This is a great way to cook a lot of chicken all at once, such as a 10-pound bag of chicken leg-quarters. It’s generally well received by the family and is relatively easy on the cook. If necessary use more than one baking sheet to hold all of the chicken you want to bake. When the chicken is about 2/3 cooked, rearrange the baking sheets so they will bake evenly. I usually leave the skin on for this recipe. For most recipes I remove the skin. Usually I prepare this dish when I’m pressed for time and removing the skin takes more time than I want to use up. Also, my family really prefers this recipe with the skin still on the chicken.
You may, of course, remove the skin before seasoning. It will be DASH compliant in that case.
Simple Baked Chicken
Ingredients
- Chicken Pieces with bones, thighs, legs or leg-quarters are fine
- Salt-Free Seasoning like Mrs. Dash or a store-brand equivalent
- Large flat baking dish, such as a cookie-sheet
Directions
First set your oven to 400º so it can preheat. If desired you can line your baking sheet with tin foil, this makes cleanup much easier.
Wash the chicken pieces if possible. Cut them into pieces if desired. Remove the skin if desired. Arrange the chicken on the baking sheet. Try not to overlap the pieces if it can be helped. Sprinkle the chicken liberally with your favorite flavor of Mrs. Dash. We like the chipotle flavor, although lemon pepper is a strong second favorite.
Place the baking sheet into the oven. Bake for 1 hour, or up to 1-1/4 hours if your chicken is especially cold from the fridge. Remove the chicken from the oven. If there is a wading pool of chicken broth and fat in the bottom of the pan then carefully pour it off into a metal or wooden bowl. The fat will rise to the top and harden in the fridge. Remaining broth may be saved and used as chicken broth in cooking or added to soup. It will keep a few days in the refrigerator or may be frozen for long term keeping.
If necessary put the chicken back into the oven and allow it to bake for 10 more minutes or so, to crisp up the skin.
Serve hot as part of meal. On the side include steamed green beans, cooked rice, corn muffins and serve peaches or peach crisp for dessert.
For 1/2-pound raw leg-quarter, including back and skin, or about one leg-quarter, all the liquid fat poured off of the pan after cooking.
Per Serving: 198 Calories; 11g Fat (51.9% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 75mg Cholesterol; 72mg Sodium. .
Calories By Percentage: 52% Fat; 4% Carbohydrate; 44% Protein
Exchanges: 3 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat
For 1/2-pound raw chicken thighs, skin and visible fat removed at home, before cooking.
Per Serving: 125 Calories; 6g Fat (45.4% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 53mg Cholesterol; 50mg Sodium.
Calories by Percentage: 45% fat; 6% carbohydrate; 49% protein
Exchanges: 2 Lean Meat.
Note from Maggie: These calories seem low to me, but MasterCook assures me they are correct. I believe the low calorie count is because there is not always a lot of meat on chicken pieces with bone and skin. For instance the chicken thighs are only 57% edible, once the skin and fat are removed, and you eat around the bone. According to MasterCook, if you take 8-ounces of raw, bone-in, chicken thigh and then remove the fat and skin, roast it in the oven, and remove the meat from the bone, you wind up with only about 2-ounces of lean, cooked meat. That seems a bit far-fetched to me, but I have found MasterCook nutritional data to be accurate in most things.