Italian Stuffed Chicken (Iaddina china)

This Italian stuffed chicken, or iaddina china as we call it in Sicilian is filled with a flavorful meat, cheese and bread filling. Leftovers are perfect for sandwiches for lunch the next day!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Sicilian

Keyword Sicilian stuffed chicken, deboned stuffed chicken, chicken with ground meat filling

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 3

Total Time 5

Servings -10 servings

Calories 906kcal

Author Nadia Fazio

Ingredients

2 kg grain fed hen

For the stuffing:

4 cups breadcrumbs from day old bread
1 1/2 lbs ground meat trio beef, veal and pork
2 cups shredded combination of parmigiano and romano cheeses or only parmigiano
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 eggs
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

For baking

4 carrots diced
4 potatoes peeled and diced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

To debone the chicken and remove the skin

Place chicken on a clean surface, breast side up. Begin by cutting off the wings and set aside.
Slide your fingers between the skin and flesh of the breast and begin to loosen the skin from the flesh. Move toward the legs and loosen the skin. Turn the chicken over and in the same manner loosen the skin from the back side.
Pull away the skin from the bone until it detaches. This will leave 2 holes where the legs were located which will later be tied with string in order to prevent the stuffing from coming out
At this point you should be able to detach the entire skin from the flesh in 1 piece without too many holes in it. Set the skin aside.
Use a sharp pairing knife cut away the flesh from each leg. Remove the bones and set aside. Detach the breasts from the rib cage. Cut away any other large pieces of flesh from the bones. It is not necessary to remove each tiny piece of flesh as you'll have enough for the filling. The remaining carcass and wings set aside earlier will make an excellent broth.

For the stuffing:

Chop the chicken flesh into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl. Add the bread crumbs; ground meat; Parmigiano and Romano cheeses; mozzarella; parsley; eggs; salt and pepper to the bowl. Using your hands mix the ingredients until well combined. You are now ready to stuff the chicken.
Using a clean needle and thread, begin by sewing shut the holes where the wings were located and any other holes except for where the opening of the cavity was located. This is where you will stuff the chicken from. Tie string around the openings where the legs were located. Next, stuff the chicken making sure to evenly distribute the filling throughout the entire skin. Once filled, proceed to sew shut the remaining gap.

Prepare for baking

Preheat oven to 400F. Add diced carrots and potatoes to the your baking dish. Add salt, pepper and olive oil and toss to coat.
Place the chicken on the bed of vegetables. Pour 1/2 cup wine over the chicken and 1/2 cup of water directly over the vegetables. Drizzle olive oil on the chicken and coat the surface evenly.
Cover with foil and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes lower the temperature to 350F. When 30 more minutes have passed, remove the foil and continue cooking. The chicken will roast for a total of about 3 hours. When done the internal temperature will be 180F and the skin will be crisp and golden.
Serve hot accompanied by the carrots and potatoes.

Notes

The whole process of deboning the chicken while keeping the skin intact can definitely be daunting. If you don't wish to attempt this, do ask your butcher to do this step for you.
If you prefer, you may use 1 type of ground meat instead of the beef, veal and pork trio.
If you try out this recipe, don't forget to save the carcass and wings to make chicken broth.
Leftovers keep well refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Use thinly sliced leftover stuffed chicken for lunches the following day!
Please note that the nutritional information provided is approximate and may vary according to exact ingredients used and portion size.

Nutrition