PERUVIAN ROASTED CHICKEN – To make this Peruvian chicken, a whole chicken is rubbed all over with a thick, spicy garlic paste and baked with thick-cut sweet peppers, onions and ears of corn.
The paste is made of oil and vinegar, lots of sweet paprika, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper plus five big fat cloves of minced garlic.
The paste forms a crusty, super flavorful coating over the chicken skin that is so outrageously delicious it will make you call home. It puts the lickin’ in finger lickin’ good.
I know it looks burnt but it doesn’t taste that way!
There’s something extra special about a whole roasted chicken. The way it makes your entire house smell is second only to baking bread. Or brownies.
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It’s that very same aroma that drives you crazy so that when the chicken is finally done you can’t help but tear at it, ripping off little pieces of salty, crackly hot skin that just about burns your fingers off. I kind of live for that.
If you’ve done it right the chicken should be tender, succulent and juicy. I highly recommend using a meat thermometer and it really helps to rest the bird for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Ten is better.
All chickens should be Peruvian roasted. My new favorite.
PERUVIAN ROASTED CHICKEN
Ingredients
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons olive or canola oil plus more for greasing pan
- 1 + 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 + 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 large yellow onions thickly sliced
- 2 bell peppers cut into chunks (I used 1 red and 1 green)
- 1 whole chicken about 4 pounds (I like Bell & Evans)
- 1 lemon sliced
- 3 ears of fresh corn shucked
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 4oo°F. Grease a large roasting pan.
- In a small bowl mix the oil, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, vinegar and oil together to make a paste.
- Put the peppers and onions in the roasting pan and add a tablespoon of the paste, toss well. Move them to the sides of the pan, a few on the bottom are ok.
- Check the cavity of the chicken and clean it out - the neck/innards might be there in a bag - just discard. Place the chicken in the pan and cover it all over with the remaining paste. Shove a few of the lemon slices into the cavity of the chicken and nestle the rest into the vegetables.
- Wrap the corn in aluminum foil.
- Bake about 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast registers 175 to 180 degrees F. Baste the chicken with the juices off the bottom of the pan halfway through. If the skin gets too dark for your liking just place a piece of aluminum foil over the top.
- About 45 minutes into the cooking time put the corn in the oven.
- Let the chicken rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition