Mimi’s Sticky Chicken

One of my readers recently turned me onto a dish called “Mimi’s Sticky Chicken“, and I was immediately intrigued by its foolproof technique and the mid-1990s feel of Mimi’s website. So I gave it a try, and I liked the recipe enough to share.

This recipe is unique in that it only needs one dish (I used a cast iron skillet), and it uses a relatively low cooking temperature of 250 degrees. Sure, it takes four to five hours to cook the bird, but it’s worth the wait.

You’ll Need:
1 whole chicken
2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp each powdered onion, powdered garlic, thyme, white pepper, black pepper
2 medium white onions, quartered

Gently rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry. Combine all of the dry ingredients and rub all over the outside and inside of the bird. Place in a ziploc bag overnight.

The next day, preheat your oven to 250 degrees, cut up your onions and place them in the chicken’s cavity, then place the bird breast-side-down in the skillet. Cook the chicken for four to five hours, until golden brown and the inside temperature passes 155 degrees. After the first hour or so, be sure to baste the pan juices over the chicken every hour. I recommend you remove any liquid from the pan that accumulates to over 1/4″, to prevent the chicken from getting waterlogged.

Once the chicken is ready, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest on a cutting board for 5-10 minutes before carving. I use the term “carving” loosely, because this bird will basically fall apart into delicious, bite-sized pieces.

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44 thoughts on “Mimi’s Sticky Chicken”

  1. That’s beautiful. :) LOL! Hey? Would you tell me what paleo is? I can google it later too… BUT if you’re still HERE! I’d love to know… THANK YOU>

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    3. You can do this in a crock pot on low sitting for 4 to 5 hours as well. Place chicken on top of cut up onion NO need to add water and cook… taste even better!

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  4. Russ, Is there a decent way to marinate without using plastic bags? Call me a green hippy but one use zip locks drive me up the wall.

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    2. I realize your post was 8 months ago but felt compelled to respond. Ziploc’s don’t have to be ‘one use’. I often ‘wash’ mine with dishsoap and hot water, let dry and reuse. Might not be used for food storage the second or third time around, that all depends on what type of food was in it the first time, but I definitely get multiple uses out of those bags.

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  6. This looks fantastic! I will be doing a work exchange at a farm in southern Saskatchewan in a few days and they happen to be butchering chickens right now. If I can get through that process and still find chicken appealing, I might just have to try this recipe. Thanks! -Rene

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      1. Well, if this Mimi’s Chicken thing happens – I will write a post about it and link back to yours. I hope I won’t be too disgusted by the butchering to enjoy the fruits of my labor… Thanks again! – Rene

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  7. Funny…just saw this recipe last week in the comments section of another food blog. I made it on Sunday and it was the most delicious and easiest roast chicken I have ever made.

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  9. That’s too funny. Tried this a couple days ago because I didn’t want to use the crockpot for soggy skin. And we were going out for the day. So delicious!!

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  10. MMM YUM! I made this yesterday and it was amazing! I didn’t wuite follow the recipe though – I’ve gotten quite hooked on using baking bags (used to work in kitchens – sous-vide is such a miracle, lol) so I marinated it and let it sit in the same bag before cooking it yesterday – the skin gets a bit soggy, but the meat was soo good! With the bag it only took a couple of hours and I had fall-apart scrumptious chicken for dinner :-)

    thank you for the great recipe!

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  11. I made this yesterday, and it was delicious! My husband said it was on par with a rotisserie chicken (high praise from him – he loves those things). He also said this should now be my go-to roasted chicken recipe. I agree, since it was tasty and incredible easy. Thanks!

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  13. Pingback: Mimi’s Sticky Chicken | Dunnville's Premier Martial Arts

  15. I’m trying this recipe today. I’ve had my chicken in the oven for 3 hours no and there are absolutely no juices in the dish. I am cooking in a glass baking dish. I am very surprised. I followed the recipe exactly. Maybe that means all the juice is staying in the bird which is a good thing? I just don’t want it to turn out dry. Any feedback on this?

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    1. OK…..nevermind!! Ha. I went into the kitchen shortly after typing my comment, opened the oven, and there was suddenly juices in the baking dish. All is well. Can’t wait to eat this yummy bird!!

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  16. Made this for the second time tonight. This time I did not let it rest over night and added 2 minced cloves pv garlic in the cavity. Same great taste! Don’t waist the bag lol.

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    1. I was surfing the web for a different roast chicken recipe and found this one. I liked the picture of the end result. No butter, no oil, low temperature..so different from other recipes so i decided to try it.. I didn’t think enough ahead to prep the chicken the night before, so all I did was clean it, dry it and season it. From the second hour I was removing several tablespoons of juice to a separate saucepan that had the strained giblets I parboiled earlier.—in case I needed it later (didn’t!) and to make a gravy. In the last two hours I added some sliced carrots. By the 4th hour, the juices were really accumulating–and I kept basting and spooning lots more of the drippings into the sauce pan. Where are the drippings from.?..there’s no oil, no butter–just the chicken. The skin was already very golden–I was pleasantly surprised , it looked done, but it wasn’t done yet. Needed another hour–the chicken weighed over 5#. I think it was a bit overcooked at 5 hours. 4.5 wouold have been perfect. Meat was incredibly juicy, falling off the bone. Not a smidgen of meat wasted. Kept the drippings for left overs. Tjis is my favorite roast chicken—if you have the time! .

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  18. Pingback: Weekly Meal Plan | Tales of A Paleo Mom

  19. I was wondering how many pounds was your chicken? I really want to try this recipe but mine is a little over 7 lbs. Should I adjust the cooking time? I don’t want it to be cooking for 8 hours lol. What would you recommend?

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  20. I also reuse my Ziploc bags. Admittedly, I would not use one after marinating chicken but certainly would marinate chicken in a bag that had been used and washed previously.
    I have turned to using glass containers so much more recently that I don’t even buy a box of Ziploc bags very often anymore.

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  21. I make this all the time and have for 15 years. I put a lemon in instead and often out the bird in the oven before I go to work and set the oven to turn itself on. Lovely.

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  22. Over the years of using this recipe, we have adapted it. Use bone-in thighs. Same ziploc treatment. Put in a pan and cover with foil, bake same 4 hrs. Pull out at the end and put pieces under the broiler to crisp the outside/skin up. Awesome and easy.

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