I had a whole chicken that's been sitting on the bottom shelf (aka coldest spot) of the fridge in it's original packaging since Sunday. I wasn't sure if it's even going to be good. How long does a whole chicken last anyway? Looking for a recipe for cut up whole chickens on allrecipes.com, I found the easiest chicken in the world. Whether it would taste good was questionable. But look! Only two ingredients other than the bird!
I checked the chicken and it was just fine. So I proceeded.
The original recipe called for 1 tsp garlic salt and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Judging by the comments, it appeared the garlic salt was too little and in many cases the sugar too much. I upped the garlic salt to approximately 1-2 tbsp (I didn't measure, but sprinkled straight from the container to apply an even, light coat) and decreased the sugar to a couple hefty pinches. Original suggestion for baking time was a bit too long also; I cut the time to 40 minutes plus standing time and it was spot-on.
1 (4-5 lb) chicken, cut into pieces, wings reserved for another use
1-2 tbsp garlic salt, or to taste
2 tbsp brown sugar, or to taste
Preheat oven to 375°F.
2 tbsp brown sugar, or to taste
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Season bottom (skinless) sides of chicken with garlic salt.
Arrange chicken skin side up in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Season with additional garlic salt and sprinkle with brown sugar to taste.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until juices run clear. If chicken appears to be browning too much and getting dry, cover with foil for the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking.
Rodney and I were impressed with how this tasted. I thought it would be really sweet or too garlic-salty and it wasn't overdone in either flavor. If you apply a very even coat of sugar, the chicken will come out evenly browned. If you simply lump the sugar on one spot of the bird, I'm sure it would brown there first and slowly blacken; as the sugar melts and spreads, it will become gradually brown in those spots.
The only mistake I made was to tent the chicken and let it sit for 30 minutes while I goofed around trying to figure out what to have with the bird. (I know, who does that, right?) The skin ended up a little more moist and chewy as a result.
I tried broiling a couple pieces to crisp the skin some, but that only resulted in burning the sugar on the skin.
Regardless, I would not be opposed to having this again. I might even trying going all out with the sugar (1/4 cup!) just to see how it turns out. It'd be like having candy for dinner! Man, what I would've given to be able to cook whatever I wanted when I was 9 years old!
Dirt cheap I bet:
- chicken: $3.70
- sugar and garlic salt, generous SWAG: $1
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