Learn how to cook enough chicken for a crowd. If you are having a party of 50 or 100 people, assume ½ pound of chicken (1 to 1 ½ pieces) per person, but this will vary depending on the number of side dishes and other options that are also served. You can do this safely, and it isn't that hard.
Jump To (scroll for more)
Ok, it is not Cooking For Two, but still useful, and you can do this at home.
We were hosting a large retirement party for several family friends. It was a potluck-type affair, but we felt we should provide a "main course" of meat.
So my "what I wanted" list:
1) Not to make anyone sick. Any "mass cooking" can easily lead to food poisoning. Well, not at my house!
2) Not too much work. There were a lot of other things that needed attention also.
3) It had to have good taste and be able to be kept warm.
After flirting with several plans that involved:
1) Grilling only - maybe not safe enough to get the right temp on all the chicken without a lot of continuous attention.
2) Oven baking the day ahead and then crisp up on the grill the next day. This was too fussy but did work out well in trial runs. It would work well for 20 to 30 but not 100. The grilling took too much direct time.
3) But finally, the oven won the day. Easy to control the outcome, be sure to get to a safe internal temperature, and stay moist.
👨🍳Method
The Plan:
1) Start with 45 to 50 pounds of chicken. Half split breast and half drumsticks.
2) Trim the breast and cut into hand-eating-friendly sizes (thirds or quarters).
3) Spice with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a little cayenne.
4) Oven bake the breast pieces to 165° and the drummies to 180°.
5) Keep warm in a large roster. You will need a rack in the bottom, or the draining moisture will pool with the bottom layer will be affected.
I had tried the drumsticks at 165°-170°, and the connective tissue was still intact, and they were not tender. 180° gives good results. The chicken breasts are good at 165°.
It took about ½ hour to trim and cut the chicken. The breast had to have the rib section cut off, any visible fat removed and then cut into 3-4 pieces each depending on the size.
I did about 50 pounds which make about 150 pieces. I did this earlier in the day, so it would be ready when needed.
I cooked on racks to get as much crispness as possible. I did two pans at a time in the convection oven and one at a time in the regular oven.
I consider racks almost required for this.
Food Safety
There are two safety points about chicken. First, all poultry, including chicken, must be cooked to 165° minimum for safety.
Second, rinsing chicken is no longer recommended due to the health risks of splattering the work area. See Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse? for more information.
🍽️Serving
Safety First:
Once cooked, the chicken needs to be kept above 140° or below 40°, or you are risking food poisoning. If your chicken is in the food danger zone (40° to 140°) for 2 hours, it should be considered contaminated and discarded.
What you need is a "roaster."
Think of a roaster as a cross between a countertop oven and crockpot. Roasters are first much bigger than the crockpot. Most are 16 to 24 quarts, so they hold masses of food. The traditional picture of roasters always has a huge turkey in them cooked to perfection.
It is the size that makes this appliance both very useful when you need the size and why you don’t see them much anymore since most people don’t need that size. Most but not all, roasters go from 150° to 400° plus. Some will have an even wider range.
Second and most important here, the temperature control is totally different. In a crockpot, you have low and high. The low usually aiming for 205°-210° (just under boiling) and gets there in 5-8 hours. High is the same temperature but faster, so more aggressive. Plus, some crock pots run hotter than that. Both of those settings would continue cooking the chicken. Not what we want.
Some crockpots have a “keep warm” setting that might do, but the exact temperature varies by manufacturer. Some will be 145°-165° (good kind of) Some will be 185 (bad for us here). Cooking will continue in the chicken if above 155°.
We want to keep the chicken in “the safety zone,” which is above 140° for safety. Also, you want to serve hot chicken. But you don’t want it to continue to cook. So 150° is a great setting for our needs, and the chicken can stay there for hours safely and not continue to cook.
Most roasters cost $25-$50 and are quite useful if you have parties. Many use them as an oven during the summer due to low energy consumption. Some newer roasters don’t go under 200 degrees, so check out the product closely before you buy.
📖Related Recipes
This recipe has led to several other recipes.
Bone-in or Boneless Chicken Thighs on the Gas Grill
Large Group Recipes
Slow Cooked Boston Butt in the oven for pulled pork BBQ.
Kansas City Oven Baked BBQ Beef Brisket
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Trim the breast of the rib section and then cut into 3-4 pieces each. Check the drumsticks for any loose bone and extra skin.
Pat dry the chicken. We do not wash chicken anymore. See Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse?
You can now cover and refrigerate or proceed to cook.
Preheat ovens to 425°. Use convection if you have it but use 425° either way. It will be a little faster with convection. Prep cooking pans. Line the pans with foil. Use a rack if you have them and spray heavily with PAM.
Mix seasoning and place in a shaker with large holes. I'm not hand sprinkling 150 pieces of chicken. I now use my Homemade Everyday Seasoning Salt – 7:2:1 Mix (and 7:2:2). Add a touch of cayenne pepper if you want. The 7:2:2 stands for kosher salt:pepper: granular garlic powder.
Place on prepared pans and sprinkle seasoning on all sides. Season to your taste.
Place in 425° oven. I put two trays in the convection oven and one try in the non-convection oven. Both are set at 425°. Check the temp at 30 minutes. Aim for 165° on the biggest breast pieces and 180° plus on the drumsticks. Most of the time this was 35 minutes.
If using two trays in an oven, at about 20 minutes into cooking, rotate the trays from top to bottom and 180 degree rotation.
Place in a large roster preheated to 150° with a rack in the bottom.
📖 Recipe
Chicken for a Hundred
Ingredients
- 45-50 pounds Split chicken breasts and drumsticks
- seasoning of your choice - see notes
Instructions
- Trim the breast of the rib section and then cut into 3-4 pieces each. Check the drumsticks for any loose bone and extra skin.
- Pat dry the chicken. We do not wash chicken anymore. See Chicken… To Rinse or Not To Rinse?
- You can now cover and refrigerate or proceed to cook.
- Preheat ovens to 425°. Use convection if you have it but use 425° either way. It will be a little faster with convection. Prep cooking pans. Line the pans with foil. Use a rack if you have them and spray heavily with PAM.
- Mix seasoning and place in a shaker with large holes. I'm not hand sprinkling 150 pieces of chicken. I now use my Homemade Everyday Seasoning Salt – 7:2:1 Mix (and 7:2:2). Add a touch of cayenne pepper if you want. The 7:2:2 stands for kosher salt:pepper: granular garlic powder.
- Place on prepared pans and sprinkle seasoning on all sides. Season to your taste.
- Place in 425° oven. I put two trays in the convection oven and one try in the non-convection oven. Both set at 425°. Check the temp at 30 minutes. Aim for 165° on the biggest breast pieces and 180° plus on the drumsticks. Most of the time this was 35 minutes.
- If using two trays in an oven, at about 20 minutes into cooking, rotate the trays from top to bottom and 180 degrees rotation.
- Place in a large roster preheated to 150° with a rack in the bottom.
Want to save this recipe for later?
Get the recipe link via email to comeback later.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Chicken thighs will cook similar to the drumsticks.
- You must be aware of food safety to serve this safely. The chicken must not be in the food danger zone of 40° to 140° for 2 hours or it should be discarded.
- Baked chicken is safe to eat at 165° but you will be happier with the drumsticks at 180°.
- I suggest prepping the chicken ahead and refrigerate.
- Season as you want but some salt, pepper, and garlic powder is the basic.
- I got a large shaker at a restaurant supply store for the seasoning to save time.
- If you use a convection oven to cook two trays, rotate them half way through.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Editor's Note: Originally Published June 12, 2011. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Patti says
I have a graduation party coming up in my back yard for 50 plus people next week. Chicken drums and thighs are on sale for $1.39/lb. I am thankful for this recipe. Any other ideas for the menu?
Considered frozen meatballs, sauce ziti, salad and figuring out a potato side for the chicken. Open to ideas. Nothing to time consuming or expensive. Again this chicken recipe is a saver!! Thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Patti,
Welcome to the blog.
Most of our parties in recent years have been retirement parties, so a group of friends would do "bring a side dish", we did the main dish, and we were good. So if you have 4-5 relatives who can do that, problem solved. If it is on you, I would add a deli like a potato salad, a macaroni salad, maybe the frozen meatballs if you want variety, maybe a fast fruit salad, chips, and call it good with the cake. All those can be fairly cheap and easy.
There are many crockpot meatball recipes, the deli salads can come from a restaurant supply store, and the fruit salad is easy and can be mostly put together ahead of time.
I will add our graduation parties where we were responsible for everything (25 yrs ago); we usually did a huge taco bar, meatballs, fruit salad, and cake. Taco meat is so easy to make ahead.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Heather Davis says
Thank you Dan, this article was exactly what our school needed to cook, and then reheat the next day, 200 pieces of healthy baked chicken legs. You're answer nowadays to reheating chicken to a delicious hot, juicy interior and crisp, brown exterior is a simple air fryer, or 3. We took the refrigerated chicken and put 6 pieces at a time into each one for 5 minutes and they came out ridiculously good! Away with unhealthy nachos, and hello healthy baked-fried chicken legs! Thank you for the large scale chicken prep!
Bill and Shirley says
Hi, we are reheating 60 pieces of chicken in an electric roaster. We are picking it up the day before. At what temp and for how long will it take to rewarm the chicken..
Thank you
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Bill and Shirley,
Welcome to the blog.
I have never used the roaster to reheat. I only use it to keep the chicken above 140 degrees for safety.
So my comments:
1) Reheated chicken still will taste like reheated chicken. Not nearly as good as fresh cooked.
2) If you are "picking it up", I assume you are getting it from a Deli or simular. Try if at all possible to pick it up shortly before needing it, then use the roaster to keep it warm.
3) Food should not be between 40 and 140 degrees for more than 2 hours.
4) I use the roaster set at 150 degrees to keep the chicken warm and safe for serving.
5) If you must reheat the chicken, I would suggest an oven with baking sheet. Get it up to 150 degrees and move it to the roaster.
I hope that helps.
Dan
Diane says
Could I cook this and refrigerate and re heat the next day. We are wanting to do this for our wedding and don’t want to have to do it the day of if possible
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Diane,
Welcome to the blog and have a great wedding. But... reheated chicken will taste like reheated chicken. I do not suggest that. I know how busy a wedding can get and I don't see that you would have time. When I do this, I'm hosting for somebody else, so my time is available.
So for the disappointing answer.
Dan
Jennifer says
Thank you so much for this post! I volunteer at a community meal and have wanted to be able to cook and provide food, too, but I didn't know how to keep the food at the right temperature to still be hot and not keep cooking, and not wory aobout it spoiling. My roaster is 18 quarts, so I will be able to make plenty for 60 in the oven and use the roaster for serving from. I'll just adjust the recipe down to 60 for the chicken. Thanks!
Darcy says
How many pieces of cooked broasted chicken will roughly fit in a 22quart nesco?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Darcy,
Welcome to the blog
My roaster is 18 qt. and was heaping full but the cover still fit. I already had it and 150 pieces (right at 50 pounds) just fit.
My plan for any overflow was a large tray in the oven piled high and sealed with foil at 150 degrees that I could refill the roaster from a few times. You don't want to be cooking while the party is going on. People hang around the kitchen too much. But a few minutes to refill things will work.
For a 22 qt, it is 20% bigger so 180 should fit by that calculation but I wouldn't trust that a lot. Have a backup plan.
If you do this, please report back your experience for others to see and help them plan. Also, other readers, a few reports for others please.
Dan
Mary says
Can I cook breasts and legs in the roaster at the same time? Or, should I cook them separately and move them to the cooker at 150 when they are done cooking?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Mary,
Welcome to the blog.
This recipe is for cooking the chicken in the oven first and then keeping it in the "safe zone" for serving with the roaster (over 140 degrees).
I would not suggest trying to cook the raw chicken in the roaster with this recipe.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Dalene says
12 lbs Split chicken breasts and drumsticks
2/15 cups kosher salt
1/15 cups black pepper
1/15 cups garlic powder
1/30 cups cayenne pepper increase if you want spicy
I'm doing this for 40 chicken breasts. How do I convert measurements to US cups? In other words, what is 2/15 cups of salt?
DrDan says
Hi Dalene,
Welcome to the blog.
I just change the instructions for you. I didn't realize what the scale down feature did to the amount.
So the new instructions reflect what I do now for chicken cooked like this.
I use my homemade 7:2:2 seasoning https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/everyday-spice-mix-721-mix/ and just give a good sprinkle of that. Add a bit of cayenne pepper if you want.
If you want to use the original amounts. 1/16 of a cup is one tablespoon so use 1/16th instead of 1/15th
Hope that helps.
Dan
Sara says
What is a roaster? Kind of looks like a crock pot? I have crock pots and an instant pot but nothing called a roaster. Would a crock pot work to keep cooked chicken safe?
DrDan says
Nope, you can not use the crock pot here probably.
Think of a roaster as a cross between a countertop oven and crockpot. Roasters are first much bigger than the crockpot. Most are 16 to 24 quarts so they hold masses of food. The traditional picture of roasters always has a huge turkey in them cooked to perfection. It is the size that makes this appliance both very useful when you need the size and why you don’t see them much anymore since most people don’t need that size.
Second and most important here, the temperature control is totally different. In a crockpot, you have low and high. Both low and high usually aiming for 205-210 (just under boiling) and some run hotter than that. Both of those settings would continue cooking the chicken. Not what we want. Most but not all, roasters go from 150 to 400 plus. Some will have even wider range.
Some crockpots have a "keep warm" setting that might do but the exact temperature varies by manufacturer. Some will be 145-165 (good) Some will be 185 (bad for us here).
We want to keep the chicken in “the safety zone” which is above 140 for safety. Also, you want to serve hot chicken. But you don’t want it to continue to cook. So 150 is a great setting for our needs and the chicken can stay there for hours safely and not continue to cook.
Most roasters cost $25-$50 and are quite useful if you have parties. Many use them as an oven during the summer due to the low energy consumption. Some newer roasters don’t go under 200 degrees so check out the product closely before you buy.
Arlene D says
This has been my go-to recipe for chicken legs for a while now. Turns out great every time because of the cooking technique. Thank you for sharing!
Jennifer' Hyatt says
Love it! Came back to find the recipe again after my first go. Feels like I finally found the magic recipe.
Thanks for sharing!
DrDan says
Thanks for the note and good luck with the mass cooking. I know it is odd for the "cooking for two" web site but useful.
DrDan
ShortieMarie says
I'm going to be cooking chicken legs for about 100 in a couple weeks and really liked your method. I wondered how many baking batches did you have to cook for so many? How many legs were you able to fit on a pan, I think i'm cooking about 200 legs.
Dan Mikesell says
That was five yrs ago, but my memory is still good on this one. About 15 pieces of either the legs or breast chunks per tray. With the legs, biggest legs in the corners and smallest in the center. The outside ones always with the thick part towards the edge of the tray. If you have good convection then you can do two trays at a time and rotate them half way through (180 degrees and top to bottom). No need to flip the individual pieces if using the rack. I had two ovens, one regular and one convection. I had six trays (cheap at the restaurant supply) and racks. So three sets of three and one single tray. For 200 pieces you will need about 65-70 pounds (about 3 legs per pound I think). We had about 110 people and maybe 10 pieces left. There was much more to eat then the chicken.
Judith Hicks says
How long can cooked chicken be safely kept at 150 degrees?
DrDan says
I believe as long as you want but I'm not a food safety expert and the texture may suffer if prolonged. I used 150 to keep the temp above 140 at all times.
DrDan
Ann says
Thanks for sharing this! Doing this for a large group in two days. In another post you said that you left them in the roaster over night. In the fridge? Were they still crisp? Any suggestions doing this with a roaster with no rack :(
DrDan says
Not in the roaster. I cleaned and cut up the raw chicken the day before and refrigerated overnight until cooking the next day. They need to be cooked just before serving.
The rack keep the bottom layer from being in liquid. If I had no rack, I would crumple up a bunch of aluminum foil into small balls to hold up the chicken but have an area to drain fluids.
Hope those things held
DrDan
Bruno says
Will the deliciously crispy chicken get soft if i put it in the roaster?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Bruno,
Welcmone to the blog.
The chicken stays fairly crisp, be sure to have a rack of some type in the bottom if you can. Of course, fresh out of the oven is best.
Dan
Patti Johnson says
Thank you thank you….I bravely followed your directions and my homemade spice mix and just fed 90 people delicious, moist, tender chicken for a church event. I will be using this method over and over again.
Carolyn says
Just watched a video that showed how you spread raw chicken germs all over your work area and yourself when you wash chicken...it was really yucky. You don't need to wash chicken, there is no "bone dust" to wash off like you have with bone in pork chops and T-bone steaks...and it'll save you a lot of time too.
Carolyn says
Google "Don't wash your chicken" - Drexel University for the video...I saw it on NBC News. I've spent the last couple of hours enjoying and copying your recipes. I'm pretty sure your pineapple/mango salsa will become a staple in my kitchen and one of the Mac and Cheese recipes a favorite dish at my church's Wednesday night suppers...I really appreciate all the work you put into perfecting the recipes!
Carolyn says
Oh! And I am really excited about your white chicken chili recipe!
Dan Mikesell says
Thanks for all the comments... The FDA has said for years that it was not a good idea. We all need to be careful about food safety and splatter is one of those things.
.
My wife loves the pineapple/mango salsa so I do it frequently.
The mac and cheese recipes are a little funny. I never liked mac and cheese until a few years ago. Too much "blue box" I think. The Roadhouse mac and cheese is excellent and considered to be one of the top comfort foods but I'm more proud of the uncooked crock pot one which is all mine...
I use the "Ultra Simple" white chili for all the pass the dish events. I now take copies of the recipe with me since I'm always asked.