Roast Chicken With Apricots and Olives

Will the marinade be heated up long enough to deal with the raw chicken juices in it, if it’s just under the broiler for a few minutes?

The cooking time of the chicken only adds up to 28-30 minutes(excluding shallots). Can this be right?

This recipe is delicious but unnecessarily complicated. I don’t understand why the wine is left out of the marinade and only added at the end nor do I see the need to cook the shallots on a bottom rack before adding the chicken and moving to the top rack. I just threw all the ingredients together in the marinade and then baked it all together. I baked at a lower temp (400) for 45 minutes, then increased the temp to 450 for the last 15 minutes for browning. It came out perfect and saucy.

I am lazy, I guess, but I would simplify steps. After cooking the shallots separately, I'd just put all the other ingredients including marinade, in the pan, mix them around, and roast, turning them (especially the chicken), several times, so it browns--rather than basting it repeatedly. This is what I do when I cook chicken with oranges and honey, for example, and turning it when roasting at 400 cooks it nicely and caramelizes things. And I won't worry about those raw chicken juices then.

Where does one get sumac? I know that's a tree.

This was very tasty. Substituted sliced Meyer lemon for sliced lemon. The sauce didn't thicken during the broiling. Once the broiling was done, I removed everything but the liquid from the sheet pan, poured the liquid off, and reduced it a little on the stovetop before serving.

Reminder. Bone-in chicken can profit from a lot of salt in the marinade, so don’t scant out some qualm about sodium. Almost shockingly salty marinade yields the most flavorful roasted chicken.

This was an excellent Passover dish that will certainly be on repeat in our house. A super option instead of brisket. We loved the tangy marinade, and the apricots/olives balance each other out with that sweet and salty mix. The shallots get soft and silky as you cook them. I opted to add the wine to the marinade and cook all of it at 400 for 45 minutes, then blasted under the broiler for the last few so the chicken had perfect, golden, crispy skin. Loved it!

I had a whole chicken which I spatchcocked. I put the slits in it and put some of the slivered garlic in them. I rubbed it with some of the sumac and salt and pepper. I made the marinade with everything else and poured it over the chicken in a roasting pan. I let it marinate in the refrigerator for several hours. When it was time to cook the seder that evening, I stuck it in the oven with everything else at 400 and cooked it about 1 hour. It was delicious.

Best guess is that the marinade "cooks" the chicken to some extent and, therefore, a relatively short cooking time for the chicken is possible. Note: 450 is a really hot oven, and the instructions do specify "until chicken juices run clear". When the marinade is added to create the sauce, it's going to start cooking even before it goes into the oven as the pan and chicken are quite hot.

Hi Anne- Yes, absolutely- it should be boiling under the broiler as it thickens.

Great recipe. Made for my wife and I using just 4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs but everything else unchanged. Excellent sauce over rice and those caramelized by the broiler lemon slices were delicious. A real keeper.

I made this recipe as written and it was decent. If I make it again, I will double the marinade and add more salt and herbs as I think it needed more flavor. I also had to lengthen the cooking time quite a bit to cook the chicken through, but to be fair my chicken pieces were quite large. The sauce, even though there wasn’t a ton of it, did not thicken in the oven, so it would need to be transferred to the stove top or left in the oven after removing the chicken in order to thicken.

Hi Amy- It is- it is almost done before the broiling step. If you want to be certain, use an instant read thermometer to be sure it is at 165 degrees.

The sumac used is ground from the berries of a Mid-Eastern shrub that isn't poisonous. It's available in many spice stores and is one of the main ingredients of Za'taar. Vitamin C gives sumac berries their signature tart, slightly astringent, lemony flavor.