Whole Chicken Delivery or Pickup

A whole chicken makes an excellent meal for a family, but variations exist when discussing whole chickens for sale in your local grocery store. You'll find whole chickens commonly labeled as broilers, fryers, and roasters. Less common varieties include stewing chickens, capons, and roosters. Telling the difference isn't as simple as the names may suggest, particularly when considering many recipes and chefs use the terms broiler, fryer, and roaster interchangeably. The reason comes down to size more often than the best use. Sometimes a recipe calls for a fryer chicken, but the directions say to roast it because it wants you to choose a particular size of chicken.

Broilers are chickens between six to eight weeks old and weigh up to 2.5 pounds. Fryers are also six to eight weeks old but larger, weighing in at 2.5 to 3.5 pounds. Roasters are chickens that are under eight months old and weigh between 3.5 and 5 pounds. The less common stewing chickens are over 10 months old, usually hens, and weigh between 5 and 7 pounds. Capons are even less common, but they are castrated males that weigh between 6 and 8 pounds. Roosters are more common than capons. These are un-castrated males that weigh between 6 and 8 pounds.

Many consumers don't purchase a whole chicken except to cook it whole as a meal. A whole chicken will usually come with the gizzards, organs, and neck neatly packaged and stuffed inside the chicken's hollowed-out chest cavity. New chefs have made the mistake of unwittingly leaving these inside the bird when cooking, only to realize their mistake afterwards. Most people today don't bother eating these extra pieces, yet they can make an excellent addition to your stuffing or gravy.

To cook a whole chicken, you should first remove the gizzards, organs, and neck and set them aside. Pat the chicken dry before rubbing the skin with butter or olive oil. Season the outside with your favorite seasonings or rub and be sure to season beneath the skin for extra flavor. You can then roast it at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for one to two hours. As oven temperatures vary and weight affects cooking time, you should always use a meat thermometer to determine doneness. 

A whole chicken should have an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit when fully cooked. If you plan on stuffing your whole chicken, you can expect the cooking time to take longer. Some argue that by stuffing the chicken, you run the risk of foodborne illness. As long as your stuffing and the internal chicken temperature reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit, both the stuffing and meat are safe to eat.

You can purchase stuffing mixes that require minimal effort. Saute chopped onions, carrots, and celery in butter and mix with toasted bread pieces and chicken stock for a simple homemade stuffing.

Chicken pairs well with lots of herbs, like thyme, bay leaf, and tarragon. You can roast the whole chicken sprinkled with these herbs and let it stand for 15 minutes before carving. Or you can boil the chicken in a pot of water or stock with carrots, celery, onion, and potato. When the chicken falls off the bone, you can remove the bones, leaving a fantastic chicken soup.

You can save time shopping for whole chicken by using the Instacart app. Add the number of whole chickens you want to your cart and check out. After you check out, an Instacart shopper will prepare your order for pickup in as little as 2 hours! In some cases, your order will qualify for same-day delivery!