Whole Roasted Chipotle Chicken
The problem: You want flavorful chicken, but you don’t want to get out every single jar in your spice cabinet. The fix: whole roasted chipotle chicken from A New Way to Food by Maggie Battista. Thanks to flavorful chiles en adobo, which you can find in the Mexican section of most grocery stores, it’s made with just four ingredients.
“Make sure to rub the entire chicken and don’t skip getting underneath the skin—the red flavor needs to be everywhere,” Battista explains. “Store the extra adobo sauce in the fridge and add a teaspoon to a pot of beans, any stew that needs spice, a batch of hummus or even to grains like rice or couscous.”
And speaking of leftovers, stash them in the fridge to use in salads, soups and pastas all week long.
Ingredients
One 4-pound whole chicken, innards reserved for another use or discarded
2 chipotle peppers plus 2 tablespoons sauce from a can of chipotle in adobo sauce
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sea salt
Directions
1. Put the whole chicken on a plate and place it uncovered in the fridge for 2 to 4 hours. This will help dry out the skin a little and get it crispier.
2. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
3. Add the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce and olive oil to a small food processor and blitz until blended together, about 30 seconds.
4. Place the chicken on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Loosen the skin from around the breasts and rub the chipotle mixture underneath the skin and all over the chicken, including inside the cavity. Sprinkle with the salt. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Turn the wings under each breast; you may need to break a joint to do this.
5. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300°F and roast for another 60 to 75 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 165°F or the juices run clear at a small cut in the thickest part of the thigh.
6. Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes before carving.
762 calories
57g fat
2g carbs
58g protein
1g sugars