If you’re like me you have a rotisserie chicken in your refrigerator that you have nothing planned for. I always pick up an extra one when I’m at Costco and inevitably it sits for a few days in the fridge and loses it’s appeal. I question why I didn’t just shred it when it was fresh or take the time to plan a meal around it. Instead it got hard and cold. If you feel me, this post is for you. My people. I’m going to show you how to revitalize that chicken to its former glory but it will be even better because it’s swimming in a garlic and thyme sauce that will make your taste buds dance.
The hardest part about this recipe is making a spatchcock chicken. That’s a fancy way of saying “butterflying” it. The point is to make the chicken lay flat so it cooks quickly and evenly. This is achieved by removing the backbone then cracking the breastbone. It sounds gruesome but it’s not bad. You’ll feel a level of achievement like you never have once this step is done. The chicken goes in a 9×13 dish and gets doused in a delicious sauce that comes together on the stove.
The best part about this is the method I’ll be sharing is it works with any type of flavor profile. If you want a bbq based sauce or an Asian based sauce, it will all work. For this recipe we are making a bright brothy sauce with garlic, onions, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Better than Bouillon chicken base, chicken stock, honey and fresh thyme. The sauce is incredible and wakes you up without being sour. It pairs well with everything especially my crunchy garlic potatoes. You can also shred the chicken once out of the oven as it’s “fall off the bone” tender.
Rotisserie Chicken with Garlic Thyme Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 1/3 c chicken stock
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Better than Bouillon heaping
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Butterfly the chicken by sitting it up vertically with the backbone facing you. Run a sharp knife along either side of the backbone from tail to neck.
- Make a small cut into the top breast bone and break open the chicken so it can lay flat in a 9x13 dish. Remove skin if desired.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- To a pan set just under medium heat add olive oil and saute diced onions for 10 minutes.
- Add minced garlic and cook 2 minutes more before adding red wine vinegar, and the juice of half a lemon. Stir and scrape up any brown bits that remain on the bottom of the pan.
- Add chicken stock, salt, pepper, Dijon mustard, Better than Bouillon chicken base, honey and fresh thyme leaves. Whisk and bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Pour sauce over the chicken in the dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes in the middle rack.
- Remove and serve or shred. Chicken will fall right off the bone.