Za'atar Chicken
Za’atar is both an herb and a spice blend that is incredibly common in the Middle East and Northern Africa. It’s flavor is one that is so unique and incredible that comparative descriptions really don’t do it justice (though if you opt for making the spice blend, you can get an idea of the flavor profile from it’s constituents). When paired with roasted vegetables, rice, meat, fish, hot bread, or basically anything else for that matter, Za’atar enriches the dish, amplifying its own flavor while bringing forward nuances of that which you pair it with.
As we mentioned earlier, this dish was developed to help you cook a whole chicken in one shot! As simple as mixing this spice blend with the drippings from the roasted chicken and lathering up each piece, this recipe is perfect for a dinner party or a quick weeknight dinner
Check out the recipe below!
Ingredients
1 whole Chicken: butchered into at least 10 pieces (legs, thighs, breasts, wings), though we recommend cutting the breasts in half as well. For a full guide, on how to to do this, check out our article.
2 Medium Red Onions: cut into 8 wedges each
5-6 cloves of Garlic: peeled and crushed (not minced, just literally smash them)
2 Lemons: quartered
1/2 tbsp dried Thyme
1/2 tbsp ground Cumin
1/2 tbsp ground Coriander
1/2 tbsp toasted Sesame Seeds
1/2 tbsp Sumac
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt : plus more for salting the chicken separately
¼ tsp or more Aleppo Chili Flakes: optional
1/3 cup of Olive Oil
Preparation:
Remove your chicken from the refrigerator to let it come to temperature. Preheat your oven to 325ºF.
Cut your Onions and Lemons, and smash your garlic, set aside.
Butcher your chicken (be sure to save the excess bones for stock!). Pat each piece dry and sprinkle all sides with salt (they shouldn’t be coated, just lightly seasoned).
Place the chicken along with the vegetables and lemons on a parchment lined (this part is optional but ensures nothing sticks!) baking tray (with sides, this will get juicy!), pour the oil over everything and toss to coat. Finally, arrange your chicken so each piece is skin-side-up.
Place the baking tray in the oven (once its preheated) and let sit for 35 minutes.
In the meantime, mix all of your spices into one spice blend.
After 35 minutes, begin to check your chicken. Since this recipe uses all parts of a chicken, many of which are of totally different shapes and sizes, some pieces will cook quicker than others. Take a temperature probe (thermometer) and check one of each piece-type (wing/leg/thigh/breast). If the temperature is around 160ºF you can remove the piece of chicken and set it aside (the temperature at which chicken needs to cook in order for it to be safe to eat is 165ºF, however the temperature typically continues to rise within the piece of chicken for several minutes after it is removed). Make sure to probe the thickest part of the chicken! Also, remember its better to be safe than sorry with this one (seriously), if you’re unsure, just leave it in.
Let whatever is not ready continue to cook for another 10 minutes, check again, then continue with what is still undone for another 15 minutes. At this point, remove all of the vegetables, return your chicken to the tray (if you’ve removed any pieces) skin-side-up, and crank your oven to 425ºF, letting the chicken cook for another 10-15 minutes (you want the skin to brown).
Remove all of your chicken from the pan, and pour the juices that have developed in the pan into a heat-safe measuring cup. Slowly add these juices to the spice mix until a thick paste has formed (you don’t want it to be water, but you want it to be smooth enough to spread).
Arrange your chicken on a platter, add the onions and garlic in the spaces in between, garnish with any remaining juice in the lemons, then coat each piece of chicken with the spice-paste
Enjoy!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid as much packaging as you can! This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you might be so lucky as to live near a market that sells herbs and spices in bulk (which is amazing), so if you have the opportunity, go for it!
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Many of these herbs and spices are fairly shelf stable (though not forever), but the chicken has a very finite shelf-life and should be consumer shortly after purchase, so don’t buy more than you’ll use!
For more information, check out our article on buying chickens whole.
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
Many of these spices are common household staples, and those that aren’t are incredible add’s to any spice pantry!
For our take on chicken, check out article on buying chickens whole.
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