Thyme Baked Chicken

My mother in-law, Mavis, first introduced me to this simple baked chicken.  She got the recipe from the family’s cook when they lived in Sweden.  This chicken requires only olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.  Despite the simplicity of the ingredients and the preparation, this chicken is absolutely delicious.

• 1 whole chicken
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• ground thyme

Rinse the chicken, then pat dry with paper towels.  Tie the legs together with kitchen twine, if you like.  Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and thyme.  Place in a foil-lined baking pan (I use a 9 x 13-inch pan).  Tuck the wings under the chicken. 

Place in a preheated 375-degree oven and bake for about 1-1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your chicken, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165-degrees.  Place the kitchen thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and not resting against a bone.  Do your best to not overcook the chicken; in an effort to avoiding under cooking chicken, I have often been guilty of over cooking it.  This time, I got things just right.

Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before cutting into pieces.  Although in the picture above, I have cut a couple of slices away from the breast; using a pair of kitchen scissors I cut the chicken into serving pieces.  I didn’t do that in this case because I wanted to show how beautiful and moist the chicken breast was!