One of my favorite ways to keep dinners easy during the week is to roast a chicken (or two) on Sunday.  You get a delicious dinner Sunday night and then you are left with wonderful leftover cooked chicken that is perfect for quick meals during the week.

I found a new recipe for Chicken with Orange, Honey and Cumin  that looked intriguing on For the Love of Cooking.  Pam had adapted her version of the recipe from the original recipe  posted by Mark Bittman on his Diner’s Journal for the NY Times.

I made a few tweaks to both versions of the recipe.  The biggest change was to add sweet potatoes that will marinate and roast right along in the same pan with the chicken.  I also added just a touch a of red pepper flakes.  Not enough to add real heat, more like adding a gentle warmth to the flavors.

You will find that tin foil comes in really handy when making this dish.  First, you will want to line the roasting pan with a double layer of tin foil.  The honey in the marinade really cooks down and is a bear to clean up without the tin foil.  Second, I recommend you wrap the tips of the wings and the very top of the drumstick bone with a little bit of tin foil to prevent them from burning while the chicken is roasting.   Finally because the marinade is made with honey it can burn and make the skin really dark.  When you take the potatoes out after the first hour, place a sheet of tin foil loosely over the chicken before you return it to the oven to keep the skin from burning.

Here is one last tip for this recipe, skip the roasting rack and put everything right down in the bottom of the roasting pan.  Usually I use a rack when roasting a chicken, but you want the potatoes down in all the marinade and juice.  They turn out so deliciously flavorful this way!

My family loved this recipe.  Give it a try and let me know what your family thinks.  My next post will be recipe using some of the left over cooked chicken…..assuming you have any of course!

Honey Orange Chicken with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Prep time: 13 minutes  -  Cook time: approx 3 hours

• 1 ½ lb. sweet potatoes, peeled
• 1 medium sweet onion, peeled and cut into chunks
• ½ cup of fresh orange juice
• ¼ cup of honey
• 2 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 ½ tsp cumin
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• 4 lb. whole chicken, insides removed
• Handful of cilantro
• 3 whole cloves of garlic, peeled

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a roasting pan with tinfoil.  (Do not use the roasting rack for this recipe.)

Stuff cilantro, ½ of the onion chunks and 3 whole cloves of garlic into the cavity of chicken.  Place chicken into the roasting pan.

Peel and chop sweet potatoes in 1 ½ inch pieces and place into a large bowl.  Add the remaining half of the sweet onion to the bowl.

In small bowl whisk orange juice, honey, minced garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes.  Divide the mixture in half.

Add half the honey orange juice mixture to the bowl with sweet potatoes and toss until well coated.

Pour the sweet potatoes and onions (and the orange juice mixture that is in the bowl with the potatoes) around the chicken in the roasting pan.

Take the remaining half of the honey orange juice mixture and pour over the chicken. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Place roasting pan with chicken and potatoes into the oven.  Roast for 1 hour, basting the chicken every 30 minutes.  If the skin starts to turn too dark loosely cover top of bird with a sheet of tin foil.

After 1 hour of baking, use a slotted spoon to remove sweet potatoes from the pan.  Set potatoes aside,  baste chicken and return it to the oven.  Bake for an additional 1 1/2 – 2 hours (basting every 30 minutes)  until chicken is fully cooked and juices run clear.  Use a meat thermometer to be sure the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 180°.

When chicken is fully cooked, remove from the oven and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before carving.  Serve with the sweet potatoes and enjoy!

Other recipes you night enjoy!

The Ultimate Oven Fried Chicken

Chipotle Mango Chicken

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