Roasted Apple-Stuffed Chicken & Herbed Carrots with Apple Gravy
By Deen Brothers
JUMP TO RECIPE
Featured in:
Cooking with Paula Deen Magazine
Difficulty: Medium
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Roasted Apple-Stuffed Chicken & Herbed Carrots
- 2 (4-5 pound) whole chickens, rinsed, patted dry, and giblets removed
- 6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6 Red Delicious apples, 2 cut in half and cored and 4 cored and sliced
- 2 heads garlic, cut in half
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 8 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Apple Gravy, recipe follows
Apple Gravy
- Roasted sliced Apples and drippings (reserved from chicken)
- 1 cup apple brandy
- 4 cups homemade chicken stock
- 4 cups apple cider
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup butter
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
Directions
Roasted Apple-Stuffed Chicken & Herbed Carrots
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large cast iron roaster, place chickens. Truss legs together. Rub outside of each chicken with butter. Sprinkle each chicken and cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff each cavity with apple halves, garlic and rosemary.
Bake 30 minutes. Remove chicken from oven; carefully surround chickens with apple slices, carrots and thyme; cook 30 minutes longer or until thermometer registers 165 degrees and juices run clear when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven; let stand 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with apple gravy.
Apple Gravy
With a slotted spoon, transfer the apples in the roasting pan to a bowl and keep warm.
Pour off any fat from the roasting pan, leaving the meat juices on the bottom. Put pan over medium-high heat, add apple brandy and deglaze pan allowing the alcohol to burn off, about 15 seconds.
Transfer to a small saucepan and add stock, apple juice, cream, thyme and butter.
Increase heat to high and bring liquid to a boil. Simmer, stirring, until reduced by half. Taste for salt and pepper.
Return reserved apples to the gravy and serve warm.
