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One of our favorite ways to save time during the busy school and work week is to roast a whole chicken over the weekend – then we enjoy the leftovers all week long!
Today’s recipe – our Orange Chicken Roasted Spatchchock-Style makes some incredibly moist and flavorful chicken that is delicious made into sandwiches for lunch, added to salads, or sliced and served at dinnertime.
When you “spatchchock” a chicken – it simply refers to the cooking method where you remove the backbone and butterfly the chicken before roasting. This allows the chicken to cook faster and more evenly – so the breast meat doesn’t dry out before the legs and wings are cooked through! (We also use this method when we prepare our Perfect Roast Turkey – you can see some step-by-step photos of the process in this post.)
Orange Chicken Roasted Spatchchock-Style gets some additional juiciness and flavor by placing orange slices underneath the skin of the chicken as it roasts. And, the chicken also roasts above a super flavor pan sauce made with more orange slices, chicken stock, beer, carrots, onions and celery.
The sauce helps keep the chicken moist as it bakes – and it’s also fantastic served alongside the chicken!
Our Orange Chicken Roasted Spatchchock-Style is juicy and delicious with a fantastic hint of orange among the other spices and seasonings. We think you’ll love this recipe!
P.S. For those of you who are coming here for Whole30 recipes – feel free to leave out the Blue Moon in the pan sauce, use clarified butter, and select organic ingredients whenever possible to stay Whole30 compliant.
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Orange Chicken Roasted Spatchcock-Style
Ingredients
- 5 pound whole roasting chicken
- 1/2 pound carrots, washed, tops removed and cut in half
- 1 large naval orange, quartered, skin left on
- 1/2 pound onion, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 head organic celery, washed and quartered
- 1 bottle Blue Moon or other light ale (optional)
- 1 14.5–ounce can chicken stock
- 1 punch parsley with stems
- 6 black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
To prepare for chicken
- 1 naval orange
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dry rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dry parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dry sage
- 2 tablespoons clarified butter, melted
Instructions
- Using a very sharp knife, or kitchen shears, remove backbone (see here) and wing tips from chicken. Refrigerate chicken and place back and wing tips in a five quart or larger pot.
- Add carrots, quartered orange, onions, celery, beer, stock, parsley, peppercorns, bay leaves, salt and garlic.
- Cover with water to a few inches above solids and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 90 minutes, adding more water as needed. After 90 minutes pour entire mixture in bottom of roasting pan and place an inverted V-Shaped rack over the stock and solids.
- Remove chicken from refrigeration and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Run your fingers between skin and the meat of the chicken to loosen skin but keep it attached at edges.
- Slice both ends off the orange and slice the remainder into thin slices.
- Slide the orange slices between the skin and the meat on the breasts and thighs.
- Combine all of the herbs and spices in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Brush the butter all over the skin then sprinkle the herbs and spices over that.
- Roast uncovered for 90 minutes until browned and meat starts to pull away from the bone. Check pan bottom every 30 minutes and add water to keep from drying out. At the end, you should be left with two cups.
- Remove chicken to a platter and don’t carve for 15 minutes.
- While chicken is resting, strain stock and discard solids.
- Remove the fat that floats to the top and discard. The remaining stock will be served with the chicken but in keeping with the Whole 30 plan, will not be thickened with any flour.
- Slice the chicken and serve with the sauce. The orange skin that was cooked under the chicken skin can be eaten or discarded, your choice.
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