We have made it to Thanksgiving time! So, bust out your baster and meat thermometer because this week on “I Made It So You Don’t Have To,” we are going to be cooking an entire chicken. No more lonely wings, breasts, drumsticks or thighs. Since college separates us from home, many people start having “Friendsgiving” celebrations, a pseudo-Thanksgiving tradition where friends all get together and each brings a recipe to contribute to the feast.
Thanksgiving meals are the bringing together of several things — people, food and gratitude — so I thought that this week’s recipe should represent that. Therefore, I have made my own recipe of mashed potatoes with a wonderful Thanksgiving chicken recipe from a TikTok chef I have reviewed before and could not resist coming back to. Yes, you read correctly.
You do not always have to use turkey at Thanksgiving despite what all the decorations and turkey hats may indicate. Chicken is easier to work with, people are more familiar with it and the end product still tastes delicious. I will be honest — I am a fan of turkey for Thanksgiving and my family has enjoyed that every year for the holiday — but in the spirit of trying new things, I thought to give chicken a try.
The TikTok recipe I will be using is the “holiday bird chicken” recipe from @Sad_papi. This is one of those recipes where you will need to know what is coming next and where to focus your time ahead of when you cook, because there are multiple parts that have a habit of creeping up on you. So, like my grandfather does when prepping every Thanksgiving dinner, I made sure to remain as organized as possible.
I used two whole chickens even though the recipe says one, so I doubled the quantities of ingredients, and this fed roughly five people. First, I cut the spine of each chicken out, but do not throw it out. You will be able to feel the individual bones of the spine to locate it (the video will certainly help). Then, season the inside with about 3/4 tablespoons of salt for each chicken, evenly spread. Throw this in the fridge, flattened for 12 to 48 hours. This is called a dry brine.
A brine is any solution of salt and water that can be used for cooking. Dry brine indicates that the salty layer created on top of the chicken will create a brine built from the chicken’s own moisture, which then soaks back in, keeping the meat tender. Being a college student pressed for time, I only let the chicken sit for six hours and it turned out great, so don’t worry if you can’t hold an entire chicken in the fridge for one to two days.
Once the chicken is done, preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the room temperature butter with chopped/portioned thyme, rosemary and sage to rub all over the chicken. Then place the chicken inside the oven for 15 minutes. While this was going, I started preparing the gravy. Cut up the spine into roughly four or five pieces — it can be sloppy — and then throw them into a saucepan with some depth at medium-high heat. Brown all of the bits and then remove them from the pan.
Lower the heat to medium, add the shallots and garlic, then sauté them with butter for three minutes, stirring every few seconds. Once they are translucent, drop the temperature to medium-low, then add in the flour and stir. This is what is going to thicken the gravy. Cook the flour for roughly 10 minutes until it is the color of peanut butter, which was a perfect description from the video of what to look for. Add the chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves, salt/pepper and the chicken bits back inside to flavor the gravy. Let this simmer at medium-low heat for 30 minutes to ensure the gravy has thickened well and add more stock if you want it to be thinner (I added about 1/4 cup more).
Once the chicken finishes, drop the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Now here is where the meat thermometer comes in handy. Cook the chicken until the internal temperature is 150 degrees Fahrenheit, at which point you should take it out. Brush the honey on it and coat it with the spice mix. Place it back in the oven for five to 10 minutes, ensuring that the chicken gets fully cooked and the spices are toasted. Once the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit, you can pull it out. Let it sit for 30 minutes before slicing so that the chicken retains all of its moisture.
While waiting, it’s time for mashed potatoes. Fill up a large pot with water and get it ready to boil. Grab your potatoes and peel them. It’s okay if the peeling is not perfect, because if some of the skin ends up in mashed potatoes, it helps give it a nice texture and earthier taste. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and then for each half, cut about three or four slices widthwise. Cutting it into smaller pieces ensures a more even boiling. Add them into the water and monitor them.
It varies depending on the size of the potato, but around 10 minutes, start checking if the pieces are fork tender. Once they are, you can take them out and add them to a bowl, along with butter, and milk. I would opt for a potato ricer which helps make the potatoes silkier, but if you don’t have one and are into forearm and shoulder workouts like me, then mash away. Keep adding milk if you want it to be smoother.
Once it achieves the desired consistency, add nutmeg, salt, pepper and rosemary. I gave the absolute base level amounts of spicing for the mashed potatoes because at the end of the day, it comes down to preference. I normally like more salt and rosemary to complement the chicken with more aromatics. Once this is done, all the components of the dish should be ready to put together.
This dish was a lot of fun to make. While it did test my ability to keep track of multiple things, it will certainly make you feel like and come off as a professional when making it. I liked how the honey gave the chicken a nice sweetness while also allowing the spice mix to attach to it. The gravy was the best gravy I have ever had and complemented the entire dish perfectly. Take charge of your Friendsgiving by being the one to make the centerpiece dish with this recipe that will not disappoint. With any Thanksgiving recipe, you will need to devote a significant amount of time to this, but the quality of the final product speaks for itself. The more effort, the better the result.
Ingredients
Chicken
- One chicken
- One-half stick of unsalted butter
- One tsp of thyme
- One half tsp sage
- One tsp of rosemary
- One tbsp honey
Spice mix
- One tsp crushed coriander
- One tsp cumin
- One half tsp black pepper
- One-quarter tsp flakey salt
Gravy
- Olive oil (for drizzling)
- Three tbsp butter
- Three tbsp flour
- Three shallots (thinly sliced)
- Four garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
- Three-and-a-half cups of chicken stock
- Five sprigs of thyme
- One bay leaf
- Salt/pepper
Mashed Potatoes
- Four potatoes
- One-half tbsp of salt
- One-quarter tsp of nutmeg
- One-half tsp of rosemary
- One-quarter cup of milk
- Three tbsp of butter
Price: $57.96 (includes all spices)
Rating: 4.2/5