Best 5 Achiote Roast Chicken Recipes

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Achiote roast chicken, a traditional dish from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, tantalizes taste buds with its vibrant reddish-orange hue and delectable flavors. The main ingredient, achiote paste, is crafted from annatto seeds, lending the dish its distinctive color and earthy, slightly peppery notes. This culinary gem is often prepared using a whole chicken marinated in achiote paste, spices, and citrus juices, then roasted until the skin becomes crispy and the meat succulent and tender. Served with a variety of accompaniments, such as pickled onions, black beans, and tortillas, achiote roast chicken embodies the essence of Mexican cuisine, offering a delightful and authentic dining experience.

Here are our top 5 tried and tested recipes!

ROAST ACHIOTE CITRUS CHICKEN



Roast Achiote Citrus Chicken image

Provided by Food Network

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 5

Achiote Citrus Marinade, recipe follows
1 (3-pound) roasting chicken, rinsed and patted dry
1 onion, peeled
1 head garlic
1 orange

Steps:

  • Rub the marinade all over the chicken, inside and out. Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Lift the chicken from the marinade and place on a work surface. Cut the onion, head of garlic and orange in half and stuff inside the chicken's cavity. Tie the legs together and place on a rack in a roasting pan, breast side down.
  • Roast 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and roast 20 minutes longer. Turn the chicken, breast side up, and bake 40 to 50 minutes longer, basting occasionally with the pan juices, until a drumstick feels loose when jiggled and the skin is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm with rice and beans.

ACHIOTE MARINATED BABY CHICKENS STUFFED WITH CHORIZO AND MUSTARD GREENS



Achiote Marinated Baby Chickens Stuffed with Chorizo and Mustard Greens image

Provided by Aarón Sánchez

Categories     main-dish

Time 9h25m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 14

1 package achiote paste
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon toasted cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
2 poussins or baby chickens
4 large links of hard dried Spanish chorizo
1 Spanish onion, diced
5 tablespoons garlic, chopped
1 bunch mustard greens, cleaned, trimmed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 baking potato, like russet, peeled, diced and blanched
2 tablespoons sliced green olives
Salt and pepper

Steps:

  • Combine in a food processor achiote paste, olive oil, cumin, coriander, oregano, and the 1-tablespoon of garlic. Make sure to puree all these ingredients until it becomes a paste. Rub the marinade inside the chicken cavities, underneath the skin, as well as, outside. Allow the chickens to marinade overnight, refrigerated.
  • Next day, heat up a large saute pan. Add chorizo and cook for 5 minutes, until crispy, then add the onion and 4 tablespoons of garlic, and cook for another 2 minutes. Add mustard greens and deglaze with chicken stock. Cook for 2 minutes until greens have wilted, then add potato, green olives, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Once the stuffing has cooled, distribute it equally into the chickens and place them on a sheet with a rack. Place in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 1 hour.

MEXICAN ROASTED OR BRAISED CHICKEN



Mexican Roasted or Braised Chicken image

This is loosely based on Rick Bayless' recipe for Cochinita Pibil (Achiote Pork) from his book Mexican Everyday. This is a whole braised chicken with a rich flavor with a bit of spice. Preparation is quick, and the chicken is beautiful, once it's done. For simplicity, you can simply cook it in a large 6-8 quart stew pot or dutch oven (I prefer the enameled, cast-iron type, but any heavy pot with a lid will do. I like to bake plantains or sweet potatoes to go with it, so I remove the pot from the oven at about 2 1/2 hours and put it on the stove on med-low heat to finish. You can also cook this in a slow cooker on low for 10-12 hours. I suggest wrapping the lid in foil, if it's loose, or there's a gap between the crock and the lid. The dish is actually braised, but this is what I always think of, when someone mentions roasted chicken. If you really like garlic, you can add an full head, then pull it apart, when the dish is finished. The garlic cloves will fall apart, and you can squeeze them out on the chicken, tortillas (good with a bit of butter or cheese), or you can spread them on crusty bread. You can find Achiote Molido (Annatto) in the Mexican foods' spice section of most good markets, or you can visit a Mexican or other Hispanic market. You can usually find it in inexpensive cellophane bags with other spices and dried chiles. You can also buy Comino Molido (ground cumin) and Mexican Oregano, there. Both are inexpensive and have great flavor. By the way, 'Zaar insists on 'chickens' in the ingredients, but you want one 5-6 pound bird.

Provided by Chef VP

Categories     Whole Chicken

Time 3h10m

Yield 6 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 9

5 -6 lbs young roasting chickens or 5 -6 lbs roasting chickens
2 ounces achiote, molido (Annatto)
1 -2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin (Comino Molido)
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup water (optional)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 -2 chiles de arbol (thin, dried chiles)

Steps:

  • Defrost the chicken, if necessary, and remove the neck, liver, giblets, and excess fat. Rinse if needed, then place in the pot. If you prefer a lower-fat version, you can remove the skin and most of the fat from the bird, but the flavor will suffer (you can always skim the fat from the cooking liquid, later).
  • Preheat the oven to 320°F.
  • In a small bowl, combine the achiote, comino (cumin), oregano, and lime juice, then use the back of a spoon to mash into a thick marinade or thin paste.
  • Place some of the marinade in the chicken and work it around inside, then pour the rest over the chicken and cover the skin.
  • If you are braising in the oven, you may need to add a 1/2 cup of water, depending on the type of bird. Try it the first time you make the recipe, and you can leave it out, later, if you don't want the additional liquid. You do NOT need to add the water, if you cook this in the a slow cooker.
  • If the lid for your pot has any holes, or there are any gaps between the lid and pan (or crock), cover the lid with foil so it seals tightly.
  • The chicken will need to cook 2 1/2-3 hours. Check the temperature at the thickest parts and remove when the chicken is done (approx 170, a bit lower, if you want to finish the chicken on the stove top). If you want to brighten up the dish a bit and restore a sour bite, add another 1/4 cup of lime juice a couple of minutes before serving.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 826.4, Fat 60, SaturatedFat 17.1, Cholesterol 276.2, Sodium 645.9, Carbohydrate 2.6, Fiber 0.2, Sugar 0.4, Protein 65.1

ACHIOTE ROAST CHICKEN



Achiote Roast Chicken image

Number Of Ingredients 10

FOR THE PASTE:
3 tablespoons achiote paste (about 2 ounces)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 to 5 pounds whole chicken

Steps:

  • TO MAKE THE PASTE: In a small bowl whisk together the paste ingredients. Remove and discard the neck, giblets, and any excess fat from the chicken. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Loosen the chicken skin gently with your fingers and spread some of the paste under the skin on the breast and legs (see REFERANCE & APPENDIX, _Boosting The Flavor Before You Grill). Brush the remaining paste over the outside of the skin and on the inside of the cavity. Tuck the wing tips behind the wing joints and tie the legs together. Place the chicken on a plate, cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours. Grill the chicken, breast side up, over Indirect Medium heat until the juices run clear and the internal temperature reaches 170°F in the breast and 180ºF in the thickest part of the thigh, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Check after 45 minutes if the chicken is browning too quickly, cover with a piece of aluminum foil and finish grilling. Transfer to a platter, loosely cover with foil, and allow to rest for about 10 minutes before carving. Serve warm.From Weber's Big Book of Grilling. Copyright © 2001 Weber-Stephen Products Co. All rights reserved. First published by Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco, California.

Nutrition Facts : Nutritional Facts Serves

YUCATáN CHICKEN WITH ACHIOTE



Yucatán Chicken with Achiote image

Categories     Chicken     Side     Marinate     Kosher

Yield makes 8 tacos

Number Of Ingredients 14

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano, toasted and ground
16 cloves garlic, dry-roasted (page 158)
1 or 2 habanero chiles, dry-roasted (page 154), stemmed, and seeded (use more chiles and/or leave seeds if want more heat)
2 teaspoons achiote paste (page 149)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon lemon-infused olive oil (page 162)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Lime or orange wedges
8 (5 1/2-inch) soft white corn tortillas (page 13), for serving
Garnish: Pickled red onions or orange or pineapple segments

Steps:

  • Cut the chicken into 1/2-inch-wide strips. In a large bowl, mix together the orange juice, oregano, garlic, chile, achiote paste, salt, pepper, allspice, and olive oil to make the marinade. Add the chicken strips to the mixture and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
  • To cook the chicken, remove the strips from the marinade and drain off any excess liquid. In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the chicken strips, turning once or twice, until thoroughly cooked (cut one to test), about 9 minutes total.
  • Remove from the heat, squeeze fresh lime juice over the strips, and serve immediately or keep warm in the pan until ready to serve.
  • To serve, lay the tortillas side by side, open face and overlapping on a platter. Divide the filling equally between the tortillas and top with salsa and pickled onions. Grab, fold, and eat right away. Or build your own taco: lay a tortilla, open face, in one hand. Spoon on some filling, top with salsa and pickled onions, fold, and eat right away.

Tips:

  • To achieve a crispy and flavorful skin, pat the chicken dry before seasoning and roasting.
  • Use a good quality achiote paste or powder to infuse the chicken with a vibrant color and earthy flavor.
  • Allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight, to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat.
  • Roast the chicken at a high temperature initially, then reduce the heat to finish cooking the chicken through without drying it out.
  • Baste the chicken with the marinade or melted butter during roasting to keep it moist and flavorful.
  • Serve the chicken with traditional Mexican sides such as rice, beans, and tortillas, or with a fresh salad and roasted vegetables.

Conclusion:

Achiote roast chicken is a delicious and flavorful dish that is perfect for any occasion. With its vibrant color and earthy flavor, this chicken is sure to be a hit with everyone at the table. Whether you are looking for a traditional Mexican meal or a unique and flavorful dish to serve at your next gathering, achiote roast chicken is a great choice.

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