Bravo! That's an experiment I've always wondered about. Glad to hear it works. I love the idea of not heating up a big oven - and perhaps the kitchen - just to roast 5 lbs of chicken. Very cool.

Let's hear it for our toaster ovens! But you think 5 lb. is a tiny bird? I regularly get 2.5 and 3 pound chickens at a small local market which I roast in a cast iron skillet. They are the perfect size for me.

Teresa

I still have memories of my grandmother making a roasted chicken in a little toaster oven.. It was always so moist and delicious. I remember she basted it a lot too.

If the chicken was Purdue - it is tasteless, sorry to say.
They are injecting with water. I agree 5lb is not so little.
I think the splatter might be hard to completely get off.

I love the Breville toaster oven I bought last year. I also cook Smithfield Hams -1/2 - I buy them by the shape so they will fit in the oven.

I am inspired to cook dinner in our toaster oven tonight. I love my toaster oven (Krups FBC4) but SWMBO grumbles about it.

SWMBO:
It doesn't make good toast.

Loyal Subject:
But it does, it just takes a little longer than a slot toaster.

S:
I don't like waiting. We should get rid of it and get a slot toaster.

L:
Please, no, your Highness! Give Toasty a chance!

Toasty and I need to show her what he can do. I'm thinking broiled salmon or roasted Cornish game hen, and roasted asparagus. If dinner doesn't turn out:

S:
Off with his head!

Mudlady, I've cooked Rock Cornish hens and a half chicken in my Cuisinart toaster oven and love that I don't have to heat up the large oven. You are right that it splatters and it isn't the easiest thing to clean. Nonetheless I really like using it when there are just the two of us.

John, I use my toaster oven frequently for salmon, when I'm not making vinegar-soy salmon which is probably my favorite quick way to cook it. Have you done slow cooked salmon? It works well in a toaster oven although I have set mine at a slightly lower temperature, for part of the time, than you would use in a full sized oven. If you like salmon sushi, you would probably like this. The consistency is very tender and buttery. The recipe I have posted below is from the SF Chronicle and is the first way I did slow cooked salmon and remains my favorite. The picture below is one I saved from the Chronicle and I'm posting it here because they have taken it out of the archived recipe. I do not stuff the endive with the apple, but instead top the fish with the julienne cut apples and the nuts. Sometime I grill endive and sometimes I skip it, just the salmon with the apple, hazelnuts and vinaigrette is delicious. I do like more of the vinaigrette than is shown in the photo, but not so much that it overwhelms the salmon,

Lee

Serves 4. Slow-Cooked Salmon With Roasted Apple-Stuffed Endive & Hazelnut Vinaigrette

From Cortez chef Quinn Hatfield

The vinaigrette and the endive can be prepared ahead of time leaving little last-minute work. The vinaigrette is intense so use it sparingly. You will have some left over but it will keep well in the refrigerator for another use.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon hazelnut oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

4 heads endive

1 apple

1 tablespoon olive oil

11/2 pounds salmon fillet cut into 4 equal pieces

1/4 cup butter melted

1/2 apple julienned

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Coarse sea salt freshly cracked pepper

2 teaspoons fresh chives chopped

1/4 cup hazelnuts toasted roughly chopped

Instructions:

Combine the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar in a heavy medium-size sauce pan. Place over medium heat and reduce by half. Pour into a small mixing bowl and let cool. Once it is cool add the mustard and slowly whisk in the canola oil to form an emulsion. Whisk in the hazelnut oil and lemon juice. Set aside.

Split the four heads of endive lengthwise. Peel the whole apple with a vegetable peeler. Continue to cut thin slices of apple flesh with the peeler. Slip the pieces of apple between the endive leaves being careful not to allow the apple to protrude out of the endive. Cook the stuffed endive in a steamer for 10 minutes or until barely tender. Set aside until you have begun to cook the salmon. At that point place the endive cut-side down in a nonstick pan with the tablespoon of olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the endive is golden brown on the cut side and tender throughout about 5 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250¡. Place the salmon on a buttered baking sheet and bake for 11 minutes. Drizzle each piece of salmon with a bit of the melted butter. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 3 minutes for medium- rare or longer to suit your taste.

Toss the julienned endive and apple with the olive oil and lemon juice.

To serve place two halves of the stuffed endive on each of four plates top with a piece of salmon. Sprinkle the salmon with the salt and pepper and the chopped chives. Drizzle the whole dish lightly with the vinaigrette and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.

Recipe and photo from the SF Chronicle Feb. 1, 2004

I have a cheap toaster oven from Target. Last year I roasted a 12 pound turkey in it. It was fine. It can be done but it was a tight fit!

I do not generally roast a chicken in the toaster oven, but I do bake salmon in it, as Lee recommended. In fact, I baked a salmon last night in a marinade of soy sauce, lime juice, hot sauce, ginger, black vinegar, cilantro, wasabi, and sesame oil. I put it in a small boat shaped (almost rectangular) pyrex pan, covered it with foil, and baked at 325° until it was done, which was about 45 minutes. I served it with brown basmati rice cooking in home made chicken broth with diced crimini mushrooms and minced jalapeño. The rice took a very long time to get done - about an hour and a half, I think, but it was very tasty. I have a bit a salmon left over with lots of sauce and a lot of leftover rice that will probably be better when reheated.

My toaster oven came with a rotisserie for roasting chicken, but the chicken must be under 3 pounds, and I haven't found one that small yet. Perhaps I should use a couple of cornish game hens instead.

Lars

Well, Toasty showed that he's good for more than toast and cheese sandwiches. He handled broiling salmon, pork shoulder, and veggies. But he must be a dwarf next to other toaster ovens, because no way could he fit a 5 pound chicken unless it was spatchcocked. His broiler (upper) elements aren't powerful enough to crust meat before the interior gets past rare, not that this was needed tonight, but I couldn't see broiling a steak in him. I need to check out this Breville that you guys have.

I have this one. I paid more!

Here is a link that might be useful: Toaster oven.