40 Cloves and a Chicken

chicken (broiler/fryer)

olive oil

thyme

garlic

Salt and pepper

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

Someone asked whose recipe came first, Ina's of Alton's.  Neither, folks.  James Beard did this recipe, and his was better.  He separated the garlic bulbs into individual cloves, but didn't peel them.  They roasted in their little skins, tucked in, under and around the chicken,  turning  into the consistency of butter.  No added oil either.   I brown my skin a bit in the skillet to give it more color and flavor, and the put it in a dutch oven, and seal the pan with foil so that all the juices will keep the chicken moist. The slow cooking allows the chicken to ooze its own wonderful juices and fat.  Then, when the chicken was served, he suggested a big spoonful of the garlic cloves and pan juices to accompany the chicken, served with biscuits.  And, here's the fun part.  Take the garlic cloves and squeeze them.  Out will come the most delicious garlic spread for the biscuits and the chicken.  I’ve been cooking this and serving it for 40 years, and it never misses.  People love it.

So easy, so tender and sooo flavorful. I added about 1/2 cup of white wine before adding the 1/2 cup of oil ( used a good quality, not light, olive oil). Also I used only bone in, skin on breasts as that is what we like most. Lastly, could not find the lid to my pan so I sealed it snugly with tin foil. Breasts only and foil worked just fine. Used plenty of salt, pepper and some extra twigs of thyme as I was afraid it might be bland, which was a misplaced concern. It was absolutely delicious. Of course there was crusty bread as a delivery system for the garlic.

this chicken is so good and with all that garlic is the BEST !  very moist.  

<div>AWFUL. IMPORTANT PARTS SHOWN IN TV EPISODE NOT WRITTEN OUT PROPERLY<br /><br />  1)  TV episode explained reason for large amt. of oil was to make garlic oil as well as to cook a chicken.  Your written version, and your video clip too, both omitted this important benefit.<br />2)  MUST BE COVERED WHILE YOU COOK or chicken is all dried out and awful...and so is the garlic, and the garlic oil is ruined too. Due to the overly casual way you formatted the recipe when you wrote it out, I didn't. nor did a lot of the 300 commenters.<br />3)  In the video clip at the 1:10 mark, Alton uses HUGE sprigs of thyme.  A lot of people don't, so please specify length of springs, or meal is bland as heck. <br />4)  Also note that thyme plucked from your garden in cool fall weather has smaller leaves, so you must use many more sprigs then for that reason as well.<br />5)   Please specify amt. of dried thyme as an alternative.</div>

Turned out great, but I definitely burned the chicken in the pan the first time around. "High heat" is pretty vague, but with my stove it was more like medium-high. I ended up halving the recipe, so after smoking up my kitchen and starting over with medium-high, it turned out well. I used my dutch oven, which worked quite well. It's definitely a little oily, but the chicken was fall-off-the-bone and moist, and the garlic was very sweet. I paired this with roasted brussel sprouts and red skin potatoes. I'll definitely make this again!

I can't believe I waited so long to make this. It is delicious. My husband loved eating the garlic. I can't believe that anyone's chicken was dry after 90 Minutes. Mine was so moist and falling off the bone. After all, it's cooking in it's own juices as well as the olive oil. Made a simple pan sauce after separating the drippings. Easiest and best chicken!

WOW!! New favorite dinner recipe here. So simple, quick, &amp; DELICIOUS!! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!  

I've made this before, a while back, and don't know why I waited so long to make it again.  It's SO good!  I opted to use my cast iron Dutch oven and seared the chicken in that, added the herbs, covered and put the whole thing in the oven.   We straight up eat the cloves along with the chicken.  We have a rubber peeler and I task my daughter with peeling the garlic- she likes it so much she tends to do extra!  I like to mix flavors a bit and served the chicken up with a spicy side of yams, apples and onions tossed in Cajun seasoning, plus steamed broccoli.  The chicken was tender and juicy and the garlic perfect!  The whole house smelled heavenly!  

Loved this,  it is a much simpler and every bit as good as a recipe favored by my wife.  Guests loved it and very easy to get in the oven while finishing up side dishes!

I use this recipe all the time; I love it so much. A few minutes of browning and then in the oven is so easy. They aren't kidding about the way it makes the house smell, either. The chicken is always moist and the garlic and oil spread on bread is absolute heaven. Save any oil you have left and use it to flavor rolls by brushing it over them before you bake them. I put the whole cloves in a jar and my kids and I take turns shaking it until the skins all come off; it's faster than peeling each individually. Also, I don't have a straight sided oven safe pan so instead I just put them in a glass baking pan and cover with foil.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/garlicky-40-clove-chicken-0208579

Alton uses the Count's favorite, garlic, to make 40 Cloves and a Chicken.

40 cloves and a chicken

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hours, 30 minutes

Total: 1 hours, 40 minutes

Servings: 6

Author : Alton Brown

Ingredients

Instructions

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