Easiest way to dress up roast chicken? Glaze with apricot preserves!
You know the easiest way to make a simple roast chicken something worthy of fancy dinner party?
Glaze it in the last few minutes of roasting with a little melted apricot preserves. It will make you look like a master chef!
It’s an old trick, but a good one.
In this recipe we’re taking it even further with a Middle-Eastern inspired cumin cinnamon rub. We love these flavors in our Slow Cooker Chicken Rice Casserole recipe, and they work beautifully with the apricot glaze.
If you want to take full advantage of the flavor that the cumin cinnamon rub can provide, as soon as you get home from the market with your chicken, take it out of its wrapping and coat it all over with the rub. Then return it to your fridge until an hour or two before you are ready to cook it.
- Want to know how to prep this bird for the oven? Try our guide, How to Truss a Chicken!
Roast Chicken with Apricot Glaze Recipe
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour
- Marinate in Rub time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 4
We are using a whole chicken for this recipe. You can use parts if you want, bone-in skin on. Follow the instructions for our basic baked chicken for the roasting part, glazing with apricot preserves the last 5 to 10 minutes of cooking.
When cooking a whole chicken, remember to remove to giblets (liver, gizzards, neck) first. They’re often in a bag in the cavity. I fry up the liver in butter for a little snack and save the neck and gizzards for making stock.
Ingredients
Rub:
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Chicken:
- 1 4-pound (1.8 kg) whole chicken
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Apricot glaze:
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) apricot preserves
Method
1 Rub chicken with spices and let sit: Whisk together the cumin, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over the chicken. Loosely cover and let sit at least one hour, or preferably refrigerate overnight. In either case allow chicken to sit at room temperature for at least one hour (preferably two) before cooking.
2 Rub chicken with olive oil and roast in oven: Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the chicken in a roasting pan, breast-side up. Rub olive oil all over the chicken. Place in the middle rack of the oven and cook for 50 minutes at 375°F or until the internal temperature of the chicken thighs reaches 165°F.
3 Heat apricot preserves: While the chicken is roasting, heat the apricot preserves in a small saucepan or in the microwave until warm and runny.
4 Baste chicken with apricot preserves: Remove chicken from oven, and baste the exposed surfaces of the chicken all over with the apricot preserves, using a basting brush.
5 Increase oven temp and return chicken to oven: Increase the oven temperature to 400°F. Return the chicken to the oven and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, basting the chicken again with the glaze halfway through, until the glaze is bubbly and beginning to brown.
6 Let chicken rest: Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
