doing this for dinner parties, too.
Recipe Idea: Roast Chicken
Grill it whole
I haven’t tried this method yet, but I’ve heard great things about beer can chicken and such. It seems like when you put spices over a whole chicken and grill it, amazing things happen.l I’ll definitely have to try this soon!