It’s no secret that this is my all-time favorite chicken, and a top 3 favorite dinner. Orange marmalade and rubbed sage come together for a unique savory and crispy recipe you’ll want to make again and again.
Whole Roasted Orange Chicken
Serves: 4
Prep time:
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- Whole chicken (the bigger the better, but aim for over 4 pounds)
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 orange, quartered
GLAZE - ⅓ cup orange marmalade
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 1 heaping tbs rubbed sage
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
GRAVY - ½ cup orange juice
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon flour or arrowroot
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 425F. Let chicken come to room temperature and dry off with a paper towel.
- Place your chicken in your cast iron or in a baking dish, and sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and olive oil.
- Insert 2 orange quarters into chicken, more if they can fit.
- Move the chicken onto a baking tray or in a cast iron pan and place the chicken in the oven. The chicken will cook initially for roughly 15 minutes per lb. For example, a 4 pound bird will roast for about an hour.
- While the chicken is roasting, make the glaze! Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then paint on to chicken with a basting brush or spoon after the chicken comes out at about an hour.
- Roast the glazed chicken for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Keep your eye on things, the goal is the get the glaze to cook down a bit.
- Once the chicken is cooked (juices run clear) take out of pan and cover lightly with tin foil for 5 to 10 minutes.
- While the chicken is resting, make the gravy! Whisk in the orange juice and chicken stock to the pan drippings in the cast iron first. Next, dissolve the flour or arrowroot in a bit of cold water and add to the gravy whisking until the desired thickness. (If you turn the heat back on the pan it will thicken faster.)
NOTES
- I suggest serving this chicken with a side of roasted broccolini and my recipe for farro with fried garlic and bok choy, you can get the recipe here.
- Put the gravy on EVERYTHING on your plate, not just the chicken!
- Questions about substitutions? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll respond asap!
Sharon Cabana says
Sounds freaking amazing!
David says
Thank you! Let me know what you think if you make it!
Cathrine McLaren says
It says turn down to 425, is that correct?
David says
Good catch, that was in error. Simply preheat to 425 and you’re good to go!
Diana Barshaw-Rich says
Wow! We made this chicken for our Shabbat dinner and it was by far the best orange chicken EVER. The gravy was so intense. I didn’t have any orange marmalade so I used the pink grapefruit marmalade I made a few weeks ago, didn’t have any sage so I used fresh oregano, I love this recipe. I’m going to put it into our family cookbook.
David says
Love that! This is a regular Friday night dish in our house too. Grapefruit marmalade… I’ll have to try that sometime, I’m sure it was great!
Sandra says
May I ask what brand of orange marmalade you use? Or do you make your own?? 1st ingredient in many store brands is high fructose corn syrup so I got a sugar free brand but not sure that will taste as good. Plus lots of preservatives in this brand as well. 🙁
David says
I use St. Dalfour. I usually get a few at a time to make sure I always have that one on hand when I make this recipe – it seems to be the most consistent and least high fructose corn syrup-y out of all the others!
David says
This recipe sounds great and I plan on making it. I didn’t understand step 8 because of a typo.
“Whisk in the orange juice and chicken stock tot he pan drippings in the cast iron first” What is “tot he pan”?
Thanks!
David says
Typo has been fixed. Thanks!
Herb says
Is the sage fresh or dried?
David says
I always use “rubbed sage” which is in the spice aisle.
The difference between ground and rubbed sage: Ground sage is an extremely fine powder. Rubbed sage has a light and fluffy texture.
Some general guidelines:
1 teaspoon of rubbed sage = approximately 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage
1 tablespoon of fresh sage = approximately 1 teaspoon of rubbed sage
Hope this helps!
Sandra says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe but it absolutely destroys my oven! Do you have a trick to keep it from splattering all over or do you just clean your oven every time you make it lol??
David says
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. One trick I use for messy oven dishes is to place the pan on top of a cookie sheet. It won’t protect you 100% but should help reduce the mess somewhat. Hope this helps!
Liz says
I got better results when I preheated the cast iron pan in the oven, then popped the chicken in, since the back needs more cooking than the breast. Fantastic and my go to method of roasting chicken now. I always learn something new here.
David says
I’ll have to try that, thanks for sharing!
Larry says
I did the same thing; put the cast iron in the oven when I hit the “start” button. My cast iron is always frigid; figured this would get things off to a great hot start.
Excellent recipe, my wife could taste the marmalade more than me (in the glaze), went over well and well definitely do this again!
David says
Glad this recipe worked well for you! The marmalade makes the skin a little sweet, it’s not as overpowering as you’d think. It also helps give big flavor to the pan drippings/gravy.
Teresa Menne says
This was amazing and so easy! I’m not a great chef and don’t love cooking but David’s recipes are so tasty and easy to follow directions! Caesar dressing was also top notch! Next parmesan chicken
David says
Thank you so much, I appreciate the positive feedback! I try my best to pare down these recipes and make them approachable for all skill levels. You’re working in the right order, this chicken is my favorite thing to eat that I make, followed by a close second with the Caesar dressing and chicken parm in third!
Barbara says
I tried this recipe today and we loved it! I’ve been searching for good chicken recipes to get my bacon-beef eating-bourbon lover husband to eat more chicken and fish. I was surprised how rich and savory the gravy was – the sage adds that savory touch paired with the orange flavor. I didn’t get fancy with the sides just carrots and mashed potatoes and it was great – the gravy was stellar over the potatoes. I like recipes like this that don’t require you to buy 10 spices or ingredients you’ll never use again. I only had to get the marmalade, chicken and oranges and I was good to go. I was surprised how moist the chicken was (maybe it’s the orange inside that helps with that?) when roasting it at a high temperature.
Thank you for this recipe! I’m anxious to try another. Can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow night.
David says
This made me so happy to read, thank you for sharing and appreciating this recipe! It’s really one of my all time favorites for all the reasons you’ve just stated. Try the chicken parm next!
Jen M says
I just tried this too for the first time and my chicken was so incredibly moist as well. I think its the oven temp maybe – I was looking at other chicken recipes and they seem ti use temps like 350, 375. I was worried that the chicken would burn at this higher temp but no! We are having the leftovers tonight.
Jen M says
Wow!!!! Just made this last night and it was amazing. It will be on our regular rotation for sure. Thanks!
David says
Great! This is a regular here too. In 3 years it’s never gotten old…
Kyle Marie says
This sounds amazing! The prospect of cooking a whole chicken is super intimidating, would it be possible to do this with already broken down chicken pieces? Or do I just need to put in my big girl pants and try it? Thanks!!
David says
It’s definitely possible, and I’ve done it. Adjust the cook time to whatever you would normally do for a pre-cut up chicken, and just plan for the glaze to go on for the final 10 minutes or so. I do think you should give the whole chicken a try though… the hardest part is carving it, but if you watch a good youtube tutorial I bet you can pull it off!
Lori says
What can I use if I do not have a cast iron?
David says
Good question, I’m glad you asked! The reason I use the cast iron is for it’s convenience, and the way it traps the pan drippings, allowing me to simply place the pan on the stove when it leaves the oven, remove the chicken, add in the OJ and make the gravy. But this dish can easily be made in any other roasting dish, and if you wish to make the pan drippings (which you should do!) you can transfer them to a pan on the stove. Hope this helps!
Sharon Stanners says
This is still my go to recipe for roasted chicken. Since I’m on Locals and I know you and Dave are super busy now with more important things than cooking I wanted you know know it’s my go to and I’m making it tonight.
David says
Thanks Sharon, I love that this is your go-to, it’s ours too!
Stephanie says
Yum! Winner winner chicken dinner! Haven’t made a roast chicken in years (get Costco one for like $5 ;-)…this was excellent! I will definitely be making this regularly. House smells SO good. I did mess up the gravy by moving fast and sprinkling corn starch (my flour swap) directly into the pan—big pile dumped in (my inner voice I ignored was saying ‘this is probably a bad idea’)…thick lumpy mess I rescued by straining and adding more OJ. Served w roasted potatoes and green beans (w butter and orange zest), want to try the farro side another day. Thank you!!
David says
Woo! Thanks for sharing. Accidents happen in the kitchen, sometimes the best parts of a recipe come from those accidents, glad you were able to salvage it!
Teresa says
When and where can I get this cookbook? It’s a must have! 🥰I love what you do on Locals!
David says
It’s a work in progress, stay tuned!
Elissa Freeman says
Wow! Incredible. I’ve been roasting chickens for 50 years and this is my new favourite.
Although I changed a few things to what I had available.
– used lime marmalade (I made it on half the auger so it was nice and sour)
– used one tablespoon grated fresh ginger instead of powdered
– used a cast iron pot rather than a pan. The chicken fit with little room around the sides
– because of the pot rather than a pan it needed an extra 15 minutes to be throughly cooked.
Im incredibly grateful to you for this recipe. Thank you!