I first posted this recipe in November of 2005, and this roasted chicken is really worth trying…
Mrs. Marketman was flipping through the November issue of Food & Wine Magazine 
last week and was suddenly inspired to try a recipe for Citrus and Ginger Roasted Chicken that appears on page 142 of the magazine. It tasted absolutely delicious and is something we would do again in the near future. I have changed the recipe a bit simply because it’s hard to find large chickens (2.5 kilos!) here but otherwise it is the original recipe. You will need 2 lemons, 2 medium sized oranges, a large chicken (1.6 kilos is the biggest we could find), 2 tablespoons of finely grated ginger, salt and pepper, olive oil and honey. Zest the 1 lemons and 1 orange (you must eventually acquire a microplane grater, it is brilliant, gives really fine zest without any pith) and mix the zest with 1 tablespoon of grated ginger. Rub this mixture inside the cleaned bird and add salt and pepper as well to the cavity walls. Quarter the orange and lemon that were zested and stuff these quarters into the cavity until there is no space remaining.
Juice the remaining lemon and orange and add the remaining 
ginger, 5 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of good honey. Brush the chicken with this mixture and roast it in a 400 degree Fahrenheit degree oven. Baste every 15 minutes and cook for about 1 and 1/4 hours. If the skin browns too quickly, cover with foil lightly. We didn’t do this, thus our nicely BROWNED version in the photo. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes (such an ordeal, being baked). Food & Wine suggests removing the skin and throwing it away then serving the chicken naked. My wife and I just couldn’t do that, the skin looked too good, so we ate the skin as well. You can gather up the pan juices and serve with the chicken. This is a very juicy bird and the flavor of citrus, ginger and honey, while classic, seems new again in this rendition.
34 Responses
mouth watering! i can just taste it from your description. :)
Any tips if we use a turbo broiler?
Yes MM, I second Mrs. G’s question. Can a turbo boiler be used for this recipe?
looks really good MM! will be trying it on our next Sunday lunch.
Will definitely try this one. Sounds good and easy. Their chickens are just huge abroad. I cannot believe how big chicken breasts are on cooking shows on Food Network.
Ohhh This look struly scrumptious and easy too! Perfect for an everyday meal. I will put it down for next week, or the weekend!
looks good. I like roast chicken so will to try this one. domo arigato…
yum.. but is it ok if you cover the chicken with foil from the very start?
That is definitely a holiday chicken!
I have tried this and I loved it! I covered the wingtips with foil when too brown already.
hello MM, do you use the local honey or imported one? will try this again!!! yummy!!!
yummy….will it work on turkey too?
MM,
I can’t wait to try it out. I usually like to do lemon herb chicken. My kids will love this new recipe.
Thanks,
JR
i don’t cut lemons anymore when i stuffed it in my roast chicken, as the juice becomes bitter….i only poked it a couple of times with a knife before i stuff it……in this recipe, you quartered the citrus fruits, didn’t it have any bitter notes on the pan juices?
turbo should be fine. another way is to make the chicken sit on a bed of coarse sea salt. This would make the chicken moist.
MM, Did you use an organic free-range chicken?
Thanks for sharing MM!!! I just did my marketing earlier and was wondering what to do differently with the chicken. I’ll use a turbo broiler for this and I might boil it a bit with a little orange juice just to ensure the inside part will cook well during roasting as I’ve always done when I roast chicken. I’ve had experiences in the past where the leg part was still raw and blood was still seen in between the bones. At least no need to brown it but just get it to a crisp. The drippings will make a good sawsawan, too bad it will be a pain to throw the oil extract away. Just a little might not hurt : )
This chicken recipe has been a life saver whenever i have unexpected company. It is always a hit with guests remembering it the next time they come around. Clearly the dish has made an impression on their taste buds.
Hope you and Mrs.MM are better and you are starting to recover the 3 lbs worth of dehydration during the gastrointestinal attack. Try an infusion of guava leaf tea to quiet your tummy if you happen to have it in your backyard.
with (canadian) thanksgiving just around the corner, i wonder if this will work on turkey too…?
Yup, another MM “gustatory delight ” as Natie would say!!! We are not so much into turkey for Thanksgiving…but that chicken is similar to what we have for Thanksgiving. You know what would go really well with your chicken, MM?….a SAVOURY BREAD PUDDING (with day-old croissants I have saved for this dish and stored in the freezer !!!!) Since it is wild mushroom season here, I saute wild EDIBLE mushrooms (that my friend Nadine and I pick) with shallots and red wine and a bunch of herbs and add it to the bread pudding….a very nice, yummy alternative to stuffing! Ever since I have made this bread pudding, I am always requested to bring this and it seems never enough.
***off topic***
hi marketman. :)
i am a fan of your blog.. though i don’t really comment that much.
however i noticed that there were no NEXT and PREVIOUS buttons to click to your old articles.. hmm… or was it just me not finding them.. =(
thanks ~
Mmmmmmm, sounds so good. I used to do this often but without the honey. Havent been baking lately…let me get back to that.No edee,the lemon doesnt become bitter..as I always use that.Lemons are really great..removes a certain taste too and smells so goood. I want to try the boil and turbo method navyGolf….sounds interesting. I used to read this MM blog regularly but never joined in the comments…am so happy i started on my comments.My 22 (she’s now 24) yr old daughter introd me to this blog. Wonderful MarketMan!!! Love it!!!
Like Edee I find that lemons stuffed inside a chicken become bitter. However, unlike Edee, I don’t find any bitterness in the pan drippings or in the juices. It’s the surfaces in the inside cavity which touch the citrus that become bitter.
To avoid fast browning of the wing tips, I tuck it under the back of the chicken. I also tuck the legs in a slit at the skin near the cavity. Apart from slowing down the browing of the leg tips, it helps keep the stuffing inside the cavity and gives the roast a better shape.
thanks risa, i thought i’m the only one experiencing tasting bitterness when i use cut up lemons as stuffing, i think with the sliced lemons, my gravy turned bitter because i added the squeezed lemon juice in it……but as i’m using whole lemon now when roasting, the lemon juice doesn’t add bitterness to my gravy……so maybe i’ll try again with the cut up lemons, but not squeezing it’s juices anymore….
Maybe, Edee, when you don’t cut up the lemons, the pith is not exposed, so the bitterness doesn’t leak out. Hehe.
I agree with MM about the microplane grater. Never regretted buying one, so when I found another type I just had to buy it.
Will surely try that chicken recipe. Looks sooo good! Thanks for sharing as usual.
this recipe sounds like a winner. i will surely try it this weekend…
I’m having friends over for dinner, this looks like a great dish to serve :-D
My favorite dish is always fried chicken and roast chicken. Better than pork and beef. The fat from pork and beef is highly dangerous. White meat from chicken is the best meat plus vegetables and fruits. More people died from pork and beef. Masebo at matindi ang killer cholesterol.
how’s the family doing,MM?? i pray you’ve had no complications from that poisoning.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING sa mga taga Canada–bettyq, what’s cookin’?? i know all the ingredients have been bought and it’s prep-time now. will the pies be done today? i used to be in your shoes. now i go to my daughter’s for the meal. it’s their turn…
Hey Natie…Thanks for the greetings! No pumplin pies for us…we are more into Apple Pies and Pumpkin cheesecake with Ginger Cream and Shortbread (turkey shaped!)…do you like cheeseake, Natie? …the creamy, crustless one much like the one they have at Cheesecake, Etc.? I think I have come close to it…that’s what my friends think anyway!
Since I don’t have the luxury of having two ovens or a VIKING (Hay,…am always dreaming of having one!), I cut up the turkey into sections, season, squeeze orange juice all over, add mirepioux and roast them..much quicker, ladies! …done in 1 1/2 hours! At the same time, I can add a tray of Root Vegetables and roast them at the same time….also bake the Mushroom Bread Pudding ! Advantage of doing turkey this way? It stays INCREDIBLY MOIST! Disadvantage? I am usually left with NOTHING!!! I always hope for LEFTOVERS so I can make HOT TURKEY sandwiches the next day!!!!
And yes, Natie…I envy you since I think I am destined to do Thanksgiving Dinner the rest of my life!
i tried to do this a while ago and it was such a hit dito sa flat! my housemates thought it was store-bought.
and i ate the skin as well :) will definitely do this again
Looks yummy. Wil try this version on my daughter’s b-day on Nov.5. She loves chicken!!
I’m going to make this next week. Throw away the skin? Are they kidding?