The recipes on this page consist of not only chicken but turkey and any other fowl or poultry recipes.  Since these meats are so good for you we try to increase the amount of them that are included in our regularly used recipes.  There are so many good chicken recipes out there that you can have a great variety of meals with this meat.

My Roast Chicken
We really like roast chicken, and we have it often. The price of whole chickens is so reasonable that we always have several in the freezer.  This is a dish I never made until after Jim and I were married.  My first husband was of the opinion that fried chicken was perfect, so don’t mess with it… so we never had it any other way.  All I can say now is that we missed a lot of good chicken over the years. Jim always says “I never met a chicken I didn’t like…”
We most often have roast chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies but sometimes we just fix chicken and pick it apart and eat it.  We have raw broccoli, cauliflower, celery sticks and small carrots that we dip in Marie’s Ranch Dressing (this is very good dressing), and eat hunks of a warm, tangy sourdough baguette… what more could you ask?

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
margarine 
numerous cloves fresh garlic
Salt, pepper
Directions:
Lately I have been using fresh garlic (I know, I have been missing a lot), and after rinsing and patting my hen dry, I coat it with margarine, then season it well with salt, pepper and Johnny’s Seasoning.  Johnny’s is excellent with any kind of chicken and pork, and we use it for most beef, also.  It is a blend of paprika, some salt, and various kinds of peppers.  I then tuck garlic cloves under the skin of the chicken, and place it on a rack in a large, deep pot with a heavy bottom.  We used to use shallow pans, but about a year ago they began splattering all over the oven, so we now put it in the deep pot, and it still browns perfectly, but doesn’t splatter when roasting.  We roast the chicken at 325º, usually about two hours, or until the leg is falling off done, basting the hen with its juices  during the last half hour of roasting.

An important point if you are going to make gravy is that you must poke the chicken's skin down around the thighs (on the bottom of them) to drain the juices, just in the last 10-15 minutes of roasting.  If you do it sooner the chicken will be dry.  If you don’t do it, you won’t have the juice you need to make gravy.

Roast Chicken Gravy:

This is made sort of like my pot roast gravy, except that the chicken isn’t browned, so the gravy is not as dark as beef gravy is.  Something I just saw said to put the giblets in the bottom of your roasting pan, with some chicken stock, to flavor the gravy, and it sounds like it would work, but haven’t tried it yet.  However, I mix in all the bits of caramelizing from the bottom of the pot into the gravy for added flavor, and (here is my secret ingredient) instead of water I use canned chicken broth to make the gravy.  This gives it much richer flavor.
As for the mixing of the correct proportions of flour and chicken broth for the gravy refer to my pot roast gravy recipe, as it is the same method, just different ingredients.  It will reward you with rich, flavorful gravy.  You should have gravy left for hot chicken sandwiches with gravy, which we make just like hot turkey sandwiches.

Grilled Southwest Chicken
Ingredients:
2/3 C Vegetable Oil
1/3 C Lime Juice
2 tbsp Green Chilies, chopped
1 tsp fresh Garlic, minced
4 Chicken Breast halves, skinned
8 slices Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Marinate chicken with first four ingredients at least 45 min. in fridge, turning often.  Drain and place on grill (with skin side down), grill first side 6-7 min., turn, top with cheese and grill second side several more minutes.

Chicken Parmesan
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 (3-oz. each) chicken tenders
1 1/2 cups purchased marinara sauce

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
½ C grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Stir oil and herbs in a small bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper and brush both sides of meat with  herb oil mixture. Heat a heavy large oven-proof skillet over high heat. Add the tenders and cook just until brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Spoon marinara sauce over and around the meat, then sprinkle 1 teaspoon of mozzarella over each piece of meat.  Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of Parmesan over each. Dot tops with butter and bake until cheese melts and the chicken is cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Chicken Stir-Fry
This is something we have quite often, and we sometimes use pork or beef instead of chicken.  It doesn’t feel like a heavy meal, but fills you up, is very good tasting, and doesn’t take long to prepare.  You can have the rest of the meal done before your rice finishes cooking.

Ingredients:
Stir-Fry
Leftover chicken, or 2 boneless, skinless half-breasts, cooked (you can do this in 7 min. in the microwave on high).
1 pkg. (12-oz) Stir-Fry Vegetables, frozen
2 Tbsp. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp. Honey
Soy Sauce to taste
No-Fail Rice:
1 C. Long Grain White Rice
2 C. Water
1 Tbsp. Butter or margarine
½ tsp. Salt
Directions:
For Rice: Measure out two cups of water in med-large saucepan, and put on to boil.  Add salt and butter.  When it comes to a boil, pour in measured rice, stir, and as soon as it comes to a boil again, cover and turn heat down to simmer, a “3” on my electric range.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  At the end of that time remove lid, and add a couple of dollops of butter to rice, fluffing with a fork.  Cover again.
For Stir-Fry:
Cut meat into small pieces, about 1/3 to ½ inch in diameter.  Heat olive oil in wok or deep skillet, add chicken and season with salt and pepper.  Cook quickly, stirring well to keep it from burning.  Add stir-fry vegetables.  Cook, stirring until thawed and heated.  Add Soy Sauce and Honey, and mix thoroughly until all is heated through.  Simmer a couple of minutes for flavors to meld and remove from heat.  Remove lid from rice and place in serving dish.  Serve stir-fry over rice.  Serves 4. 

Cheyenne Chicken
This is a recipe I found while I was in Alaska, while looking for poultry main dishes.  I have changed it somewhat, but as it is now, it works very well.  It is very quick to prepare, taking only about 15 minutes, and tastes just great.  It is just as easy to prepare for one as it is for a family. Just adjust the amount of meat and other ingredients as needed.

Ingredients:
3 Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
Salt, Pepper, and Johnny’s Seasoning
9 slices Monterey Jack cheese, about 1/8-inch thick
4 green onions, cut into half-inch lengths
Directions:
Rinse and pat chicken dry, season with above seasonings on both sides, and place in individual baking dishes.  Using just three, I place them in the microwave, place an inverted dinner plate atop them, and microwave them on high for about 7 minutes.  They are thoroughly cooked at the end of this time and swimming in their juices.  I leave them in their juices for flavor, cover each breast with 3 slices of cheese and a good topping of green onions.  After preparing them all this way I place the individual dishes on a pizza pan for convenience, and stick them under the broiler for just a few minutes (3-5 minutes), until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. That’s it, they are ready to serve.  I top them with more green onions and serve them. 

Lemon Chicken
This is really yummy!
Ingredients:

1 quart buttermilk

1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, tenders removed, cut in strips
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
Vegetable oil, for frying
For Sauce:
1 (11-ounce) jar lemon curd
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Directions:

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a large frying pan by 1/4 to 1/2-inch in depth. Heat oil to 365 degrees F.  
Meanwhile, whisk buttermilk and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Add chicken and set aside (it will tenderize chicken). Sift together flour and cornstarch into a shallow dish. Remove chicken from buttermilk mixture and dredge in flour mixture. Fry chicken strips until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip chicken and continue cooking another 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels. While chicken is frying, make the sauce. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt lemon curd, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Drizzle sauce over chicken and serve.

 

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