Fiesta Roast Chicken Recipe: Juicy + Flavorful Main That Preps Fast
Weeknight dinner just got a whole lot tastier thanks to this irresistible roast!
Dress up your weekly roasted chicken with this Fiesta Roast Chicken recipe. This dish starts combining butter with lime zest and juice along with other seasonings. The infused butter then gets rubbed onto the chicken and then roasted until the juices run clear. Not only do you end up with a flavorful roasted chicken, but the butter mixture ensures it’s juicy and tender.
If you want an easy variation of this recipe, make Orange-Herb Roast chicken instead. Simply substitute in 1 orange for the limes; zest and juice as directed and then quarter. Use thyme in place of the cilantro and continue with the remaining steps in the recipe. Ultimately, you’re in for a treat as the chicken has the right balance of zingy and pungent flavors. Feel free to roast chicken parts like drumsticks, thighs or wings instead of a whole bird and adjust the cook times as needed. Let us know if you’ve ever tried flavoring roasted chicken with an infused butter!
Yields
Total Time
Prep Time
Ingredients
- 2 limes
- 2 Tbs. butter, at room temp.
- ½ tsp. smoked paprika
- ½ tsp. ground cumin
- 1 (4–5 lb.) roasting chicken
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 sprigs fresh cilantro
Instructions
Heat oven to 375°F. Grate 1 tsp. zest and squeeze 1 tsp. juice from 1 lime. Quarter remaining lime. In small bowl, using fork, mash together lime zest, lime juice, butter, smoked paprika, cumin and 1⁄2 tsp. salt. Rub all over chicken.
Transfer chicken to roasting pan; add 1 cup water. Place garlic, cilantro and lime quarters in cavity. If desired, truss chicken.
Cook until meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh away from bone registers 170°F and juices run clear, about 11⁄2 hrs. Transfer chicken to cutting board or serving platter; tent with foil. Let stand 10 min. before carving. Skim and discard excess fat from pan juices. Serve chicken with pan juices. Garnish as desired.
Nutrition
- Calories: 430
- Energy: # gram
- Fat: 27 gram
- Saturated Fat: 9 gram
- Protein: 43 gram
- Carbohydrate: 1 gram
- Fiber: # gram
- Cholesterol: 145 mg
- Sugar: # gram
- Added Sugar: # gram
- Sodium: 400 mg
- Potassium: # mg
