Why You Should Try Cooking Chicken In A Bundt Pan

Roast chicken is one of the easiest dishes to prepare if you just want a nice, simple, one-pan, set-it-and-forget it dinner. Of course, this doesn't mean that perfection can't be improved upon. Google "best way to make roast chicken" and you'll come up with approximately a zillion hits, since there's not a single chef or amateur cook out there who doesn't have their own tip — slow roast, high heat, salt-crusted, brined — the options are endless, and since chickens are cheap, these aren't high-stakes propositions here. If you pick up a whole roaster at Aldi for around just $6, you're going to be a lot more willing to experiment, than with a prime rib that costs approximately half a mortgage payment.

One of the more popular chicken-cooking hacks, especially during barbecue season, is beer (or, more colorfully, "beer butt" chicken), a preparation method which can be used in the oven as well as on a grill, and is something you can do with any type of can, not just one containing beer. As Cooking Light reveals, approximately 0% of the beer actually penetrates the chicken, but the chicken may well be juicier simply because a standing-up chicken has its legs closer to the heat source. Eat This, Not That! improves upon the can hack, though, by proposing you use something that's unlikely to collapse or tip over in the oven — a bundt pan.

The drawbacks of cooking beer can chicken are many. First of all, the contents of the can will likely go to waste. Secondly, if your chicken is large and your can flimsy, the can may tip or even buckle under the weight. Finally, you're not saving on dishes since you'll still need a roasting pan. Rather than having to wrestle a hot, dirty can out of your roast chicken's rear, you can instead use a handy one-piece option made from much stronger metal that was designed to be oven-proof — your basic bundt pan.

Eat This, Not That!, who are under the impression that only grandmas have bundt pans, says you can place a chicken over the center tube, then arrange chopped potatoes, carrots, or other root veggies around it. Roast the chicken as per your favorite recipe (they suggest 425 degrees, but other cooks prefer higher or lower temps), just be sure that the interior reaches 165 degrees as per CDC food safety guidelines. One note of caution, before you try the bundt pan roasting hack — while bundt pans and tube pans are similar in design, you shouldn't use a two-piece pan typically used for angel food cakes (via LeafTV). The juices from the roasting chicken could leak out the gap at the bottom and could cause a grease fire.