This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #TeaProudly #CollectiveBias
If you didn’t know it, January is Hot Tea Month! It’s also the 75th anniversary of Bigelow’s Constant Comment Tea this year, so if there’s a tea that needs to be celebrated, it’s Bigelow!
Their Constant Comment Tea has always been my mom’s favorite, so I began drinking it as a teenager because I loved the smell and it became our “tea time”. This was our girl time, and as I got older it became our catching up time, so this particular tea is very special. It’s really the only tea I enjoy drinking hot, not to mention it’s my #1 tea of choice. It has a smooth, lightly sweet taste and the aroma smells like comfort; that’s the only word that comes to mind when I smell it.
I typically buy the tea from Wal-Mart, but you can also click below to buy it online – just hover over the photo below to click through to buy!
When it comes to recipes, I love to think outside of the box, to play around with traditional recipes and make them something completely different, and flavorful and delicious in a new way. When I make chicken on the grill or roast it in the oven, I like injecting it with different liquids to make it really moist during the cooking process. That gave me an idea to inject chicken with Constant Comment Tea. The tea flavors of black tea, orange and sweet spice is perfect for poultry!
I injected it into a 4-5 lb. chicken before and while it was cooking.
I know that might sound a bit off the wall, but it’s no different than injecting any other flavored liquids that season the bird and make it juicy. If you’ve never injected chicken before, it’s really easy. You can buy a small injector at Wal-Mart and use any liquids you want to inject your meats.
I was beyond happy with it! I also made fragrant basmati rice, and used the tea to boil the rice in instead of water.
It gave the rice a nice, subtle flavor without being overpowering.
All of it was so good, and my kitchen smelled amazing. The chicken was so tender, and the carrots were flavored from the tea, herbs and lemon. So, so good.
To read tea tips, find out about the other teas that Bigelow carries, and even read the history of Bigelow go here.
Tea Infused Chicken and Basmati Rice
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb. chicken
- Olive oil
- 2 lemons, 1 sliced
- 4 Bigelow Constant Contact tea bags, brewed and divided in half
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 2 cups water
- 1 lb bag carrots, washed and peeled
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
- Boil-in-bag Basmati rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Wash the chicken, removing anything that's in the cavity.
- Pat dry and place in a roasting pan and truss with kitchen twine.
- Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and squeeze with the unsliced lemon.
- Combine the garlic through thyme.
- Using a BBQ injector, inject the chicken with half of the brewed tea in all areas of the chicken, focusing on breasts and thighs. Some of it might ooze out, and that's ok!
- Gently pour the butter on the chicken and sprinkle or rub the chicken with the salt and herb mixture and place lemon slices on top.
- Add water and carrots to the pan and roast for 2 1/2 hours, injecting the remaining tea halfway during cooking.
- Roast for 1 and 30 minutes, until chicken registers 165 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh.
- Allow to rest for 10 min before cutting.
- Make rice according to package directions, except sub half of the water for remaining tea.
