I absolutely love chicken! I get my chickens from a local amish farmer and they are wonderful, however sometimes they seemed a bit on the dry side. I am not over cooking it so I knew there had to be a way to create a juicy and delicious organic chicken. This recipe does just that. This chicken was so juicy and had so much more flavor then my past birds. So what did I do differently? I brined my bird. A brine is a salty mixture with spices that offers a lot of flavor and moisture to a chicken.
A lot of people have brined their Thanksgiving turkeys and they can brine for 24 hours plus! This recipe is super easy and only brines for an hour. You will be amazed how moist this chicken is and also how juicy it is.
The first thing you want to do is cut your chicken up. You can save a lot of money by buying a whole chicken and then cutting it up yourself. Don’t be intimidated by the thought of cutting your own bird. It will take you less then 5 minutes to cut up a bird and you can save $5.oo per pound by doing it yourself. That is a big savings! Here is a video to show you how to cut up a chicken.
Now that you have your chicken all cut up, you want to make your brine. Simply dissolve 1/3 cup kosher salt and 1/3 cup sucanat in 2 cups boiling water. Add this to a 1/2 gallon of filtered water and 1 1/2 tsp black pepper and any other spices that you might want to add. Allow the mixture to chill completely. Place the cut up chicken into a gallon size ziplock bag and pour the cold brine over the chicken. Place bag into refrigerator and let sit for 1 hour. After 1 hour remove the chicken, discard brine, and rinse 2 times. Do not season your chicken with more salt during the baking process.
Now place your chicken onto a broiling pan and bake at 375° F until the internal temperature reaches 140ºF (this is not the finished temperature!)
In the meantime mix together your glaze. In a small bowl Mix together 3 tbsp raw honey (heated slightly to melt), 2 tbsp apricot jam and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. When the temperature reaches the temperature of 140ºF (after about 30 minutes cooking time), baste your chicken with the glaze leaving a little bit for a final glaze. Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF. Baste the final glaze on your chicken and cook until internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165ºF. Remove the bird and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
- 1 whole organic chicken (4-5 pounds)
- ½ gallon filtered water
- ⅓ cup unrefined sea salt
- ⅓ cup sucanat
- 1½ tsp black pepper
- 1 large plastic bag
- 3 tbsp raw honey
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- Cut chicken up (see video above).
- Make your brine by simply dissolving ⅓ cup kosher salt and ⅓ cup sucanat in 2 cups boiling water. Add this to a ½ gallon of filtered water and 1½ tsp black pepper and any other spices that you might want to add. Allow the mixture to chill completely.
- Place the cut up chicken into a gallon size ziplock bag and pour the cold brine over the chicken.
- Place bag into refrigerator and let sit for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour remove the chicken, discard brine, and rinse 2 times. Do not season your chicken with more salt during the baking process.
- Now place your chicken onto a broiling pan and bake at 375° F until the internal temperature reaches 140ºF (this is not the finished temperature!)
- In the meantime mix together your glaze. In a small bowl Mix together 3 tbsp raw honey (heated slightly to melt), 2 tbsp apricot jam and ¼ tsp ground cinnamon.
- When the temperature reaches the temperature of 140ºF (after about 30 minutes cooking time), baste your chicken with the glaze leaving a little bit for a final glaze.
- Continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 160ºF.
- Baste the final glaze on your chicken and cook until internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165ºF.
- Remove the bird and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Leave a Reply