Chicken Baked With Orange Spiced Harissa Sauce

Submitted by Harley Quinn

"A spicy Moroccan chicken dish using Harissa, which is a local spice blend. Found on Astray recipes, posted for ZWT4"

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1⁄4 cup harissa
• 1⁄2 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1⁄4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 lbs chicken

directions

1. Combine all ingredients except chicken to make a smooth sauce. Thin with orange juice if needed.
2. Separate skin from chicken breast being careful not to cut the skin. Place some of the sauce between breast skin and breast.
3. Cover chicken with the remainder of the sauce and marinate 3-4 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Bake chicken in a 350ø F oven for two hours until done basting frequently with sauce. Cover chicken with aluminum foil if chicken browns too soon.

Reviews

[zeldaz51]

This is a very good marinade, but we will be making some alterations next time we make it, and we WILL make it again! We would like some salt and a more assertive amount of cinnamon in it, but the harissa and orange is what makes it delicious. We have some extra marinade to try on some fish later in the week. It's not too spicy, so give it a try, you'll like it! We had it with a Moroccan couscous salad and Recipe #493013.

 

[Jamilahs_Kitchen]

I knew I'd love this before I made it as I love harissa. I like using orange juice in my marinate and this was perfect. I used boneless chicken thighs and grilled up the chicken and then baked them in the rest of the leftover marinade for a little while to finish cooking. Wonderful recipe. Next time I will try it with legs and baked in the oven. Thank you. Made for Ramadan Tag 2010

 

[Bonnie G #2]

Oh My, did the house smell great while this was cooking. An unusual blend of flavors with the Harissa used your recipe #310254 Pretty simple and clear directions. I used thighs as that's my favorite and loved the idea of putting the flavor under the skin. The skin baked up lovely and crisp and was enjoyed by all. Served with recipe #295075 and made for a great dinner. Thanks HQ for an unusual and delicious (sp!) dinner that all enjoyed. Made for PAC Fall 08

 

[RonaNZ]

I loved this recipe. The orange and cinnamon make it special. I jointed a whole chicken since my local supermarket insist on selling chicken breast without the skin. I like the idea of putting the sauce under the skin. It gets so much more flavour into the chicken and also the skin protects the chicken during cooking - which was just as well since I burnt it! I would have loved to have posted a photo but I had to remove the skin. The "gravy" was delicious too. I added it to cous cous so that none of the flavour was wasted. I used you recipe for the sauce, Recipe #310254.

 

[LilKiwiChicken]

I had taken out bone in chicken thighs and made this at the last minute (so it only marinated for about an hour). I think that it did need a little more citrus to balance out the spiciness of the harissa - mine was homemade. Still lovely though and was enjoyed by everyone, thanks for posting.