Rosemary-Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

By colourforme

Sure, you can buy a great roast chicken. But for Sunday night dinner with family, it feels great to serve one you made yourself. Our secret for the moist and flavourful chicken is the addition of a seasoned cream cheese mixture under the skin. The Kraft Kitchens will show you that the technique is a cinch, and the resulting flavour will blow your family away. By cooking the chicken and potatoes in the same oven at the same temperature, you get a complete dish with very little work.

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Ingredients

175 g (3/4 of 250-g pkg.) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese , softened
2 tsp. dried rosemary leaves , divided
1 tsp. pepper , divided
1 whole chicken (3-1/2 lb./1.6 kg)
6 Tbsp. Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing , divided
2 lb. (900 g) red potatoes (about 4), cut into 1-inch chunks
6 slices bacon , cooked, crumbled
2 green onions , sliced

Details

Servings 6
Level of difficulty Average
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 85mins
Cost Average budget

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 375°F.

Mix cream cheese, 1 tsp. rosemary and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Starting at neck of chicken, use handle of wooden spoon or fingers to carefully separate skin from meat of breast, thighs and legs, being careful to not tear the skin. Spoon cream cheese mixture under skin; use fingers to push and spread some of the chicken mixture out to thighs and legs. Place chicken in shallow pan. Brush with 2 Tbsp. of the dressing.

Toss potatoes with remaining dressing, rosemary and pepper in separate 13x9-inch pan. Bake chicken and potatoes 1 hour 15 min. or until chicken is done (170°F), stirring potatoes every 30 min.

Transfer chicken to large serving dish, reserving juices in pan. Cover chicken; let stand 10 min. Meanwhile, add bacon and onions to potatoes; mix lightly. Spoon around chicken in dish. Slice chicken. Skim fat from chicken drippings in pan; discard. Drizzle drippings over chicken and vegetables.

Don't be alarmed if you tear the skin a bit when spooning the cream cheese mixture under the skin. The chicken will still taste great and be deliciously moist.

NOTE
Baking the chicken and potatoes in separate pans makes it easy to reserve the flavourful chicken drippings in one pan while the potatoes are baked to crisp and golden brown-perfection in the other pan.