Cooking with chicken is fun, easy and great for beginners looking for easy chicken recipes to cook a weekday dinner with.

Chicken is the perfect base for a huge variety of flavours and cuisines due to its versatility and adaptability. For example, fresh chicken mince works well as a substitute for lamb, beef or pork mince and delivers a lighter texture and flavour. For some great examples of healthy chicken recipes, check out our Chicken Recipes using Fresh Chicken Cuts section.

Hint: Remember that temperatures can vary depending on which appliance you are using, so bear in mind that you may need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.

Chicken needs to be fully cooked before it’s ready to eat The best way to check that your chicken is completely and properly cooked is to pierce it with a cooking fork or skewer in the thickest part of the cut. If you can see that the juices run completely clear, youcan be sure that your chicken is cooked.

Cooking Tips for the Perfect Roast Chicken.
Cooking a perfect roast chicken is one of those life skills that will always come in handy. Not to mention that a lovely roast chicken with crispy golden skin and tender, moist, juicy meat will happily satisfy most hungry adults and kids alike. Here are some of Ingham’s easy cooking tips to help you cook the perfect roast chicken.

• There is nothing more unappetising than an overcooked chicken as it will taste dry and unpalatable. To prevent this from happening, always preheat your oven and allow 20 minutes per lb (or per 500g) cooking time plus 20 minutes extra.
• Make sure that the breast area of the chicken doesn’t dry out during roasting. This can be accomplished by placing a piece of foil over the breast or by adding rashers of smoked bacon, which will have the advantage of adding a scrumptious smoky flavour to the skin. In either case, remove the foil or bacon during the last 30 minutes of roasting time so the chicken can brown fully.
  
  Hint: If using bacon, once you have removed it (and provided it isn’t too charred) wrap it around some stuffing and keep warm to serve with your roast.
  
• Once the chicken has finished cooking, remove it from the oven, wrap it in foil and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving. This allows the chicken juices to settle into the flesh for beautifully tender, moist meat.

We have a great selection of healthy, tasty, easy chicken recipes in this website – check out our Chicken Recipes section and get cooking!

Chicken Storage & Handling Tips
To ensure safe handling of raw and cooked chicken, it’s important to keep separate cutting boards, knives and utensils for preparing raw chicken and cooked chicken. Handy colour coded cutting boards for raw and cooked foods are a great idea. Remember that all cutting boards, knives and utensils should be washed thoroughly in hot, soapy water, not just after use but also before to help prevent cross contamination.

Frozen Chicken Handling & Storage
Always completely thaw a frozen chicken before you cook it. The best way to thaw out a chicken is in a dish in the refrigerator, to ensure that any harmful bacteria do not have a chance to multiply. Do not thaw it on the kitchen bench or under running water. Once your have thawed your chicken, cook it within 24 hours and do not refreeze it.

Your freezer temperature should be set to minus 18°C or below to correctly store your frozen chicken.

Fresh Chicken Handling & Storage
When storing fresh chicken, your refrigerator temperature should always be set to 4°C or below.

Always make sure you store cooked chicken or other cooked foods above raw chicken or other raw meat in the refrigerator. If you cook chicken to eat later, refrigerate it whilst it’s still hot. Don’t leave it to cool on the kitchen bench before putting it in the refrigerator as this can allow harmful bacteria to multiply.