For the greatest rub on this roast chicken, combine paprika, mint, and lemon. Under the foil, it roasts slowly and comes out so juicy and tasty. A complete meal is created when I toss baby carrots and diced potatoes in the bottom of the pan. Use ‘hot’ paprika in this recipe if you want it to be more spicy. Putting all the spices combined may seem like a lot of work, but it is SO worth it. Every week, my husband makes the request.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅜ teaspoon fennel seed, ground
- ¾ teaspoon sesame seeds, ground
- ⅛ teaspoon ground coriander
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound small red potatoes, quartered
- 2 cups baby carrots
- 2 small lemons
- 1 (4 pound) roasting chicken, rinsed and patted dry
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- For the spice mix: Mix together in a bowl the cloves, pepper, fennel, sesame seeds, coriander, cumin, allspice, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom. Set aside.
- For the spice paste: Place the paprika, lemon juice, the spice mix (from Step 2), salt, chopped mint, black pepper and garlic cloves in a blender. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and blend to until ingredients are mixed, about 6 or 8 pulses. Slowly add the additional olive oil if mixture seems too thick to spread. Blend just until mixture is a smooth paste.
- Spread potatoes and carrots in a roasting pan. Rub about 1/4 of the spice paste inside the cavity of the chicken. Rub the remainder of the paste on the outside of the chicken including the underside. Place the chicken directly on the carrots and potatoes. Pierce the 2 lemons all over with a fork, and place them into the chicken cavity.
- Tent the chicken with aluminum foil. Roast approximately 2 hours until the thickest part of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C) and the juices run clear. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.
- When I make the spice mix, I quadruple the ingredients listed above and store the remaining 3 tablespoons in an airtight container for 3 more chickens. With a larger batch, you can use whole spices: whole cloves, peppercorns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds and grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder. Saves work for the next time you make this spicy chicken!
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 789 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 194 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 65 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 1993 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 45 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Excellent dish, I toasted my spices and ground, picked fresh mint and spatchcocked my bird, turned the temp up to 400 and cooked for an hour and some change (165 degrees). My family left nothing but carcass and my son the anti-vegetable eater…had seconds of the potatoes, carrots, and onion! Hope you try this with your family!!
I make this recipe at least once a month and my family loves it. The chicken always ends up so tender and flavorful. I usually roast two chickens at once and put the extra meat in the freezer for easy soups later on!
Real good! I’d give it about 4.5 stars, if possible. My only problem was that the chicken didn’t produce enough juice to cook the vegetables fully. The carrots were a little too firm (and dry) after 2 hours of cooking. The chicken is very juicy however. Next time I’d probably put a little broth in the bottom and mix some of the rub into it. I used dry mint flakes and I used regular paprika but added some red pepper to the spices. Was a bit more generous with the spices than the recipe suggested and it paid off in a very complex and delicious taste.
I made this for company who had a family emergency and had to cancel. I had the spices already in the bird. Two days later they were able to come, and the bird waited in the fridge the whole time. It was amazing! I always prep it ahead now to get that wonderful flavor.
Good flavor from the spices; not good enough to make again.
Flavorful combination of spices & easy to make. I made a large batch of the dry spices & used 1T of the blend to add to the paste. Not a ‘hot’ spicy flavor or as strong as I had expected. The lemon helped keep the chicken juicy. The vegetables didn’t brown or absorb the flavor as much as I had expected, however the family really enjoyed it. Will definitely make it again.
I baked it at 375 for an hour and 15 min. We loved it! Such great flavor with a crispy skin. I will definately make it again.
Made this recipe on a lark. It was amazing! We didn’t have the cardamon on hand, but the recipe still turned out delicious. It was very much worth the prep involved. As recommended, we threw in potatoes and carrots, as well as mushrooms. The seasoning was perfect for those additions also.
This recipe is awesome
It was ok. I have other roasting recipes that I like better.
I was quite disappointed in this. Although the spice mixture smelled good, it didn’t transfer to the chicken. DH ate the dark meat and liked it but the breast meat didn’t pick up much if any of the spice paste. Perhaps if I had spread the paste under the skin as another reviewer suggested that would have helped. The lemon in the cavity did infuse the breast with lemon flavor but that completely overwhelmed any flavor from the spice paste. All in all too much work for too little flavor.
Made as written. Served it for a Sunday dinner. I was told multiple times how good dinner was. This is a keeper. I used drippings and white wine which made a wonderful tasting gravy.
This was very good. The chicken was juicy and tender. However we had to cook longer than the recipe stated to get the chicked cooked all the way through. I also think that this would be better made with butter and a dry spice rub.
When I moved away from my favorite Moroccan restaurant (Ali Baba in Newark, DE), I longed for the taste of their wonderful spicy roast chicken. This recipe is as close as it gets. Moist, tender, flavorful. My mouth is watering just thinking about making it for company next week.
I did this with skin on bone in thighs and it turned out great!
Second time making this. I love it. i plan on making this once a week till we get tired of it. i brine the chicken overnight using the “savory brine” recipe so I skip the salt in the rub. I’m giving this recipe 4 stars because 1/8 teaspoon measurements for a whole chicken really bugged me. i rounded the spices to 1/4 teaspoons or whole teaspoons. I don’t like how i have to mess up my grinder and blender just to get a chicken in the oven but it is worth it. The first time we cooked it for longer on a lower heat and that was delicious. I might try this rub with boneless chicken breasts.
this was very good.. i just mixed everything together and used it as a marinade for 4 chicken quarters.. only difference was using dried mint, garlic powder for fresh, and a little less salt 2 tsp.. we put this on the grill and loved the results.. i’m sure the potato/carrot mixture would have tasted awesome underneath.. ty for the recipe
I did it on the BBQ at low heat 275′ for 1 hour 15 mins. I doubled to herbs and loaded it on to the bird with a brush every 15 mins. Was amazing!
I used fat free yogurt to make the spice paste, but did everything else according to recipe. We very much enjoyed this moist flavorful chicken with a very predominate lemon flavor. If I made again I would cut back on the juice to let the other flavor out a bit more
Made this the other day – delicious, thank you! Served it with roast fennel, sweet potato, butternutsquash, peppers, garlic & shallots and cous cous with sultanas, apricots, toasted almonds and fresh mint and coriander (cilantro)mmmmmmm…..!
I loved it. The flavors were a wonderful balance; nothing overpowered. The lemon added a refreshing accent to the mixture of spices. I thought the chicken would be hot spicey, but not at all.