Here's an amazing roast chicken recipe from chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Chicken thighs are spiced with za'atar and sumac, tossed with onions, lemons and garlic, and roasted. This is a great dinner party recipe because you can do all the prep ahead. The chicken is tender and juicy and the flavors are fantastically delicious!
The Perfect Dinner Party Recipe
How to make Ottolenghi's Roast Chicken
This is an overview of the recipe - for full details and directions, scroll down the the recipe card at the bottom of this post
- Slice two red onions and one lemon. Throw them into a big bowl.
- Add all the other ingredients: Chicken thighs, spices, olive oil and two crushed garlic cloves
- Toss the chicken with all the marinade ingredients. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for at least three hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/200ºC. Transfer the chicken and all the marinade ingredients to a baking pan large enough to hold all the chicken pieces without overlapping.
- Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through.
- Turn the oven up to broil/grill for the last few minutes of cooking, until the chicken skin is crisp and golden brown.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and toasted pine nuts. You can toast them up while the chicken is roasting.
- Instead of chicken quarters I used only thighs, just a personal preference.
- I omitted allspice from my recipe (Ottolenghi uses 1½ teaspoons). I tried it with and without and found the allspice too dominant. I prefer to let wonderful flavors of sumac and za'atar shine through.
- Also, I discovered that roasting the chicken in a deep roasting pan resulted in juicier chicken and more delicious gravy vs roasting it in a shallow rimmed baking sheet.
- The skin doesn't brown as much in the deeper pan but If you're set on crispy skin, simply turn on the broiler/grill for the last few minutes of cooking time until the skin is crisp and brown to your liking.
Ottolenghi has been one of my chef-heroes for years. When I lived in London, his home city, I found myself wanting to cook his beautiful Middle Eastern recipes more than ever. I brought very few cookbooks with me overseas but my entire Ottolenghi cookbook collection made the cut.
This roast chicken recipe comes from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook - his first cookbook and one of my favorites.
If you are an Ottolenghi fan, don't miss these other delicious Ottolenghi recipes on Panning The Globe:
- Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup by Ottolenghi
- Ottolenghi's Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts
- Ottolenghi's Turkey Zucchini Meatballs with Lemony Yogurt Sauce
- Ottolenghi's Turkey Corn Meatballs with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Ottolenghi's Lentil Salad with Herbs and Feta
If you try this Ottolenghi roast chicken recipe I hope you come back to leave a rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!
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Ottolenghi's Roast Chicken with Za'atar and Sumac
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Delicious roast chicken thighs recipe with wonderful Middle Eastern flavors. An excellent dinner party recipe that can be prepped ahead of time and is worthy of a special occasion.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs with skin and bones, trimmed of excess fat and loose skin
- 2 red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
- 5 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 tablespoons za'atar plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon sumac
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
- ⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted (see directions below)
- ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
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Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix chicken, onions, lemon, garlic, 4 tablespoons olive oil, spices, broth, salt, and pepper. Marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200ºC. Transfer chicken and its marinade to a shallow baking pan large enough to hold all the chicken pieces lying flat with a little space between pieces. Chicken should be skin side up. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked through. If you want the skin more browned, turn oven up to broil/grill for the last few minutes of cooking, checking every minute or so until the skin is as crisp and brown as you like it. (Be very careful not to burn it)
- While the chicken roasts, toast the pine nuts. Line a plate with a double layer of paper towels. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add pine nuts and cook, stirring constantly, until they turn golden. Transfer to paper-towel-lined plate to absorb oil.
- To Serve, transfer chicken, onions and lemons to a serving platter. Pour pan juices over the chicken pieces. Sprinkle chicken with extra za'atar (if you like), chopped parsley and toasted pine nuts. See notes for suggested side dishes.
Notes
- What to serve with Ottolenghi's roast chicken: I recommend some kind of starch to help soak up the delicious juices - rice or potatoes, and a leafy salad with citrus vinaigrette. I love serving this chicken with these rustic mashed red-skin potatoes or this dish of roasted cauliflower and potatoes with kalamata olive vinaigrette and this Tricolore salad or this green salad.
- Nutrition Disclaimer: We do our best to provide accurate nutrition values using an online nutrition calculator however our nutrition information should only be used as an approximation.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
This post was originally published in December of 2017. Since then I've had lots of requests for side dish suggestions, so I've updated the post and added my recommendations to the recipe card. I also reworded some of the recipe instructions to make them easier to follow. Same delicious recipe!
Hi,
I was wondering what we do with the ground cinnamon?
Thanks,
Hi Karen,
I apologize if the recipe is unclear. Include the cinnamon in the marinade with all the other ingredients - everything goes into one big bowl to marinate except the toppings.
Hiya
CaN you share which spices to add? I see 5spice mentioned and zags rand sumac. Any others?
Thanks,
Debbie
Could you brown the thighs in a pan prior to roasting, rather than broil them afterwards?
Hi Donna, yes, I think that's a great idea!
This sounds lovely. If I wanted to turn these into skewers (for a larger crowd), do you think it would still work? Chicken thigh skewers?
Yes I do! Are you planning to cook these on the grill? I think this recipe would work very well with boneless, skinless chicken thighs marinated for a few hours and then skewered and cooked on the grill. Be sure to grill the onions and lemon slices too - they'll be delicious and look nice on a platter. Maybe you can grill them in a vegetable basket? Let me know how it turns out!
Have made this many times. Fantastic!
An Ottolenghi recipe that doesn't have 7 pages of ingredients from 45 countries? Count me in. This is some awesome chicken.
I mostly like chicken pan fried southern style or barbecued on the grill. However, I can eat chicken prepared this way and with yogurt rice all the time. My new favorite chicken. Thanks for the cooking ideas.
I intend to prepare this recipe for my friends on Saturday night. What would you recommend as a side dish?
Thanks for sharing. I think the idea of the chicken tights is amazing! 🙂
I've served it with this recipe for roasted potatoes, cauliflower and chickpeas https://www.panningtheglobe.com/roasted-cauliflower-potatoes-chickpeas-kalamata-olive-vinaigrette/ You could also serve it with simple mashed potatoes or rice and a green salad - that would be perfect! I also love it with this carrot salad on the side https://www.panningtheglobe.com/moroccan-raw-carrot-salad/ I hope you enjoy!!
This is a wonderful recipe, very easy to make! My family and guests loved it! Thank you for posting it!
Great! I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe. I love making this dish for company too - so easy and always a crowd pleaser. Thanks for your comment!
nutritional info would be really helpful
Thanks Amy. Very good suggestion. In fact I'm in the process of providing nutritional information for all of my recipes and since you asked, I decided to start with this recipe. Check the recipe and I hope you will find all the nutritional information you're looking for. Please let me know if there is anything more you'd like included.
Delicious!! I will definitely make this again,
That's great news! So glad you enjoyed xx
I want it all! Looks soooo good!
Just made this tonight. So good!
Hi Lisa,This recipe is so beautiful and delicious!I just made it today. Thanks.
Thanks Aria - I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the chicken. Happy New Year!
Great recipe. Made this last night (one-half recipe) and it turned out perfectly. The directions are easy to follow and the taste was delicious. This would make a great week day meal - just be sure to do the marinade before going to work in the morning!
I agree! This would be a great week day meal. I'm glad you enjoyed. Thanks so much for coming back to leave a note!
Sounds delicious, Lisa, and definitely on my to-try list.
One concern: Za'atar already contains sumac. So I would have thought adding more might make the dish too citrusy. I'll try it your way first, but still......
Za'atar does nor contain Sumak. Sumak is a red spice with an aromatic citrus quality.