Hot Clementine Sumac Roast Chicken
This Hot Clementine Sumac Roast Chicken is my new go to. I’m so delighted by all of the flavors of the chicken paired with the sweet potatoes and parsnips. It is pretty much my most exciting creation of this round of Whole30 for me. Trust me, this is going to be your new favorite roast chicken.
What I love about this recipe is how easy it is to prep. It’s the kind of dish that tastes way more elaborate than it is, and that is because of the great combination of Sumac and citrus. If you haven’t had sumac, now is the time to run and get it! I love getting mine from the local Middle Eastern Store in Chicago.
Sumac is one of my staple spices. While I use Smoked Paprika in a recipe like the Grapefruit Chicken, here I recommend avoiding it because you really want to let the sumac shine. Once you have it, you are going to want it on everything. I love it on my eggs in the morning.
If you make this dish, be sure to rate and review it to let me know what you think! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below. And if you want to follow along, head to Instagram and Pinterest for more inspiration!
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Hot Clementine Sumac Roast Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 70 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon Sumac
- 1 teaspoon hot paprika*, or more if desired
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ¾ cup juice from fresh clementines, approximately 5-6 clementines (reserving 6 juiced halves for stuffing the chicken)
- 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil, divided
- 1 whole chicken (about 4-5 pounds)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 pounds of vegetables (we used parsnips, sweet potatoes, and Japanese sweet potatoes), cut into 1/3-inch rounds
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons salt, Sumac, hot paprika, and oregano and stir until combined. In another small bowl, stir together the clementine juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside.
Place the chicken, breast side up on a baking sheet and coat evenly inside and out with 1 tablespoon olive oil, or a bit more if needed. Sprinkle the spice blend on both sides of the chicken and rub it all in well so that the chicken is coated with spices and oil inside and out. Cover the chicken and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
When ready to cook the chicken, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the chicken on it.
In a medium bowl, combine the vegetables with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, tossing to coat. If you want to do more vegetables, use a second tray. Distribute the vegetables evenly around the chicken on the baking sheet. Using the reserved juiced clementine halves, fold and stuff into the chicken.
Cook the chicken for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and baste and with the olive oil and citrus juice mixture. Then continue cooking, basting every 20 minutes. Cooking time is about 20 minutes a pound, so a 5 pound chicken should take about 1 hour and 40 minutes. If chicken starts to get too brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil.
Notes
If you want your vegetables crispier, cut them into 1/4 inch pieces.
If you can’t find hot paprika, use cayenne. This is NOT a time to used smoked paprika.
Something important to know is that whenever you are roasting a chicken, place the breast side up (spine side down), no need to flip it in in the middle of cooking, unless a recipe you are using says other wise.
This recipe works great with different kinds of citrus. You can try tangerines, Ruby Red Grapefruit, or Satsuma or your favorite citrus fruit. Just use the same amount of juice that the recipe calls for and save half of the juiced fruit to stuff in the chicken.
I am 1000% making this with the whole chicken I get in my next Butcher Box order!! It looks incredible!! Thank you for all of your amazing recipes, Teri. <3
Its so good .. please come back and rate and review ?
Making this now. So excited to taste, sound delicious, and fancy. Do I cook the veggies the whole 2 hours? ( I have a 6 pound chicken). Seems like too long.
Thanks!
thanks for asking… You’re going to basically do the chicken in about 20 minutes per pound. After 45 minutes… Baste every 20 minutes and just pull out the vegetables when they’re done
This is a huge winner. So good that it’s going in my recipe box. I made this recipe using satsumas off the vine. After a Whole30 month I was a bit tired of chicken but intrigued by cooking with SUMAC which I’ve never done before. Per the recipe, I used parsnips and sweet potatoes. Followed the directions except used more olive oil to toss my veggies and sprinkled a bit more SUMAC on the chicken breast just before putting in the oven because I loved the smell of this spice so much!
This dish was incredibly flavorful. And the veggies were an explosion of sweet and tart due to sitting in the basting sauce. I prepared jasmine rice since I wasn’t on Whole30 anymore. It was the perfect, simple side with the chicken and veggies. Just simply amazing flavor!
thanks so much ??????i love it too
WOW! Made this tonight and it’s the best roast chicken I’ve ever made. And it was so easy. I followed the directions exactly as written and I wouldn’t change a thing. The flavor of the chicken was delicious, and something amazing happens to the potatoes once you start basting. Can’t wait to make this again and bring over to my mom- she’ll be so impressed 🙂
Oh my gosh… I feel the same. I was so delighted when I made this and it’s kind of thing I want to eat every day. I love with that juice does to the potatoes also… Be sure to rate the recipe
Oops forgot to enter my rating – definitely 5 stars!
Perfect… You are a rockstar
I just made this sumac chicken tonight for dinner and it was so good!!! I used organic (peeled) potatoes, (unpeeled) carrots and (unpeeled) yams. I sliced the yams and potatoes into 1/3 inch rounds, as described in the recipe, and the carrots halved lengthwise and cut into 2 1/2 inch pieces. The juices from the chicken penetrated the veggies and gave them a delicious flavor! I substituted cayenne pepper for the hot paprika and it was the perfect amount of spicy!! I used a whole 5 lb chicken and cooked 20 minutes per pound as Teri recommended, which would have amounted to 1 hr and 40 minutes. When I cut into the chicken, it was pink inside so I cooked for an additional 20 minutes and it was perfect (total cooking time: 2 hours). Next time I will add more sumac—maybe 1 1/2 or 2 tablespoons instead of 1 because I wanted a brighter color on the chicken. Lastly, I substituted navel oranges for the clementines since my grocery store didn’t have any. I imagine the clementines would have given the chicken a stronger orange flavor! Next time I’ll use tangerines! Thank you Teri—your recipes are phenomenal and I can always count on you for a delicious meal!! ??
thanks so much for this lovely message. Cayenne is a perfect substitution. I do think that having tangerines or clementines make it really next level. 20 minutes per pound is usually good but it completely depends on the oven… So glad you loved it as much as I do and yes to more sumac.If you haven’t rated the recipe please do
This sounds amazing and I want to make it! My husband does not love overly spicy or hot dishes. I also don’t have hot paprika so will be using cayenne. How much should I use so that it is only mildly hot?
So good and so easy! I’m definitely making this again!!!
This recipe. What is there to say? Make it. Share it. Tell your friends and family. I had never made a whole chicken and found this so easy and so much tastier than the rotisserie chickens from the store (we’ve all bought them, don’t judge me). I think one of the most surprising parts was how amazing the veggies turned out. They truly soaked up the jus and the basting liquid that ran off the chicken and it became something I had never experienced. Make sure to pay close attention to cutting the veggies as directed as to not cut them too thin. The citrus. The sumac. It’s amazing.
It’s a new recipe and I’m so proud of it. I need it on a weekend but I was feeling a lot of food fatigue and I decided to let that all go and just make something in the kitchen for myself and I was so excited about the outcome. I’m working on a different version of this as a chopped salad and I’ll keep you posted
Made this tonight and loved it!! The bright citrus and the bite of the cayenne (I didn’t have hot paprika) were perfect!! Adding this to the roast chicken rotation!
i’m so delighted. Creating a wonderful new cobb salad with this profile so look for that
Tremendously delicious recipe! Have made 5 times since it was released!
Thanks so much… It’s a favorite for me also. This week I’m gonna be talking about how this recipe came to be and I’m gonna be sharing it on Friday favorites
Yet another AMAZING recipe from Teri!!!! Truly, every single thing I have made from her blog, instagram, pinterest AND cookbook has been phenomenal. The hot clementine roast chicken is no exception. This recipe is very simple to make. The only substitution I made was to use cayenne as I didn’t have hot paprika. I’ll definitely get it to try next time around. I followed her 20 minute per pound rule, which cooked my 3 lb chicken to perfection in 60 minutes. The clementine juice basting really does something magical to the veggies. I did add a little sumac to te veggies when I tossed them with the salt and pepper….because why not? Fantastic. This is a million star recipe!!
Thank you so much… I love all the positive encouragement and it is a fabulous recipe… If you haven’t rated the recipe please do??????
So darn good!!! Incredibly moist with a slightly spicy citrus flavor! Kept thinking that this would make an amazingly different Thanksgiving turkey if you lived in a warmer climate as the juice would make a yummy citrus gravy. The veggies were to die for – no potatoes here for us so used daikon radish, carrots, broccoli rabe (which got super crispy), and red onion. The store was out of hot paprika so used cayenne – but will grab it when I see it for next time. Also, did not have parchment paper so just used an old cookie sheet and the juice was perfect. Did a 5lb chicken and was the perfect amount of time. Bravo!
I’m so delighted… I would be so happy if you would also write the recipe
Oops… I meant to say I would be thrilled if you would rate the recipe
I thought I rated the recipe in my last comments. 5++++ stars.
Winner winner!
This was a refreshing change of pace from our usual Ina Garten recipe which cooks at 425. I was unsure of the low cooking temp, as we do love our crispy skin in this house. But the bird turned out perfectly tender and the skin was far from soggy, which we were all quite happy about. I am Persian and already had sumac in my pantry, which was convenient. This was my first time using it outside of traditional Persian cooking, and I was delighted by the new combo of flavors! Also really amazed by the hint of orange that permeated the meat. I hadn’t expected that and it was lovely. As others have said, the veggies were delicious. I made a salad of spinach, arugula, parsley, currants, pistachios, and your marinated onions and it was the perfect compliment! Thank you for making this new round of whole 30 so exciting and delicious for us.
thank you so much… This makes me so happy. Definitely check the heroine chicken In the whole30 citrus chicken stirfry not to mention Italian wedding soup
For those of us that live in the Chicago area- where do you love to get your spices? Thanks for a great recipe- as always!
There’s a Marvelous a Middle Eastern store and bakery on Foster Street. You can Google to find it and it’s amazing
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I randomly came across your page the other day and this recipe was calling my name. I had Sumac on hand so it was a no-brainer. I have never cooked a whole chicken before, and now I don’t know why I never did before. This was 100x better than any store bought rotisserie chicken. I followed as written, but I will probably reduce the salt to just the 1 tablespoon the next time. We just planted a clementine tree and Now I’ll always have some on hand when I make this again.
This is absolutely delicious! I have made it 4 times since the recipe came out. I have always been a fan or Heroine & Grapefruit Chicken, but this, this is my new favorite!! You’ve out done yourself, Teri.
I always take my hand and loosen up the skin from the meat a little bit, then shove some of the rub all over the meat- this makes it next level.
fantastic ??????hope u also rate it ?
Love your ideas…
Great recipe! Thank you!
I’ve made this many time and it is over the moon delicious!
so yummy
Terri, I have made several of your recipes and have loved every single one. This one is amazing, definitely a “make again”. I did substitute cayenne for the paprika as I was out and it was the perfect blend of citrus and spicy. Thank you for bringing wonderful additions to my family meals.
It is delicious! Juicy and soft, falls of the bone. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
Going to make this tonight!
I had my butcher spatchcocked the chicken already, would that affect the cooking time at all?
Thank you!
Yes, it should take about an hour and ten minutes for a spatchcock chicken but make sure to baste a lot at the end.
Sooo good! Another home run! We love making the heroine chicken but I knew I had to try this when I could finally find some ground sumac…it did not disappoint!