Whole Deboned Chicken Stuffed with Rice, Mushrooms, White Beans, and Truffle
If this sounds pretty complicated, it is! But the rewards in flavor are totally worth it.
Equipment
- Good filet knife
- Roasting pan
- Saucepan for cooking rice
- Cotton butcher string (for trussing stuffed chicken)
- Saute pan for cooking mushrooms and onion
Ingredients
- 1 7-8 lb Whole chicken Yep, get a big bird. Or better yet, get 2.
- 1½ cups Rice
- 1½ cups Chicken Broth
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 can White beans, washed and drained
- ¼ cup Onion, diced
- 1 lb Mushrooms
- 1 tsp Dry rubbed thyme
- ½ cup Heavy cream
- 1 cup Grated parmesan cheese
- ½ oz Black truffle (optional)
Instructions
Cook the rice
- Add chicken stock, butter, rice and a pinch of salt to saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove lid, fluff rice with spoon and let sit, uncovered while you proceed to next step.
Saute mushrooms and onion
- In a saute pan on medium heat, add a tbsp of butter and cook until frothing stops.
- Add mushrooms and cook. They will soak up the oil then release it and mushroom liquid. Wait until the liquid cooks off. This takes about 7-10 minutes.
- Add onions to mushroom mixture and cook until light brown. Stir frequently so onions don't burn.
- Add splash of white wine and cook until most of the wine cooks off.
Make stuffing
- Add cooked rice, cooked mushrooms and onions, beans, cream, half of the parmesan, and thyme to large mixing bowl and combine.
- Optional - Add grated fresh truffle to the mixture if you have it. I use a microplane grater.
- Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Make sure to taste this until you really like it. This is going to flavor your chicken!
Debone and stuff chicken
- Heat Oven to 325°
- I've linked to a video on how to debone a chicken. If you have not done it before, leave yourself 30-45 minutes for this step. If you can, do two of them as you will have enough stuffing for at least 2 birds. I debone the chicken from the back so I can cook the bird breast down.
- Stuff the deboned chicken with as much stuffing as it will hold, including into the holes for the legs and wing.
- Truss the chicken with cotton butcher string. Again, I've linked to a video in the main story so you can learn how to do this. It will take some practice but don't worry about being perfect. Neither the chicken nor the oven will care.
Cook the chicken and leftover stuffing
- Place trussed and stuffed chicken on to roasting pan and roast for about 1½-2 hours, until thermometer read 165° when inserted into thickest part of bird. I like to cook it at 325° to start, then turn it up to 375° until it's done so the skin gets crispier.
- If you have leftover stuffing, feel free to add it to an appropriate sized casserole dish, top it with remaining grated parmesan and cook in the same oven as the chicken for about 45 minutes.
- While everything is cooking, clean up the kitchen, or get someone else to do it. This will make you happy because otherwise your stack of pans, bowls, and dishes will be monstrous.
- When a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°, remove chicken from oven and let rest about 10 minutes. Slice and serve with any leftover cooked stuffing.
- Take a deep breath and enjoy. You did it!