A few years ago my aunt was teaching our kids Spanish at our house. We ended the lesson by talking about food, and she said that she had seen a recipe for baking a frozen chicken. Since I’m not a good meal planner, I thought this was the perfect thing for us to try. Rather than searching for a recipe, we just started experimenting.

This has become one of our favorite meals when we expect a busy morning or afternoon on the farm. I like to prepare plenty of potatoes for baking and have fresh vegetables ready as a side. We need to get this in the oven by at least 9:00 a.m. to be able to eat by noon, or 2:00 p.m. to eat by 5:00. Our summer oven on the porch seems to bake faster than my gas oven in the house so times may vary a bit for you. 🙂

Alena has found that adding butter to the chicken about an hour after she puts it in the oven, and then more towards the end, helps it to be more moist and produces a crispy, delicious skin. She also likes to add our new lemon pepper seasoning for added flavor at the end. With our big family of 10, we always make two chickens. After we eat the meat for the first meal, we put the whole chickens in a stock pot, add water to cover the chicken, and boil this for at least 8 hours (the more the better). This makes a delicious homemade soup later! We often have enough meat and stock for two more meals.