roasted jerk chicken

Roasting chicken is always a go-to meal, but I almost always cook the chicken Lemon Pepper style or just traditional with vegetables and gravy. Here's my attempt at switching it up! This is a Jerk style chicken. Not this kind of jerk- but the traditional kind of Jamaican Jerk that's very earthy, full of allspice and lots of heat.

The rub is super easy to make. Very green onion rich, but also some garlic, habanero and other things.

Those "other" things happen to be corn syrup, ground up ginger, vegetable oil, all spice, cardamom, salt and thyme.

The color is not that appealing. But, the flavor is the tops!

Take your whole chicken, make sure the innards have been taken out, stuff the cavity with a lime that's been cut in half, and make sure the whole thing has been patted dry.

Then, rub the whole thing down with that sauce you made out of the green onions and "other" stuff and pop it into the oven. At first, leave the lid off and cook on SUPER high heat to get some browning going.

After 20 minutes, cover and keep cooking. Remember, cook times will be different according to the chicken size you have, but the general rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound at 350 degrees. It will be juicy, it will smell AMAZING and it'll be super yummy.

Roasted Jerk Chicken
1 3 lb raw chicken, with innards removed
3 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 habanero chili, whole
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoons salt
1 lime, cut in half

Preheat oven to 450 degree. In a food processor, combine green onions, garlic, habaneros, vegetable oil, corn syrup, ground ginger, allspice, thyme, cardamom and salt. Pulse until fairly smooth. Stuff chicken with the lime halves then smear the onion mixture all over the outside. Place chicken uncovered in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, cover and continue cooking for 1 hour, or 20 minutes per pound. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Enjoy!