Roasted Chicken with Clementines
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Here’s a low-effort, big-reward chicken recipe: roasted chicken thighs with clementines. It requires about 15 minutes (or less) to throw together, and it bakes for about an hour. The result? A stunning, festive, incredibly delicious assembly of caramelized onions, burnished oranges, and crispy-skinned fall-off-the-bone tender chicken.
Upon receiving Jerusalem early last summer, I poured through it cover to cover, reading about hummus wars and baba ghanoush, feeling inspired to start burning eggplants and preserving lemons with every turn of the page.
Six months later I’m only just enjoying my first taste of the cookbook: roast chicken with clementines, a recipe my mother has been urging me to make since the start of citrus season.
This recipe calls for high heat — 475ºF — for a long time — just under an hour — which allows the chicken skin to brown and the vegetables to caramelize beautifully. The liquid, a mixture of freshly squeezed citrus juice and some sort of anise-flavored liqueur (Arak, Ouzo or Pernod), keeps the chicken meat incredibly juicy below its crispy skin. (Update: I always use white wine for simplicity.)
Ottolenghi and Tamimi, the authors, note in the preface to the recipe, this is a “sweetly comforting dish you will always want to come back to” and suggest serving it with plain rice or bulgur. For me, the volume of slightly sweet, mustard-seed laced juices pooling below the chicken demands lots of crusty bread.
This dish is festive and colorful, and with clementine season in full swing, there couldn’t be a better time to get it on your table. Hope you love it as much as I do.
How to Make Roast Chicken and Clementines
Gather your ingredients:
Stir together a simple sauce:
Combine everything in a large roasting pan:
Transfer to the oven for about an hour.
It’s done when the skin is crisp and caramelized, and the meat is nearly falling off the bone:
Roasted Chicken with Clementines
- Total Time: 1 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Feel free to take liberties with the ingredients here. I now make this with 1/3 cup clementine juice (versus 3 tablespoons orange juice and 3 tablespoons lemon juice), which works just fine. The original recipe called for fennel bulbs but I prefer onions, and I have also used leeks in place of the onions. The original recipe also called for fennel seed, which I omit, and anise-flavored liqueur, but I now use white wine. So, essentially (and unintentionally!) I’ve removed all three of the anise-flavored components to this dish.
The key is to use a large enough roasting pan that allows space between each piece of chicken. If the chicken is crowded together it won’t brown properly. Marinating overnight is not necessary though it’s nice to know that you can assemble this dish ahead of time.
Also, the clementine pieces are edible! Some of them are tastier than others — the ones that are exposed (above the juices during the roasting) crisp up and can taste a little bitter; the ones that remain under the juices during the entire cooking process, however, are soft and delicious. You can be strategic and place more of the orange slices beneath the chicken so that they are protected, but I would leave some of them exposed, because they look so pretty when they get a bit caramelized. (I also don’t mind when the oranges are a bit bitter/crisp.)
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup white wine (or Arak, Ouzo, or Pernod, see notes above)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange (or clementine) juice
- 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar or honey
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (a mix of thighs and drumsticks is nice)
- 4 clementines, unpeeled, sliced thin
- a few sprigs of thyme
- 2 to 3 medium onions (or fennel bulbs) cut lengthwise and then into quarters
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together alcohol of choice, oil, orange juice, mustard, brown sugar, and salt. Season with pepper, to taste.
- If you are roasting immediately: Place chicken skin side up in a large roasting pan with clementine slices, thyme sprigs, and onion pieces. Pour sauce over top and gently toss everything together with your hands.
- If you are marinating: Place chicken with clementine slices, thyme sprigs, and onion pieces in a large mixing bowl or ziplock bag. Turn several times to coat. Marinate chicken for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 475ºF degrees. Transfer pan to the oven. After 30 minutes, check on the chicken. If the skin is browning too quickly, turn the oven down to 400ºF and continue roasting until the skin is brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes longer. I roast the chicken at 475ºF for 45 minutes and at 400ºF for 10 minutes, but every oven is different, so just keep an eye on it. Remove pan from the oven.
- Transfer chicken and clementines and onion pieces with juices to a serving platter. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Roasting
Keywords: roast, chicken, clementines, Yotam, Ottolenghi
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
123 Comments on “Roasted Chicken with Clementines”
isn’t this a terrific recipe? One of my faves from that cookbook!
★★★★★
Such a good one! Love 💕💕💕💕💕
Ooohhhh, excited to make this recipe this weekend!! I have all the ingredients except for clementines, (on my grocery list now!) and your pictures are incredibly mouth-watering!
Yay! Hope you love it 🙂 🙂 🙂
Can’t wait to make this. Swapping out the “anise” flavored components is what caught my attention. Just wondering if you have ever used shallots in place of the onions? Thinking it would work 🙂
★★★★★
Nice to hear this, Claudia 🙂 🙂 🙂 Shallots would be absolutely delicious here!
Hi Ali. I’ve been obsessed with all of your wonderful spatchcock chicken recipes. We’ve found lately that the smaller whole birds are less rubbery than the larger pieces even if supposedly premium chicken. Do you think this would work with breasts and thighs?
So interesting, Laura! And my mother would agree: she is always looking for the smallest birds, and has always encouraged me to find small chickens. Glad you agree. Yes, absolutely re breasts. I would remove the breasts maybe after 35 minutes or so. Hope you love it!
I love this recipe, too. I wish I could get that color on my chicken. Sometimes, it’s really pallid.
★★★★★
Interesting! A few thoughts: one, really dry off your chicken before placing it in the pan. Two: crank up your oven higher… maybe it’s not accurately calibrated. Mine often runs 50 degrees cooler than what it registers, especially at the lower temperatures, so I’m constantly fiddling with the dial, and my oven thermometer is what I rely on more than the actual temperature dial.
Wow. I don’t eat chicken but that looks Amazing!
★★★★★
Thanks, Carol 🙂 🙂 🙂
Should chicken rack be placed closer to the heat source for this (mine is on the bottom) or in the center or top of oven, to achieve that level of color?
Hi Ann! Mine is right in the center, but honestly the rack level shouldn’t matter too much bc the high heat + the brown sugar-sauce mixture will promote good browning.
Fabulous chicken! I used your version of the ingredients, but I’m going to try it with some of the original anise type ingredients that you mentioned, too. I never thought of using orange with chicken but it was perfection! Thanks for a great new fast and easy tray type dinner, but with such a nice new flavor twist!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Carolyn! Thanks so much for writing. And yes, definitely adapt the recipe to your tastes and preferences — my mother loves anise flavor and so adds all three anise elements 🙂
I saw this recipe in your newsletter email in the morning yesterday while I was drinking my coffee & writing my grocery list. I already had some beautiful clementines from my CSA box delivered the day prior, so this recipe was really singing to me! Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs weren’t available, so I settled for boneless, skinless and opted to cover the tops of each thigh with a thin slice of prosciutto to help keep the thighs moist. It was DELICIOUS!
I loved your suggestions of the white wine and onion, as well, but maybe I will try the fennel sometime in the future for kicks. By the way, I’ve been baking 90% of the bread my husband I have eaten in the last three years thanks to your Bread Toast Crumbs book and your sourdough tutorials and recommendations. So, many thanks for the inspiration – especially during the last year and a half which has been rough. There’s something very meditative about baking bread that I wish everyone could experience. 🙂 Thanks again!
★★★★★
So nice to hear all of this, Jenn! Love your prosciutto idea — I bet it almost acts like a chicken skin, protecting the meat while also imparting flavor, and I bet it gets nice and crispy, too — I’ll have to try that! Love this idea. And thank you so much for your kind words re Bread Toast Crumbs and the sourdough tutorials … means a lot 💕💕💕💕
Made this for dinner, wow it was good! Used red wine instead of white because I already had it open. And used cuties b/c we had those on hand. Served it with a buttery-parmesan-y isreali couscous. Kids loved it as well. Can’t believe how delicious the cooked oranges were!
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Jamie! And I know, right? I love those cooked oranges 🙂 🙂 🙂 Israeli couscous sounds so good with this. So glad the kids approved, too.
I LOVED this recipe! I used one medium fennel bulb as well as some onion and loved the combination. I don’t have a large roasting pan, so I used a large baking sheet which worked perfectly. This is such an easy yet super impressive looking recipe – those gorgeous clementine slices! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. You continue to be a top-trusted source for the most delicious recipes.
★★★★★
Awww, thanks so much for the kind words, Amanda 🙂 🙂 🙂 Means so much! So great to hear all of this. And right: aren’t the clementines so pretty? Thanks for writing!
OMG! Delicious. Absolutely delicious! I threw in some fennel seeds and used home dried thyme … delicious!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Doris! Fennel seed + thyme sound delicious!
I really like how you actually show us how to do the recipe!! Never fails to help me see the way the recipe will work out and the process.
Thanks so much for your insights!!!
Sure thing, Carmen!
Absolutely delicious! I would never have thought this flavor combination would work, but this dish is a winner and so simple.
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Darcy! Happy Easter to you and your fam 🙂 🙂 🙂
My family loved this. I made it with a mixture of sweet onions and fennel and marinated it all day. As I don’t eat chicken, I poured some of the marinade and vegetables and oranges over a couple of squares of pressed tofu in a separate dish. I put the tofu in the oven for the last 20 minutes. Everyone loved it! Will definitely make it again!
★★★★★
Oh yay! I love this, Susan! I am absolutely going to try your tofu method, too, as I am always looking for a good way to prepare tofu.
I’m making this for the second time this month, this time enough to share with a friend. It is such a colorful presentation and everyone loved the flavors. I loved how simple and fast it is to put together. ❤️
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Joan! Thanks for writing. This is one of my favorites 🙂
Easy to make – delicious and gourmet. I never comment on recipes. This was AMAZING
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Tina!
I have made this dish several times during the past year. It is always a HUGE hit. I can’t tell you how many compliments I get!
★★★★★
So wonderful to hear this, Maureen! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
I anxiously await harvest time for the Satsuma mandarins I grow to make this dish. So simple with a huge payoff. It’s Satsuma season in Los Angeles now &:time to put this dish in regular rotation for as long as other season lasts. Yum!😋
★★★★★
So wonderful to hear this, Annie! Very jealous of your backyard Satsumas, which I absolutely love. This is one of my favorite winter dishes – so simple, but so pretty, and so tasty 🙂
Dear Ali,
For weeks now, I’ve been scratching my head trying to remember which recipe I needed to thank you for (they are legion). This was, as always, brilliant! I used a spatchcocked guinea fowl which didn’t need such a long cook time, so I didn’t get those sexy charred bits of clementine, but this was absoluttely delicious. Had I not make your honey wings last night, I might consider doing this again today! As it is, it’ll be left over wings with some new veggies. Thank you again.
★★★★★
So great to hear this, Carole 🙂 🙂 🙂 I ate guinea fowl twice when I visited Paris several years ago, and the flavor blew my mind — it made me realize how flavorless the chicken I get here is. So great to hear the recipe worked with the spatchcocked gf despite the lack of sexy charred clementines 🤣 Thanks for writing!
If you liked gf, you must come back to Paris at the holiday season — then we can get gf capons which are amazing (unless you’re squeamish about gelded birds — please don’t hate me!). Unfortunately, that season lasts only a couple of weeks. Hopefully, soon, we’ll be able to travel normally again!
I’m not squeamish about ANYTHING! It would be a dream to return to Paris anytime but around the holidays sounds especially magical 💕💕💕💕💕
Glad you’re not squeamish! Actually — and unfortunately — Christmas in Paris is pretty much like Christmas in any big city, I think, with an extra edge of food-tinged hysteria. But in rural areas, yeah, it can be magic. Come back and give it a go!
Good to know, Carole! Thank you 💕💕💕
Great meal! I combined fennel and onions, served with star anise cardamom rice, the combination was perfect. The clementines give a lot of flavor and just enough sweetness. The chicken is tender, the skin crispy, lots of sauce….unusual pairing with beautiful results, will make again! Thank you, it was a great meal for St. Valentines 💝
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Ginka! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ali, I finally made this last night. It was delicious! My husband devoured it! I had
just served myself and was about to sit down when he got up to get seconds. With
my first bite, I could understand why. So good!
I made it just like your version. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Trish 🙂 🙂 🙂 I love that this one feels a little “fancy” but it’s really just as simple as any baked chicken thigh recipe. Thanks so much for writing. So glad the husband approved! Hope all is well 💕💕💕💕💕
This is fantastic! I used white vermouth (which had probably been sitting around for YEARS) and small Halo tangerines. I also used a large red onion . Definitely will make this again. The sauce was scrumptious!
★★★★★
So nice to hear this, Debra! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Can you bake this chicken ahead and reheat it? I’d like to include it in a Christmas Eve buffet, but due to limited oven space I’d like to cook it earlier in the day, and either reheat it, or just serve it at room temperature. Thanks!
Hi Janet, I think this one should reheat just fine. And I think serving it at room temperature is also fine.
This is a beautiful recipe. Chicken, thyme and lemon/orange citrus are a marriage made in . . . .well, the kitchen. They pair so perfectly. Thanks Ali for offering up this recipe. I added extra liquids all around, and served the dish with mashed cauliflower, which was happy to have some of the “gravy” from the chicken dish.
★★★★★
Great to hear, Butch! Mashed cauliflower sounds so lovely here 🙂