Description
Invite the sun to your table with this Caribbean baked chicken from the French West Indies! Marinating the chicken overnight in a mixture of spices, lime juice, chilies, herbs and onions, will give you the most succulent and flavorful meat ever.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Caribbean baked chicken:
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 green chilies, deseeded
- 5 spring onions, root ends trimmed then quartered
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 8 parsley sprigs, leaves only
- 3 limes, zested and juiced
- 2 tsp ground allspice
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 chicken (mine was 1.7kg / 3.7lb but any weight is fine)
- 30g butter (2 tbsp), diced and softened to room temperature
For the sauce: (optional: to accompany the chicken)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 green chili, deseeded
- 5 spring onions, root ends trimmed
- 12 sprigs of parsley, leaves only
- 2 limes, juiced
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp ground allspice
Instructions
For the Caribbean baked chicken:
- Marinate. Place all the ingredients for the Caribbean baked chicken (except for the chicken and butter) into a blender or food processor. Purée until smooth. Put the chicken into a tray or a deep plate. Thoroughly cover the chicken with this mixture (I wear gloves because of the chilies). Loosely cover the chicken with aluminum foil. Place the tray or plate in the fridge and leave the chicken to marinate overnight.
- Prepare the chicken before roasting. Remove the chicken from the fridge an hour before cooking if possible to bring it to room temperature. Preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F), or 165°C (330°F) if you’re using a convection oven, 15 min before baking. Brush off as much of the green mixture as possible but don’t discard it. Pour it into a sieve placed over a bowl. Stuff the chicken with the paste left in the sieve but keep the liquid in the bowl for later on. Put the chicken into a roasting pan breast-side up. Spread the butter over the outside of the chicken. Season the chicken generously with additional salt and black pepper. Pour the marinade liquid from the bowl into the tray.
- Into the oven, it goes! To calculate the cooking time, allow 1h per kilo (1h per 2.2 lb). For example, my 1.7kg / 3.7lb chicken would take 1 hour and 42 minutes in total. To test whether the chicken is cooked, insert a knife where the thigh joins the breast. If the juice is pink instead of clear, put the chicken back in the oven and check for the color again every 10 min or so. When it’s cooked remove the chicken from the oven, and place it onto a cutting board. Let the Caribbean baked chicken rest for 10 to 15 min before carving. Serve with white rice and the sauce chien if desired.
For the sauce chien:
- Make the sauce while the chicken is cooking. Finely dice the garlic cloves, chili, spring onions, and parsley. If you can’t be bothered, blitz everything for just a few seconds in a food processor (it should not turn into a paste, but you should still spot pieces). Put into a serving bowl and stir in the lime juice, vegetable oil and allspice. Pour just enough just-boiled water to cover everything up and to make the sauce ‘spoonable’ (I used 60ml/ ¼ cup). Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Notes
Caribbean baked chicken will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 pieces
- Calories: 671
Keywords: flavorful roast chicken, french west indies recipes, overnight marinated chicken