Bright, tender and succulent chicken with a delicious buttery orange flavor. So soft and juicy, and goes so well with roasted vegetables.
Preheat oven to 180° (350°F).
In a small bowl combine softened butter, minced rosemary, orange zest and ⅛ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
Using your fingers, carefully loosen the skin from the chicken and rub the butter mixture under the skin.
Brush the chicken with orange juice and sprinkle salt and remaining pepper over the chicken and inside the cavity.
Place half of the quartered apple, one quartered onion inside the cavity. Tuck the wings under the chicken and tie the chicken drumsticks together. I used the divided chicken pieces, therefore just placed the vegetables under the chicken, made a apple, onion bed for them. =)
In a deep baking dish or a roasting pan, place the chicken in the middle, here I first placed the onion and apples and then the chicken pieces on top.
Arrange the chopped vegetables and an apple around the chicken.
Arrange the rosemary, thyme and parsley sprigs around the chicken. Add the bay leaves.
Pour wine or chicken broth into the pan around the chicken.
Bake for about 1 – 1½ hours or until the skin is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should read 170°-175°.
After the chicken has been in the oven for about 30 minutes, you can start basting it with produced juices every 10-15 minutes. This will make the skin extra crispy and will help burn the fat from the skin.
Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the oven, cover with tin foil and allow to stand for about 10-15 minutes before carving/serving. This helps the chicken absorb more juices and become even more succulent.
To make the gravy: pour drippings and loosened browned bits from the chicken into a measuring cup. Skim the fat from the top. Add enough chicken broth to make up to 1 cup. In a small saucepan, melt the butter.Stir in the flour until smooth.Gradually add broth mixture and continue stirring. Bring to a boil and cook stirring for about 2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.Serve over chicken
Orange Rosemary Chicken
Ingredients
For the Orange Rosemary Chicken:
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dries rosemary
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1 whole chicken or divided into parts
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 medium onions, quartered
- 1 medium apple, quartered
- 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig (optional)
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
- 4 fresh parsley sprigs (optional)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups chicken broth or white wine
For Chicken Gravy (optional):
- Chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180° (350°F).
- In a small bowl combine softened butter, minced rosemary, orange zest and ⅛ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.Using your fingers, carefully loosen the skin from the chicken and rub the butter mixture under the skin.Brush the chicken with orange juice and sprinkle salt and remaining pepper over the chicken and inside the cavity.
- Place half of the quartered apple, one quartered onion inside the cavity. Tuck the wings under the chicken and tie the chicken drumsticks together. I used the divided chicken pieces, therefore just placed the vegetables under the chicken, made a apple, onion bed for them. =)
- In a deep baking dish or a roasting pan, place the chicken in the middle, here I first placed the onion and apples and then the chicken pieces on top.Arrange the chopped vegetables and an apple around the chicken.Arrange the rosemary, thyme and parsley sprigs around the chicken. Add the bay leaves.Pour wine or chicken broth into the pan around the chicken.
- Bake for about 1 – 1½ hours or until the skin is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should read 170°-175°.After the chicken has been in the oven for about 30 minutes, you can start basting it with produced juices every 10-15 minutes. This will make the skin extra crispy and will help burn the fat from the skin.
- Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the oven, cover with tin foil and allow to stand for about 10-15 minutes before carving/serving. This helps the chicken absorb more juices and become even more succulent.
To make the gravy:
- Pour drippings and loosened browned bits from the chicken into a measuring cup. Skim the fat from the top.Add enough chicken broth to make up to 1 cup.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter.Stir in the flour until smooth.Gradually add broth mixture and continue stirring.
- Bring to a boil and cook stirring for about 2 minutes or until the sauce thickens.Serve over chicken.
- Enjoy!
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