Monday, March 29, 2010

Get to roasting!

While watching Barefoot Contessa one day, I noticed that she encouraged everyone to roast their chicken instead of boiling it when a recipe called for "cooked chicken". Last week I decided to take her advice and I am so glad I did. Seriously, the difference is just remarkable. Packs of bone-in, skin-on chicken breast often go on sale for .99c/lb or lower. If you are anything like me, you have been hooked on boneless, skinless. I have just always thought it was the better, healthier way to eat chicken. While that is mostly true, the bone-in, skin-on kind isn't necessarily unhealthy. There is actually an article in Cooking Light that talks about this very food "myth" and states,

"a 12 ounce bone-in, skin-on chicken breast half contains just 2.5 grams of saturated fat and 50 calories more than the similarly portioned skinless counterpart." cooking light April 2010

I remove the skin after roasting but, if you are one that enjoys that part of it (I personally do not) then an every once in a while indulgence is definitely not going to thwart your diet efforts. Take a morning and roast a pack or two of skin-on chicken breast. After cooling completely dice up and either use that week or throw in the freezer for later use. Do me a favor, give it a try. Just once. I promise you'll be hooked.

Ingredients
Bone-in, Skin-on Chicken breast
olive oil
freshly ground salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Cover each chicken breast with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Bake for 45 minutes on a slotted pan. If you don't have a slotted pan then just use a cookie cooling rack placed on top of a regular baking sheet. This way the chicken doesn't sit in any excess fat drippings.

Cool completely, peel skin back (if desired) and be amazed at how succulent and juicy it is use chicken for whatever recipe "cooked chicken" is called for.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually prefer to roast/bake my chicken. The way it looks while boiling just grosses me out.

Anonymous said...

I do this too unless I need broth for something too.

Julie said...

I like to cook up a bunch of chicken at once and I think I will try this when I make chicken later this weekend.

Holli said...

If you need the broth, just roast it like this and throw the bones in the crock pot(you can also throw in veggie scraps to increase nutrients and flavor if you have any around or in your freezer) over night covered with water. I just read that it costs .19 for 8 hours of using the crock pot. This way you get the best of both.

Bethany said...

Thanks Holli - I was going to suggest the same thing! My freezer kind of looks like a chicken graveyard at the moment :)