Make orange roasted chicken at home in three easy steps! Add your own homemade rub and sauce to have a perfectly golden roasted chicken that can be on the table in one hour!
This orange roasted chicken is great for weekends or parties! I love how easy and simple it is!
Of course, I accept that we are kinda crazy about chicken. Yes, we do have beef sometimes, but chicken is the main protein for us. There are just so many things to do with it!
We were at the supermarket the other day and we saw these fresh whole chickens so we knew what we wanted to do. We had to make roasted chicken. Now, using orange juice in Persian cuisine is not very common but that's something that my maman and I were talking and thinking about for some time, especially because I already knew that fruit works well with chicken.
So we made up our mind: we wanted a rub and sauce that is fruity, fresh and a little bit sweet and warm. That's why we added cinnamon to our rub - that little amount of cinnamon gives a great kick to this orange roasted chicken and also compliments the sauce so well.
You may think making a roasted whole chicken at home requires too much work, but let me tell you that all it takes is only three steps:
1- Rub the spice on and UNDER the skin (this is crucial, adding spice under the skin changes everything about the chicken.)
2- Cook the chicken in the oven.
3- Brush the sauce on the chicken every 20 minutes.
That's it! Taking these three easy steps will make your whole chicken game so much better!
We loved this orange roasted chicken and I hope that if you make it, you'll like it too!
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Step-by-Step Recipe
Orange Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 whole chickens
- 1 big onion cut into chunks
- 2 carrots cut into pieces
Spice Rub:
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoon dried thyme
Sauce:
- 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 tablespoon bloomed saffron
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ginger powder
To serve :
- Fresh parsley
- 2-3 Small red peppers
Instructions
- Make sure chickens are clean and dry.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F / 204 C.
- Lightly coat an oven safe pan with non stick spray.
- Place onion and carrots at the bottom of the pan.
- Make the spice rub by mixing all the spice rub ingredients in a bowl.
- Using your hands, rub the spice on and under the skin, try not to rip the skin.
- Place the chickens on top of veggies in the pan and put the pan in the oven.
- Make the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Every 20 minutes, brush sauce on the chickens.
- Check after one hours to see if the chicken is fully cooked. Add the peppers and turn the broil on for 3-4 minutes.
- Top with parsley and serve warm.
Nutrition
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morgi
I made this for Thanksgiving dinner and it was divine! The skin burned under the broiler (guess I should have set it to low?) but the meat was perfecy, and the gravy from it was amazing.
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
I'm so glad you liked it! Yes, broilers can be finicky sometimes, if I have anything under broiler I always check it every 30 seconds because each of them is different! Hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving!
Sam | Ahead of Thyme
This looks absolutely delicious!! Love the pairing with the pomegranate rice! Can't wait to make this!!
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
Thank you so much Sam! Pomegranate rice is our favorite!
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness
This chicken is roasted beautifully! I have never roasted a whole chicken at home, but I'm not convinced! It is a perfectly good way to use up those sweet in-season oranges. Shared!
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
Thank you! Making whole chicken is much easier than what you think! And orange does give it a great kick!
AiPing | Curious Nut
That's heaven to me. I love roasted chicken. With the addition of orange and spices, I bet it taste so good.
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
Thank you so much Aiping! I hope you lie this version of roasted chicken!
Jayshree
The chicken has such nice glaze...looks absolutely lip smacking!! Pomegranate rice pairs up really well. Droolicious post!!
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
Thank you Jayshree! Pomegranate rice goes well with almost everything in my opinion 😀
Molly Kumar
This looks so juicy and delicious. I love the flavor of Orange with Chicken and I'm sure it would taste awesome with the Pomegranate Rice.
unicornsinthekitchen@gmail.com
So true Molly! Pomegranate rice is my favorite!