An easy one-pan roast chicken dinner with a delicious citrus marinade starring turmeric and other Eastern Mediterranean spices! Step-by-step tutorial below.
At first glance, this is a bubbling one-pan roast chicken with a beautiful golden hue.
But truth be told, this all began as a turmeric recipe. I wanted a way to use the "superior medicine," which has long been a part of Eastern Mediterranean cooking. The poor chicken just happened to be a good carrier for my happy experiment.
Because how else could I have disguised the turmeric in the form of something my kids would eat?! All I had to say was, "look kids, I colored the chicken yellow!"
So the golden hue is obviously thanks to the ground turmeric. But turmeric also provides the flavor base in this roast chicken recipe. The rest of the spices, along with the brown sugar; fennel; onions; and citrus, all kinda surround the turmeric building on it's woodsy, earthy characteristics...
And coming together in this roast chicken dinner as in a perfect melody-- slightly sweet, earthy, and comforting! Enjoy!
Step-by-Step Tutorial for Roast Chicken
(Scroll down for the ingredient list and print-friendly recipe)
Note: this roast chicken is best served with a plain rice like this Lebanese Rice. You can begin by making the rice and reheat later, if needed.
Prepare the ingredients as listed. Slice the fennel, onions, orange and lime. Set aside.
Make the marinade. In a large bowl or deep dish, mix together the first six ingredients: olive oil, white wine, orange juice, lime juice, mustard and brown sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together the spices: turmeric, garlic powder, coriander, paprika , salt and pepper. Now, add about half of the spice mix to the liquid marinade. Mix to combine.
Pat the chicken pieces dry and generously season with the remainder of the spice mix. Be sure to lift the chicken skins slightly and apply some of the spice mix underneath the skin.
Add the seasoned chicken and the remaining ingredients to the large bowl of marinade. Work the chicken well into the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (if you don't have time, you can skip the marinating).
When ready, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Transfer the chicken along with the marinade and everything else to a large baking pan so that everything is comfortably arranged in one layer. Be sure the chicken skin is facing up. Sprinkle with a dash or salt and more brown sugar, if you like.
Roast for 40-45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the chicken skin has nicely browned. Internal chicken temperature should be 170 degrees F.
Serve immediately with Lebanese Rice.
Mediterranean Roast Chicken with Turmeric and Fennel
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
An all-star roast chicken recipe with a delicious citrus marinade starring turmeric and other Eastern Mediterranean spices! Step-by-step tutorial.
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 lime, juice of
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 3 tbsp brown sugar, more for later
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- ¾ tbsp ground turmeric spice
- 1 tsp ground corriander
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 large fennel bulb, cored, sliced
- 1 large sweet onion, sliced into half moons
- 6 pieces bone in, skin on chicken (chicken legs or breasts, or a combination)
- 2 Oranges, unpeeled, sliced
- 1 lime, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
- Make the marinade. In a large bowl or deep dish, mix together the first six ingredients: olive oil, white wine, orange juice, lime juice, mustard and brown sugar.
- In a small bowl, mix together the spices: turmeric, garlic powder, coriander, paprika , salt and pepper. Now, add about half of the spice mix to the liquid marinade. Mix to combine.
- Pat the chicken pieces dry and generously season with the remainder of the spice mix. Be sure to lift the chicken skins slightly and apply some of the spice mix underneath the skin.
- Add the seasoned chicken and the remaining ingredients to the large bowl of marinade. Work the chicken well into the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (if you don't have time, you can skip the marinating).
- When ready, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Transfer the chicken along with the marinade and everything else to a large baking pan so that everything is comfortably arranged in one layer. Be sure the chicken skin is facing up. Sprinkle with a dash or salt and more brown sugar, if you like.
- Roast for 40-45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the chicken skin has nicely browned. Internal chicken temperature should be 170 degrees F.
Notes
This roast chicken is best served with Lebanese Rice. If you choose to make the rice, go ahead and prepare it first according tothis recipe. You can reheat the rice later if needed.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: Roast chicken recipe, chicken recipe with turmeric
Recommended for this recipe: Large Baking Pan like in this set
More Recipes to Try
Turmeric Cauliflower and Chickpea Stew- Holy Land Inspired
Vicky Vogels says
So much of this was good, but it turned out very bitter. Was that from the orange and lime rind? I want to correct, and make again.
Thank you!
★★★
Ragna says
This was amazing. I used juice from blood oranges, and sliced blood oranges on top and I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I also added some mini potatoes to make a full meal. So good and so easy!!
★★★★★
Elisa Gonzalez says
this recipe looks amazing and I will be trying it this weekend! I would like to accompany this with a simple side veggie dish. What would you recommend??
Suzy says
Hi, Elisa! Roasted veggies would be good. Here's our recipe (you can swap the vegetables here for whatever you prefer): https://www.themediterraneandish.com/italian-oven-roasted-vegetables/. I think it would also be great with a salad!
Marie says
If I could rate this recipe more than a five I would.. I was not a fan of fennel, but making efforts to use all veggies that come from my CSA this year. I’ve been making most of my meals for the past couple weeks from your recipes, and sharing with my neighbors since they make quite a bit ( still quarantining, just sending over) This is the first recipe I did not want to share! This was so good I actually ordered a fennel bulb this week to be included in my CSA so I could make it again. That good, and now I can say I like fennel ( cooked this way). I do plan to share this time?. Also because everything has been so good they are now trying recipes and sending over some to me to try, so what a treat that is, we get to try more recipes. Only change I made was I used ground maple sugar for brown sugar.
★★★★★
Suzy says
How fun!! So glad you're enjoying cooking and trying new ingredients!!!