Baked Whole Chicken With Stuffing, a holiday recipe that is sure to please the whole family. I used to think that baked whole chicken was pretty boring and bland, but it can be way more exciting. Yes, you want the perfect golden-brown skin and super moist meat, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring! Stuffing a whole chicken can make it extra special.

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Lemon and Rosemary

Getting reviews…

• Level: Easy

• Total: 1 hr 30 min
• Active: 20 min
• Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 bulbs fennel, chopped into 1-inch pieces

Sea salt

2 chickens (about 3 pounds each)

3 lemons, quartered

14 to 16 sprigs fresh rosemary

Directions

1. Set the oven’s temperature to 425 F.
2. In a roasting pan, drop 1 tablespoon of oil on the bottom. 1 tablespoon of oil should be drizzled over the fennel in one layer.
3. The hens’ bodily cavities were salted, and six lemon quarters were placed into each. Put seven or eight rosemary sprigs under the skin of each bird after using your fingers to carefully separate the skin from the flesh. Spread the sprigs evenly around the thighs and breasts by sliding them in lengthwise. Apply 1 tablespoon of oil to each chicken’s skin. Use kitchen thread to bind the legs together. Just before putting the chickens breast-sides up on top of the fennel in the roasting pan, salt their skin. About an hour of roasting is required to reach 165 degrees F with an instant-read thermometer put into the thickest section of a thigh (but not touching a bone).
4. After moving the birds to a cutting board, let them 10 minutes to rest. Slice thinly, then serve with the fennel.

How to Bake a Whole Chicken With Stuffing

Cooking a traditional sit-down supper may be quite satisfying, even if your typical evening meal consists of a protein bar and a smoothie. A great pot roast or a large roast chicken are excellent comfort foods, especially when served with homemade stuffing and flavorful gravy. However, stuffing is a problem if you want to cook it within the bird. It makes the issue of food safety more complicated, so you must proceed carefully.

The Problem With Stuffing in the Bird

It’s customary to roast a whole stuffed chicken, which gives the stuffing a beautifully rich flavor. That approach has a difficulty because food quality and safety are at odds.

To maintain food safety, the USDA advises boiling chicken until it reaches a temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Your stuffing also needs to reach that temperature because, while it is inside the bird’s body cavity, it absorbs the chicken juices, which give the dish its flavor, as well as any germs that may be present. The chicken around it will be cooked much over the recommended 165 F by the time the stuffing in the bird’s abdomen reaches that food-safe temperature.

If you’ve properly season it, it will still taste good, but it won’t be as juicy and soft as it would have been at the lower temperature. Cook the dressing separately for the best possible bird. Cook them together if you don’t mind a more cooked chicken and are sure that your gravy will compensate for a drier bird. To keep your stuffing as secure as possible, follow a few straightforward guidelines.

Roast Chicken and Stuffing, the Right Way

It’s okay if you like to prepare your stuffing in advance. As soon as you combine the wet and dry ingredients, the stuffing becomes more perishable, so just keep them apart until you’re ready to bake the bird.

You should cook any ingredients for your favorite stuffing in advance, such as sausage or oysters. In this manner, it is always clear when they have achieved a temperature that is safe for food. For best food safety, use the filling right away while the heated ingredients are still hot. The potential for bacteria to develop increases each time you heat and chill a substance.

Don’t stuff the cavity completely while stuffing the bird. In order to ensure that the bird and the stuffing cook equally, you must provide space for hot air to enter and circulate. Finally, never slow roast a fowl below 325 degrees Fahrenheit. At lower temperatures, the stuffing will warm too slowly, giving the germs in your ingredients—or your chicken—time to produce heat-stable toxins before the oven kills them. That is undesirable.

Use a Thermometer

Use a thermometer if you want to be certain that your chicken and stuffing are both cooked to a level that is safe for consumption. It’s okay to use a leave-in meat thermometer as long as you remove it at the conclusion of the cooking process and conduct a few further tests. However, an instant-read thermometer is usually simpler because you don’t have to wait around for a reading; you get one right away.

At least three areas of your bird should be tested with the thermometer: the thickest section of the breast, the base of the wing, and the thigh. Start testing the stuffing once you are certain that the chicken is done. To ensure that the entire amount of dressing has attained the desired temperature of 165 F, insert your thermometer into it two or three times.

Deal With Leftovers Quickly

If handled properly, chicken, stuffing, and gravy are all equally delicious the next day or the day after. As soon as you’ve finished eating, take the stuffing out of the bird and place it in a shallow container to chill. Within two hours, you must place it in your refrigerator; the earlier the better.

The leftovers will only be edible in your refrigerator for three to four days, so use them right away or put them in the freezer. When serving leftovers again, you must reheat them to the same temperature, which is 165 F.

Roast Chicken with Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing Recipe

There is something incredibly delicious about stuffing a cooked chicken. It’s true that properly cooking a stuffed bird while maintaining its moisture involves certain challenges. Brining your turkey and utilizing fatty sausage and wet cornbread are both beneficial. Make some basic cornbread, then slightly dry it up in the oven before adding the sausage and shallots to keep it firm.

Making the cornbread the day before while brining the chicken will make assembling the dish the following day a breeze. This dish is a delicious Sunday Supper treat and is made with a straightforward white wine, a beautiful chutney, and some steamed broccoli.

Note: You can use store-bought cornbread for the handmade variety. Skip step 2 if using store-bought.

Recipe Facts

Active:30 mins

Total:10 hrs

Serves:4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

Save Recipe

• For the Brine:
• 2 quarts cold water
• 1/2 cup table salt or 3/4 cup kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 12 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 chicken (about 4 pounds)
• For the Cornbread: (see note)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• For the Stuffing:
• 1 pound bulk sausage (casing removed if necessary)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium store-bought or homemade chicken stock
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. To make the brine, bring a large stockpot with a quarter of the water, salt, sugar, black pepper, bay leaves, and lemon to a simmer. the rest of the cold water. Put the chicken in a big pot or dish and pour the brine over it. To bury, press down with a plate. Refrigerate for up to overnight or at least 8 hours.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 425°F and adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position for the cornbread (see note). An 8-inch square baking pan should be buttered. Cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt should all be combined in a bowl. Vegetable oil, milk, and egg should be whisked together in a different basin. Then, pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan after thoroughly combining the wet and dry ingredients. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is just starting to brown. Reduce the oven’s temperature to 375 [°].
3. Cooked cornbread should be carefully removed from the pan and allowed to cool for 20 minutes on a rack. Spread on a baking sheet after being cut into 2-inch cubes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the food is dry and starting to brown. Take out and place aside.
4. For the stuffing, crumble the sausage and sauté it in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you stir often, for about 8 minutes, or until it is no longer pink. Add the shallot and simmer for an additional 5 minutes, or until the shallots start to soften. Take out of the pan and set aside.
5. When ready to stuff, remove chicken from brine and give it a quick rinse in cool water. Utilize paper towels to dry. Set the lower-middle oven rack and heat the oven to 400°F.
6. Combine the cornbread, sausage mixture, chicken stock, and half of the parsley in a sizable bowl. Use salt and pepper to taste to season.
7. Place cornmeal stuffing inside the chicken; if it doesn’t fit all, bake the remaining halves separately. Utilizing two lengths of kitchen twine, truss the chicken by wrapping it twice around the wings, once around the legs, and once around the drumstick ends. Place on a rack in a baking sheet, and roast for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the stuffing’s center and the area between the leg and body reach 155°F. Before serving, take the food out of the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes. Add the remaining parsley.