Date Glazed Orange Chicken – Sweet, Flavorful Recipe for
Orange-Marinated Roasted Chicken Glazed with Date Honey
A couple of weeks ago I posted a recipe for date honey syrup, known in the Middle East as silan. It’s a fantastic condiment that can add a ton of flavor to your cooking. Many of you asked for some recipe ideas incorporating date honey. This Date Glazed Orange Chicken is a delicious example of how date honey can take a dish from tasty to “holy wow, amazing!”
Dates and oranges go together like “peas and carrots,” as Forrest Gump would say. Here I’ve marinated chicken in freshly squeezed orange juice with hot sauce, mustard and thyme to give the chicken a depth of flavor. It’s not at all spicy; the hot sauce and mustard give the chicken a nice robust flavor, but it’s not overpowering. Then, during roasting, I basted the chicken with multiple layers of date honey to create a brown, bubbly, sticky skin. The combination of citrus, thyme and date flavors is truly unique, and the presentation with fresh orange rounds and thyme is so pretty. I’m thinking this would make a really fabulous Rosh Hashanah entree!
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Date Glazed Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 large chicken pieces, bone in, skin on I prefer leg/thigh quarters
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1/4 cup hot sauce
- 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons mustard Dijon or yellow
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 bunch fresh thyme divided
- 3 large navel oranges divided
- 2/3 cup date honey syrup
NOTES
Instructions
- If using chicken leg quarters, I generally like to remove the "knuckle" end of the drumstick bone before cooking. It makes for a more elegant presentation on the dinner table. To do this, use a sharp chef's knife to carefully slice around the bottom knuckle of the bone, cutting through the skin and tendons. Then, grasp the cartilage area with a towel and pull strongly, twisting to remove it, and discard. FYI, this may take some practice and a bit of elbow grease. Be very careful with the knife when you are making the slice around the bone-- you don't want to slip!
- Whisk together orange juice, hot sauce, 3 tbsp olive oil, mustard, orange zest, 1/2 tsp salt and pinch of black pepper to form a marinade. Place chicken pieces into a plastic zipper bag or into a ceramic or glass dish. Pour marinade over the chicken and add 6-8 sprigs of thyme. Seal the bag (if using) or cover the dish with plastic wrap. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 3 hours, up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Remove chicken from marinade and discard the excess marinade. Heat 1/2 cup olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium until hot but not smoking. Add the chicken pieces skin side down, three pieces at a time, and let them cook for 5-10 minutes until the skin is nicely browned. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining 3 pieces. Remove the skillet from heat.
- Lightly grease a roasting pan or dish. Slice two of the large navel oranges into rounds and lay them on a single layer, covering the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle some thyme sprigs into the bottom of the roasting pan as well (reserve some for the final platter/garnish).
- Place the chicken back into the pan, skin side up. Brush each piece generously with date honey.Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake 45 minutes, basting the chicken every 15 minutes with more date honey.
- After 45 minutes the chicken should be cooked through and internal temperature should be at least 165 degrees F (I usually cook it to 170). If not, re-cover and continue to cook until it reaches temperature.Uncover the chicken. Baste once more with remaining date honey. increase heat to 500 degrees F and cook for 5-10 more minutes until the date glaze is bubbly and shiny. Keep a close eye to make sure the glaze doesn't burn, it contains a lot of natural sugar and will blacken if you're not careful.
- Slice up the remaining orange. Serve each piece of chicken garnished with a fresh orange slice and fresh thyme sprigs.
Nutrition
I am happy for the best recipe of chicken with oranges
Love this!
I made this tonight using boneless chicken breasts and cooked it at 350-400 without basting. I also had marinated it for over 24 hours. While delicious, it was a little spicier than when I marinated it for only a couple of hours. Also, I preferred how it came out when I used bone in thighs and breasts. I was having 17 people and thought boneless would be easier. Love the recipe and would use it again!
Hi Tori! I made this last week to test the recipe for Rosh HaShana and it was delicious! My question is-i need to make this for 20 people and was wondering if you have any suggestions on how to do that easily? I know that pre frying looks prettier, but does the taste change if I skip that step?
Glad you like it! The frying step makes the skin a bit crispy, but the 500 degree roast at the end will help with that as well. You can also do a quick broil at the end if you need to crisp it up further, just watch VERY carefully to make sure the skin doesn’t burn… the date has natural sugars that can blacken quickly if you don’t keep a close eye. 🙂 L’shana tova!
I’m not sure about the hot sauce
Could I use ketchup instead?if not, could you please suggest some alternative?
Thanks
The hot sauce does not make the end product spicy, but if you want to sub it just add an additional 1/4 cup of orange juice. I do not recommend ketchup.
Instead of discarding the marinade, is there any reason it couldn’t be boiled to kill any bacteria and to thicken it and then to use it as a sauce?
You can, but be careful – you’ll need to boil it well to kill all the bacteria, and citrus juice can get really bitter when you reduce it too much. It might work, but I tend to avoid doing this with citrus marinades due to the bitterness factor. Also I generally prefer making a fresh sauce rather than using marinade– just a personal preference.
Can any other type of honey/syrup be used? If so, what kind?
Agave works. Regular honey works too, but reduce the amount a bit because it’s naturally sweeter than date honey.
Quick question: if I double the recipe, how should I adjust the oven temp/cooking time?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Liz! Oven temp will be the same, but it may take a bit longer to cook the whole batch. Just make sure you use a thermometer to check both dishes of chicken, they each need to reach 165-170 degrees Fahrenheit internally before increasing the temperature for browning the glaze.
HI,
I am making this for tomorrow and I realized that the oil amount is a bit confusing. Is it 3 tbsp in the marinade and the 1/2 cup for the frying?
Thanks and Happy New Year,
Julie August
Happy new year Julie! It is 3 tbsp oil in the marinade and 1/2 cup for frying. Enjoy!
Hi Tori,
This recipe sounds lovely!
Can I use something other than
hot sauce? When serving on a platter,
should the orange slices be on the
bottom or top of chicken?
L’Shana Tova,
Miriam
Hi Miriam! You can omit the hot sauce if you prefer. I typically serve with the orange slices on the bottom, since they don’t always look very pretty after the roast. Enjoy!
1/4 cup hot sauce = Please explain what that is and give an alternative for those living outside USA