Marinated Roast Chicken with Saffron, Hazelnuts and Honey

Marinated roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey is one of my all time favorite chicken dishes. Add a touch of rosewater and cinnamon and your chicken goes from plain to exotic. But no one will guess the secret ingredients!

this …

This Ottolenghi roast chicken, like all the Ottolenghi chicken recipes I've tried, is savory, comforting and a touch out of the ordinary.

I make it for Shabbat and I make it for friends. No one ever guesses the seasonings, because they are just to busy eating.

Kind of a riff on Moroccan chicken; what is it that makes this chicken so special?

Ingredient Questions

Why I Love Ottolenghi Chicken Recipes

Chicken is a protein I think we all take for granted.

I love chicken because it is easily adaptable and Ottolenghi recipes introduce us to new flavors that make the bird shine!

This marinated roast chicken has flavors of onions, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, and lemon juice.

And please don't forget the rosewater. I know... Not something we use very often.

I'll be honest. I am always a bit worried about serving this to company because of this floral ingredient.

Trust me. No one can tell. It truly adds depth to this chicken recipe.

And if you are worried, use just one tablespoon, instead of two. That will give you courage for the next time you make this recipe. And you will!

This sheet pan chicken recipe is also a breeze to make. Another reason I love this Ottolenghi recipe.

What To Serve With Roast Chicken

I love this dish with saffron rice, but lemony roasted potatoes would also be quite nice as are roasted carrots.

Salads? This zaatar spinach salad is my fave, but I also love this cabbage salad.

Dessert? Ottolenghi's world's best chocolate cake. Of course! But these rich rosewater fudge brownies are divine!

The Story Behind The Chicken

My recent foray at Costco found me deciding which Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook to buy. I already have Jerusalem and I've shared many of those recipes with you.

I was all set to buy his new one, but it was the old one, the very first one, that caught my eye; so that is what I bought.

Trust me, I have bought very few cookbooks in the last 10 years. Luckily, I have many cookbooks and the library has been a great resource, too. In the last ten years those two have kept me fed, so to speak!

The truth is I love cookbooks. I devour them like novels. I sleep with them by my bed. In my opinion, one can never have too many cookbooks. If you are ever wondering what to buy me, well, flowers and cookbooks will suffice!

And so it is I found myself facing "Ottolenghi" at dinnertime. On a cold winter night. In a cold house. It was snowing outside. I was hungry for more than a PB and J! Have I set the scene properly?

So I opened the book to the middle. Truly, the page I opened to is page 123 and there are only like 283 pages in the book, so that is about the middle, isn't it?

This recipe, roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey, was on that page. And on the opposing page is another chicken recipe with za'atar that I am dying to make, too!

Now if you are smart, you will deduce from my photo that I had not planned to make this for a blog post. I planned to make this and eat it.

I did not count on this being so good. I did not count on the aroma of chicken with ginger and cinnamon and saffron with plenty of black pepper and rosewater to bring Manservant up from his office and say, "That smells really good. When are we eating?"

I did not have a plan on plating this and making it beautiful. I just planned on serving it with a salad and rice. But my last minute inner voice told me to take a picture, even though it was totally dark outside.

When Cooking...Trust Your Inner Voice

This is so true-in cooking and in life. Use all your senses when cooking. Trust me your nose will tell you when the cookies are finished and if the chicken is good.

My inner voice told me that something that smells so good, has got to taste great. Trust me. I have developed a very good inner voice. My intuition is quite good.

Well, this marinated roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey, rocks! It will knock your socks off. It will send people running from all avenues of your home to see what you are making. It is special. It is simple.

It is worth waiting 10 years for, when I could have made it way back in 2008, when this cookbook was published! My intuition tells me you will love it.

But my intuition also tells me that you may wonder about this odd sort of ingredients that aren't very American, so to speak.

To this I say, "It is the new year. Time to try new things. Escape your box. Live a little. Catch up. And trust me!" I have great intuition!

Recipe

Roast Chicken with Saffron, Hazelnuts and Honey

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews

• Author: Abbe Odenwalder
• Prep Time: 20 Minutes
• Cook Time: 45 Minutes
• Total Time: 65 Minutes
• Yield: 4-5 Servings 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Method: Baking/Roasting
• Cuisine: Israeli

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

This fragrant chicken has delightful flavors of saffron, hazelnuts and rosewater. Quickly made, you will love my favorite chicken recipe!

 

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 chicken, divided into pieces or quarters
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 4 T olive oil
• 1 t ground ginger or a few gratings of fresh
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• a generous pinch of saffron threads
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 T cold water
• 2 t coarse salt
• 1 t fresh ground black pepper
• Topping
• ¾ c unskinned hazelnuts (if they are already roasted-do not roast!)
• 3 ½ T honey
• 2 T rose water
• 2 chopped green onions

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix the chicken pieces with the onions, olive oil, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, lemon juice, water, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate up to overnight, but at least for a few hours. (I think I marinated this about 3 hours.)

 

Preheat the oven to 375. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Chop coarsely and set aside. (Skip this step if already roasted.)

 

Transfer the chicken and marinade to a parchment line baking sheet, large enough to not crowd everything. Place chicken skin side up on a rimmed sheet pan in the oven for about 35 minutes.

 

While the chicken is roasting, mix the honey, rose water and nuts together to make a rough paste. Remove the chicken from the oven and spoon a generous amount onto each piece. Return to oven for about 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the nuts are golden. You can place this under the broiler if you want it more golden, but watch that the nuts do not burn.

 

Serve the chicken sprinkled with green onion.

---

Notes

From: Yotam Ottolenghi - "Ottolenghi, The Cookbook"

Other Great Chicken Dishes:

Ottolenghi Saffron Chicken

Lemon Chicken with Artichokes

Chicken Provencal

Zuni Cafe Roast Chicken with Bread Salad

Publican's Skillet Roast Chicken with Lemon