Onion Flavored Roast Chicken
I love onions is any form – raw, fried, roasted or grilled. My favorite are caramelized onions because through the process of caramelization, they get a depth of flavor that is not possible through any of the other cooking methods. Since chicken by itself is quite bland, I thought up this recipe to use this enhanced onion flavor to make chicken more flavorful. It came out real good – sweet and juicy !
Ingredients:
1. One medium sized whole skin-on chicken (mine was about 4 lbs)
2. Two tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
3. Two tablespoons of brown sugar
4. One and a half tablespoon of onion powder
5. one teaspoon of garlic powder
6. One teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
7. One teaspoon of salt
8. ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
9. Two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
10. Two teaspoons of sweet paprika
11. ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
12. 3-4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
13. One large white onion
14. ½ tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. In a baking dish, mix all the following ingredients: Worcestershire sauce, brown, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme leaves, salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar, paprika, red pepper flakes and two table spoons of olive oil (keep the other two tablespoons of onions for cooking the onions later) to make the marinade.
3. Wash the chicken under a stream of cold water and then pat it dry thoroughly with paper towels from inside and out.
4. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, including the pocket created by separating the skin and the breasts and the inside of the chicken.
5. Place the marinated chicken in a large baking dish and place in the hot oven to bake it.
6. Lower the oven temp to 325 degree Fahrenheit.
7. Depending on the size of the chicken, the total cooking time will vary but mine took about 120 minutes in all.
8. After the first 50 minutes or so, keep basting the chicken with the juice that collect under it, every 10-15 minutes.
9. To ensure that the chicken is cooked thoroughly, use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh and when it reaches 160 degrees the chicken is cooked.
10. While the chicken is in the oven, peel and slice (in rings) a whole onion.
11. In a medium sized frying pan, heat the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil and put the onion rings in it.
12. Cook the onions over low heat till they start to turn translucent and then add the balsamic vinegar and continue cooking. Stir the onions frequently and make sure they don’t burn. We want them to get brown slowly and get a sweet caramelized taste and not a blackened bitter taste.
13. Take the chicken out of the oven and pour the caramelized onions on top of it.
14. Rest the chicken for 7-10 minutes before carving it.
15. Serve the chicken while it is still hot and with a side of any veggies and carb. I used the roasted Brussels sprouts (recipe in an earlier post) and roasted red potatoes.
