Homemade Rotisserie Chicken Recipe

There Are Too Many Great Reasons Why You MUST Try This Recipe

This rotisserie chicken recipe is a MUST-try.  You get the control of the flavor and the parts of the bird you want to cook.  It is much more economical.  Serve half of it for dinner.  Store the shredded meat of the other half away for other meal planning.  One stone for several birds.  It is too good to resist.

Total Time: 1 Hour 35 Minutes - 1 Hour 8 Minutes
Prep Time: 5-8 Minutes  
Active Cook Time: ZERO  
Inactive Cook Time: 1Hours 30 Minutes
Serving: 6-8

Buying a whole rotisserie chicken from supermarket and bringing back home gives you a lot of convenience.  However, are you one of those people that can only stand certain kind of meat?

In my extended family, white meat is always the kind that everybody goes after. 

What about the dark meat?  Well, I will be the only one to finish it because I love dark meat.  Sometimes, I am so happy that nobody fights this over with me.  (I do want to do the happy dance.  But I had never tried it though). Haha....yep, I get it all.  But if I am not there, the dark meat goes to waste. 

Funny that I have several coworkers are as particular as my family.

Believe me, there is nothing wrong with it.  I grew up in a culture where everybody goes after the dark meat.  White meat is unwelcome.  So, the same scenario I just described happens in my home country, Hong Kong, all the time as well.  As much as Chinese don't like white meat, we still eat it instead of throwing away.

If you have this little issue at home, this is the No. 1 reason why you want to make this homemade rotisserie chicken recipe.

TIPS & TRICKS

When bone-in, skin-on chicken is on sale, regardless dark or white meat, I always love to buy two gigantic packs (a.k.a. family pack).  Each pack is about 4 to 5 pounds.  One pack goes into the freezer for later use.  Marinate the other pack and cook your homemade rotisserie chicken. 

For a bigger family, cook them all, if possible.  Serve half of it for that night’s dinner and store the shredded meat of the other half and add into other recipes, such as soup, pasta, salad and fried rice.

Most of the time, buying chicken in this kind of package, the store has already taken care of separating dark meat and white meat.  They rarely pack dark and white meat in one pack. 

You only get dark meat or white meat.  It is clear as day.  So, there you go, problem solved.

Besides, the money you pay for the quantity of meat is double or triple more than a regular rotisserie chicken in a supermarket.  You can even get to control the sodium level.  So, there are tons of advantages making this rotisserie chicken recipe.

This same recipe and cooking method applies to breasts, thighs, quarters and drumsticks.

Does your oven have convection function?  Some calls "speed bake".  Convection oven is widely used in commercial units, such as restaurants.  What it does is to cut cooking time into half.  If this function exists in your oven, take the advantage of it.  It gives you another reason to make this homemade rotisserie chicken recipe.

Before diving into the recipe, let's find out why we must use bone-in, skin-on chicken.

Why Bone-In Skin-On Chicken?

Why bone-in, skin-on chicken?  Because it is much tastier.  There is a high possibility that you're going to cook this chicken again, by adding it into pasta, soup, stir-fry, fried rice and more.  So, keeping it moist and juicy is super important.

Of course, you can add different kind of seasonings, such as Italian, Ranch, Buffalo, BBQ, and so forth.  But I prefer to salt and pepper.

Why? It allows the meat to be more versatile in different recipes.  You can always add different flavors after mixing it with other ingredients.

What To Do With The Dripping?

Dripping has a lot of flavors in it. Use it for roasting vegetables. Great for side dish or pack for lunch.

Don't waste the dripping.  As soon as the chicken is out of the oven, transfer it to a serving plate.

Use the same roasting pan, leave the foil alone, toss in 3-4 pounds frozen broccoli, cauliflower or California blend vegetables.

Put the entire pan of vegetables into the oven with same temperature.  Cook about 20 minutes.  Toss and turn vegetables over.  Cook another 10 to 20 minutes. 

There you go.  A very tasty vegetable side dish.  I always pack them for lunch for next 4 to 5 days.  Nothing goes to waste, huh?

Homemade Rotisserie Chicken Recipe and Instructions

Ingredients
4-5 pounds Bone-in, Skin-on Chicken Breasts, Thighs, Quarters or Drumsticks
1 tablespoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

1. In a big mixing bowl, combine salt and pepper and whisk in extra virgin olive oil. (marinade should look like thick paste)
2. Toss in chicken.
3. Use your hands to massage and coat the marinade on the chicken.
4. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill overnight or at least 8 hours.
5. Let chicken sit in room temperature for one hour.
6. Preheat oven at 425F.
7. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and coat it with cooking spray.
   (Click here to follow step-by-step instructions)
   
8. Single layer chicken on roasting pan skin side down.
9. Cook for 50 minutes.
10. Turn chicken over, and cook another 40 minutes.
11. Let chicken sit at room temperature until cool to touch.  (If you plan to serve some for dinner, let chicken rest for 10 minutes before serving)
    
12. Shred chicken meat and discard both skin and bones.
13. Store shredded meat in containers and put them at the back of a fridge.
14. Meat will be good for 7 to 10 days.
15. Add DIY chicken in salad, sandwich, pasta,  soup, stir-fry, fried rice and etc.

Homemade Rotisserie Chicken Recipe Steps with Photos

Marinate meat and chill it overnight.

Line pan with aluminum foil and skin side down first.

Same recipe applies to bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, breasts, leg quarters and drum sticks.

Certainly, you can serve this as a meal. How could you resist that crispy skin, huh?

Let chicken cool to touch. Discard skin and shred meat for use later.

Separate meat into several portions and store in containers. Add meat into pasta, fried rice, salad and quick soup recipes.

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