Roast Chicken With Apricots and Olives Recipe (2024)

Will the marinade be heated up long enough to deal with the raw chicken juices in it, if it’s just under the broiler for a few minutes?

The cooking time of the chicken only adds up to 28-30 minutes(excluding shallots). Can this be right?

This recipe is delicious but unnecessarily complicated. I don’t understand why the wine is left out of the marinade and only added at the end nor do I see the need to cook the shallots on a bottom rack before adding the chicken and moving to the top rack. I just threw all the ingredients together in the marinade and then baked it all together. I baked at a lower temp (400) for 45 minutes, then increased the temp to 450 for the last 15 minutes for browning. It came out perfect and saucy.

I am lazy, I guess, but I would simplify steps. After cooking the shallots separately, I'd just put all the other ingredients including marinade, in the pan, mix them around, and roast, turning them (especially the chicken), several times, so it browns--rather than basting it repeatedly. This is what I do when I cook chicken with oranges and honey, for example, and turning it when roasting at 400 cooks it nicely and caramelizes things. And I won't worry about those raw chicken juices then.

Where does one get sumac? I know that's a tree.

This was very tasty. Substituted sliced Meyer lemon for sliced lemon. The sauce didn't thicken during the broiling. Once the broiling was done, I removed everything but the liquid from the sheet pan, poured the liquid off, and reduced it a little on the stovetop before serving.

Reminder. Bone-in chicken can profit from a lot of salt in the marinade, so don’t scant out some qualm about sodium. Almost shockingly salty marinade yields the most flavorful roasted chicken.

This was an excellent Passover dish that will certainly be on repeat in our house. A super option instead of brisket. We loved the tangy marinade, and the apricots/olives balance each other out with that sweet and salty mix. The shallots get soft and silky as you cook them. I opted to add the wine to the marinade and cook all of it at 400 for 45 minutes, then blasted under the broiler for the last few so the chicken had perfect, golden, crispy skin. Loved it!

Best guess is that the marinade "cooks" the chicken to some extent and, therefore, a relatively short cooking time for the chicken is possible. Note: 450 is a really hot oven, and the instructions do specify "until chicken juices run clear". When the marinade is added to create the sauce, it's going to start cooking even before it goes into the oven as the pan and chicken are quite hot.

I had a whole chicken which I spatchco*cked. I put the slits in it and put some of the slivered garlic in them. I rubbed it with some of the sumac and salt and pepper. I made the marinade with everything else and poured it over the chicken in a roasting pan. I let it marinate in the refrigerator for several hours. When it was time to cook the seder that evening, I stuck it in the oven with everything else at 400 and cooked it about 1 hour. It was delicious.

Hi Anne- Yes, absolutely- it should be boiling under the broiler as it thickens.

Great recipe. Made for my wife and I using just 4 skin on, bone in chicken thighs but everything else unchanged. Excellent sauce over rice and those caramelized by the broiler lemon slices were delicious. A real keeper.

This was tasty but apparently SUMAC is in the CASHEW family ... made this for my sister who has a bad nut allergy. Be careful with new recipes

Hi Amy- It is- it is almost done before the broiling step. If you want to be certain, use an instant read thermometer to be sure it is at 165 degrees.

I made this recipe as written and it was decent. If I make it again, I will double the marinade and add more salt and herbs as I think it needed more flavor. I also had to lengthen the cooking time quite a bit to cook the chicken through, but to be fair my chicken pieces were quite large. The sauce, even though there wasn’t a ton of it, did not thicken in the oven, so it would need to be transferred to the stove top or left in the oven after removing the chicken in order to thicken.

For the large bone-in chicken breasts (~350 g each) this was not enough cooking time. My high broiler was too hot and too close at the end and started burning the chicken skin, shallots and apricots. I would recommend cooking for 25 min and then basting (if there is enough juice). Then cook for another 15 min and check with instant read thermometer to read between 150-160. Then I would add marinade with wine (I agree the wine can be added to marinade right away). Broil for 5 minutes on lower rac

Does anyone have a favorite wine pairing with this? Thanks in advance!

Amazing, had it with Passover. Whole family gave it five stars.

This worked fine with wine in marinade,shallots cooked with chicken not before, cooked at 400 x 40’, then 450 x 15’. I used only 1.5 Tbs. of sumac and still thought there was too much.

Sumac can be bought at a Middle Eastern market. I prefer dried prunes and less honey for a more savory flavor, but I understand the sweetness is meant for the sweet life the Jews will have leaving Egypt.

Good taste, but let's give credit where credit is due...this is a riff on (or rip off of?) the Silver Palate's classic chicken marbella .

This was delicious. I streamlined a bit due to my timeframe. I marinated the chicken with all ingredients for an hour, then transferred to 400 degree oven and baked until done. Shallots were cooked in the sauce. It seemed overly complicated to try to cook the marinade separately, and this way the marinade was definitely cooked. The chicken browned easily. I basted it a couple of times with the marinade. I would make this again.

Excellent. A big hit. Marinated in ziplock bag overnight. Used double layer of parchment paper so cleanup was a breeze

I forgot to add the wine. Was still great. Will use twice as many apricots next time. They were ridiculously delicious. A terrific, easy dinner.

All 3 generations of our family liked this a lot at our seder, and my husband said it was the best chicken he's ever had, even in a restaurant. It was moist and flavorful. I followed the recipe exactly and marinated it overnight. The sheet pan was fairly crowded with pieces of chicken but it cooked perfectly, perhaps because I used boneless, skinless chicken

Bake 400 40 min then raise temp to brown. Add wine to marinade. Don’t keep marinade separate. Cut olives in half.

I should have followed the comments about the longer and slower cooking times. Everything was quite dark before broiling and then adding the marinade and its subsequent vigorous bubbling was the final straw for the smoke detector. The dish wasn't burnt and still tasted good even though everything was darker than ideal. But the drama of running around and having to throw open all the windows and doors detracted a bit from the eating experience.

Made with a cut-up chicken slightly more than 4lb and had to cook a touch longer than the suggested time but it came out beautifully. I wasn't able to start marinating until the morning of cooking and the 7ish hours were enough for a nice bright flavor. Also, I saw the notes and was a little skeptical about the marinade being cooked sufficiently, but it was definitely boiling when I took it out from under the broiler. Can't wait to break this dish out for a special occasion.

This dish was delicious…….but, the chicken needed longer in the first phase, perhaps another 15’.

This recipe was very tasty and relatively easy. (No need to sear the chicken pieces in a separate pan before baking.) I would caution about the oven temp being too high at 450 degrees. My apricots burned black pretty early on. I suggest making sure they are nestled in the juice, not set atop any chicken pieces. I don't know if my oven may run a little hot, but I suggest being watchful that the dish doesn't burn on top.