The Bacon Chicken

Some days, you know exactly what you’re going to make for dinner. Those days are fantastic: you have a plan, you know you have all the ingredients, and there is little creative thinking involved. I wish I had more of those days.

Other days, you find yourself at a complete loss at 4 PM and have to scramble to throw together dinner. Sometimes, that can lead to disaster. Other times, the result is genius. Like, let’s say, an idea (a dream really) about taking a whole chicken and wrapping it in bacon and just roasting it like that.

The Bacon Chicken
with Insanely Delicious Bacon Flavored Cabbage

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
10 (or more, depending on size) strips of thick cut nitrate-free bacon, cut in half
1 lemon
1 onion
1 sprig of rosemary
6 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp salt
1/2 Teaspoon pepper
1/2 head of cabbage (about 4 cups), sliced

Instructions

1. Halve the lemon and garlic cloves, quarter the onion (don’t worry about peeling)
2. ♥ Pat the outside of the chicken dry with a towel
3. ♥ Sprinkle salt and pepper inside the chicken cavity and over the skin
4. ♥ Stuff cavity with the lemon, onion, garlic and rosemary
5. ♥ Place bacon slices over entire exposed surface of chicken, wrapping evenly in a single layer – ensuring no chicken skin is left exposed (Kids LOVE doing this!) – if your bacon doesn’t stick then pat dry again and start over
6. ♥ Spread sliced cabbage around bottom of a baking dish (no fat, no seasoning – trust us), set chicken on top of cabbage (a dutch oven or 12-14″ diameter cast iron pan works well)
7. Roast uncovered at 400 degrees for 90 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, shake pan to stir cabbage every 20 minutes to prevent burning

This meal was delicious! Shocking, I know. But the bacon crisps up, creating an even more crispy and delicious chicken skin than we’ve ever had. Way better than fried chicken, in our opinion. And it’s only made better by the bacon flavored cabbage. There’s something about cabbage that makes it the perfect vessel for cooking with fat. We also served our meal with these plantains from Paleo on Main because I happened to have ripe ones in the pantry and knew I could locate the recipe. Needless to say, there were NO leftovers.

As always, steps marked with ♥ are suitable for kids to try!

About Matthew

Matthew McCarry has written 191 post in this blog.

Matt is the husband of Stacy and somehow manages to contribute to this blog in between taking care of three children, producing the Paleo View Podcast and cooking most of the food featured here.

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