There are several ways to cook a chicken, you can cook a whole chicken or you can just cook it’s parts, either way, when this is done properly the chicken meat is delicious, you can bake or broil you chicken you can grill it or even pan fry chicken strips. You can add literally almost any spice found on earth to your recipe and cook it any way you like.
We will cover all the main cooking methods for cooking a chicken including required temperatures and times, we will start with broiling or baking.
Broiling or Baking a chicken:
The times and temperatures are depended on either you broil a whole chicken or you are just broiling it’s parts, like the breasts, thighs or wings.
Whole chicken:
Without any added garnish to the oven:
Oven temperatures: 400°F or 200°C
Cooking time: 60-90 minutes
Final meat temperature: 180°F or 80°C
Cooking with garnish next to or inside the chicken:
Oven Heat: 400°F or 200°C
Time it should be cooked: 90-120 minutes
Meat’s temperature: 180°F or 80°C
Chicken Breasts (Boneless or not):
This Meat is unique due to it’s tendency to become dry and distasteful if over cooked.
Cooking in the oven without any garnish (for at least 5 chicken breasts)
Oven Heat: 320°F or 160°C
Time: 25-35 minutes (35-45 if you add garnish and vegetables)
Meat’s final temperature: 160°F or 70°C
Finally Chicken Thighs (Boneless) And Wings (at least 3.5 pounds or 2 kilos):
My personally favorite chicken’s meat, it could be cooked with or without the bones, and you can add a big variety of flavors to these meats.
(Without garnish. Add 10 minutes to the cooking time if you add garnish.)
Oven temperature: 355°F or 180°C
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Final Meat temperature: 180°F or 80°C
If you are Cooking Thighs with the bone:
Preheat the oven to: 400°F or 200°C
Cook for: 60-75 minutes
Until the meat is: 180°F or 80°C
Here’s all you need to know to broil or bake chicken in the oven.
Also you should remember that under cooking the chicken’s meat can result in food poisoning, it’s advised to use a thermometer when cooking overall and especially when you are cooking a delicate meat such as chicken. Make sure you and your family will get the best food by measuring the temperature.
I would also like to advise you to use organic chicken which is free-range and healthy chicken without antibiotics. Consuming this kind of meat will improve your health and will reduce from the suffering of the industrial chickens.
Finally in my opinion when cooking a chicken you should marinade the chicken [http://how-to-cook-a-chicken.com/how-to-grill-chicken-breasts] first, it helps retaining the moistness in the meat, making it tender and delicious.