The 10 best roast chicken recipe in South Africa

There is something about roast chicken that has everyone longing for more. Luckily, the internet is awash with roast chicken recipes. Do not get too excited though because not all of these recipes are 100% legit. This either should not be a reason for you to despair. This piece seeks to address your chicken roast recipe concerns and improve your cooking experience. Next weekend, you will not have to worry about what and how to cook because these 10 best roast chicken recipes will have you covered.

When roasting chicken, only two qualities matter at the end of it all. One is a crispy skin, and two is the juicy, delicious meat. Luckily, South Africa has some of the best cooks in the world with Siba Mtongana leading the queue with her ingenious recipes. Let us dive straight into the 10 best roast chicken recipes in South Africa.

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10 best roast chicken recipes

How long do chickens take to cook? How long does it take to cook a 2.5 kg of chicken? How long will it take to roast a 2 kg chicken? These are some of the questions most people struggle with. However, depending on the recipe, you will find several answers to these questions.

So, here are 10 roasted chicken recipes that will make you lick your fingers.

1. Old school roast chicken

This is one of the most used chicken recipes South Africa. Old school roast chicken is simple and straight forward. It provides a clear guide on how to prepare roast chicken recipe pieces.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg free-range chicken
• 2 lemons
• 1 big rosemary sprig
• 1 onion, sliced into quarters
• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• Olive oil
• Milled pepper and salt

Method

1. Sponge both the inside and the outside of the bird with a clean damp cloth.
2. Squash the lemon and smear the juice on the cavity of the bird. Season it properly.
3. Fill the bird up with onion, garlic, and rosemary.
4. Put the bird on top of the rack of a heating pan.
5. Squash the remaining lemon juice on top of the meat and rub it with olive oil as you season.
6. After all the seasoning, place it in a preheated oven at around 200 °C and roast it for 1 to 1.5 hours.
7. During roasting, you will have to baste the meat once or twice. You should be very keen on the breast area because there is where the lean meat lies, and thus dries out quickly.
8. Once it is cooked, remove the meat from the oven and cover it with a paper foil. Let the meat rest for a minimum of 15 minutes before serving it out.
9. Serve the meat with baby roast potatoes alongside steamed vegetables and mixed salad.

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2. Roast chicken with preserved lemon and cumin butter

Ingredients

• 1 big PnP free-range chicken (it should be around 1.5 kg)
• 80 g PnP softened butter
• 40 g PnP thinly sliced salad onions
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 Tbs well chopped, preserved lemon peel (pulp discarded)
• 1 tsp ground paprika
• 2 tbs PnP chopped coriander
• 1 pinch of ground pepper and salt
• A handful of fresh sprigs thyme
• 1 PnP sliced onion
• 1 lemon cut into wedges

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180ºC before putting in your bird.
2. Using your fingers, make the skin on the thighs and breast of the bird loose. Run your fingers gently from the neck flaps as you move lower to the thighs.
3. Make a paste by mixing butter ingredients and spice it up.
4. Smear the butter in between the meat and skin in a consistent manner, both under the skin and on the thighs and over the breast.
5. Spice the meat and fill in the cavity with lemon, thyme, and onion.
6. Put the rest of the lemon and onion on a roasting surface and put the meat on top of it.
7. Roast the meat for 1 hour 30 minutes or until it is thoroughly cooked and the drumsticks can be pulled away easily.
8. Let the meat rest for a minimum of 15 minutes before you can serve it.

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3. Roast chicken stuffed with feta, lemon, garlic and rosemary

Rosemary and lemon give the meat an appealing taste. This recipe will give you better memories many days after eating it.

Ingredients

• 1 fully grown free-range chicken, well washed and rinsed dry
• 100 g crumbled feta cheese
• 2 spring chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 2 Tbs olive oil. You can also use olive oil with Parmesan
• Black pepper and freshly ground salt
• Additional olive oil
• 1 kg bag of mixed chunk roasting greens

Method

1. Heat your oven up to 200°C.
2. Cut the bird along the backbone and stretch it apart to butterfly it. The breast side should be up and then flatten it by applying pressure on it using your feast.
3. Carefully, loosen the skin of the bird meat - the wings, breast, thighs and legs. You have to ensure that the skin does not tear.
4. Put the chicken on top of a roasting rack. Sprinkle additional extra oil and massage it gently on the skin as you season the meat with pepper and salt.
5. Roast the meat for about 20 minutes.
6. Spice the vegetables and dip them in olive oil and align them around the bird.
7. Roast the meat for 50 more minutes. You can remove it from the oven when the bird becomes golden brown and the vegetables become tender.
8. Serve the meat with salad.

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4. Indo-Moroccan spiced roast chicken

This recipe will have you licking your fingers. It might not be the easiest to prepare, but it surely will be the easiest to clear a plate clean.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg of whole free-range chicken
• 3 Tbs of ras el hanout spice
• 3 Tbs of medium masala
• 2 Tbs of NoMu Moroccan Rub
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tsp of fresh garlic and ginger or paste
• 1 lemon, split in half
• 2 Tbs of butter or ghee
• 50 ml of olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 300 grams of pineapple wedges
• 100 grams of white-skinned or blanched almonds

Method

1. Heat the oven to a temperature of 180°C.
2. Put all the spices in one bowl and mix. Then, mix the garlic paste, ginger, lemon juice, ghee and salt properly. Use your hands to mix the spices as you will need them when spreading the mixture on your meat.
3. Loosen the skin of the chicken by sliding your fingers under the skin. Spread the paste all over the meat, including under the skin and on the cavities. Ensure that the paste has been spread evenly across the chicken.
4. Put both halves of the lemon into the cavity. Gently, pour the oil on the meat. Put enough oil, and do it wisely as you will not need to add any more liquid to the meat. You also want the chicken to become golden brown evenly.
5. Let it roast for approximately 35 minutes and then turn it.
6. You will know that the meat has been cooked when you pierce it with a skewer between the thigh and bone, and then you will see the juice running clear.
7. In the last 40 minutes of cooking, add your pineapple chops and allow them to mix with the juices in the pan. After 20 minutes, turn the pineapple slices and increase the heat up to 200°C. Also, add the almonds as you turn your meat. Finally, coat the chicken with the seasoned oil that you have prepared earlier.
8. Serve the meat with rice and tomato salad.

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5. Sticky chicken winglets

This is a recipe by Siba Mtongana. Follow it to the end, and you will not be disappointed. It is a simple way to get roasted chicken pieces with minimum effort.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray or oil for greasing the tin
• 250 ml or 1 cup of smoky barbecue sauce
• 250 ml or 1 cup of sweet chilli sauce
• 4 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 20 pieces of chicken winglets
• 4 finely diced spring onions, (for serving)
• Micro cilantro (for serving)
• Limes wedges (for squeezing)

Method

1. Heat your oven up to 200°C and grease the roasting tin with cooking spray.
2. Mix the barbecue sauce, soy sauce, black pepper and chilli sauce together in a big bowl. Put in the chicken and mix it nicely until it has been coated fully.
3. Put the mixture into the roasting tin that was prepared earlier and spread it into one consistent layer.
4. Bake the mixture until it turns golden brown. This should take between 15 to 20 minutes. Put the meat into a serving plate and apply the lime wedges, cilantro, and onions on it.

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6. Whole roasted chicken

This is a simple roasted chicken recipe that can be prepared in under 90 minutes until serving.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of white sugar
• ⅛ tsp of ground cloves
• ⅛ tsp of ground allspice
• ⅛ tsp of ground nutmeg
• ⅛ tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1 whole chicken (1.8 kg)
• 5 crushed cloves of garlic

Method

1. Mix the salt, cloves, sugar, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Smear the mixture on the chicken. Completely cover the chicken meat and refrigerate it for 24 hours.
2. Heat the oven to 260°C.
3. Fill the bird cavity with garlic. Put the bird, with its breast facing down, on a rack on the roasting pan.
4. In the preheated oven, roast the meat for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 230°C and continue roasting the meat for 15 more minutes. Pour the pan drippings on the meat and reduce the heat to 220°C and proceed roasting the meat for 30 more minutes until the meat gets an internal temperature of 85°C.
5. Allow the meat to rest for 20 minutes and then serve it.

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7. Basic roast chicken

If you are still new to the chicken roasting game, this recipe will make your time more fun. It is easy to understand and apply.

Ingredient

• 1.6 kg whole chicken
• 1 lemon sliced into two halves
• 2 tsp olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven until it gets to 220°C.
2. Grease the roasting pan just a little bit and put a wire rack into the roasting pan.
3. Cut off the excess fat and the neck from the bird and put it aside.
4. Wash and rinse the bird plus its cavity using cold running water.
5. Using paper towels, dry the meat.
6. Spice the cavity with pepper and salt.
7. Slowly squeeze the juice out of one-half of the lemon as you apply the lemon juice gently onto the skin.
8. Put both lemon halves into the chicken cavity and tie the chicken legs together using a kitchen string.
9. Apply oil on both sides of the bird using a brush. Spice the whole chicken with pepper and salt.
10. Put the bird, with its breast facing up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Roast the chicken for about an hour or until you see clear running juice when the thighs of the bird are pierced with a skewer.
11. Remove the bird from the oven and cover it using paper foil. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
12. Serve it with roasted veggies and pan juices.

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8. Portuguese-style oven roasted chicken pieces

For a taste of Portuguese-style roasted chicken, try this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 huge (2kg) chicken. It should be cut into 6 or 8 parts
• 1 long fresh, seeded, well sliced red chilli
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp roughly sliced fresh oregano
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup or 60ml of lemon juice
• 2 tsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 2 red onions that are sliced into wedges
• 500g of washed potatoes, sliced into two halves along its length
• Lemon wedges (to serve)
• Mixed salad leaves (to serve)

Method

1. Preheat the oven up to 200°C. Put the chicken in an oven proof baking dish or a big roasting pan.
2. Mix the garlic, chilli, oregano, paprika, thyme, sugar, oil, and lemon juice, into a small bowl and mix it. Spice it up with pepper and salt.
3. Smear evenly on top of the pieces of the bird until it is coating is consistent across the pieces.
4. Put the potatoes and onions around the chicken meat.
5. Bake or cook in the preheated oven as you turn periodically for three-quarters of an hour until it becomes golden brown and well cooked.
6. Place it into a serving plate and serve as soon as possible with mixed salads and lemon wedges.

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9. Roast chicken with soy and plums

There is always a new way to roast your chicken. The big question is, are you ready to try out the next recipe? If yes, here is one that you should try the next time you are with friends.

Ingredients

• 1 full chicken
• 2 onions, sliced into wedges
• 5 ml honey
• 50 ml soy sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 6 ripe plums sliced into two halves and pitted

Ingredients for the couscous

• 450 ml chicken stock
• 5 ml cinnamon
• 5 ml ground coriander
• 200 ml couscous
• 1 packet of baby spinach leaves

Method

1. Grease the roasting pan as you fill the chicken cavity with half an onion. Put the chicken on the greased pan. Add the rest of the onion wedges onto the pan.
2. Mix the garlic, soy, and honey together. Smear well over the meat. Turn the bird breast facing down and roast it in a preheated oven for a period of thirty minutes.
3. Turn the bird for a second time and put in plums. Continue roasting the meat until it is fully cooked.

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Method to prepare the couscous

1. Heat the stock in a pan and add coriander and cinnamon.
2. Add the couscous and mix well.
3. Turn off the heat and add spinach leaves as you close it with a lid.
4. Let it rest for at least five minutes and then stir. Spice it up to taste.

10. Simple roast chicken

This final recipe is best suited for bachelors. It is as simple as ABC and as tasty as roasted chicken can get.

Ingredients

• 1.8 kg of chicken
• 2 smashed garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 50g softened butter
• 1 lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven up to 220°C.
2. Put the bird in a huge roasting tin and fill it with bay leaves and garlic in the cavity.
3. Smear the outer part of the bird with butter as you squeeze lemon juice over the chicken.
4. Put 2 lemon halves into the inside of the bird. Spice the inside and outside of the chicken, and then cook it. It should take you a minimum of 20 minutes to cook.
5. Reduce the heat of the oven to 190°C and cook for 45 more minutes. Pierce the thighs of the bird with a skewer or knife. If a clear chicken juice comes out, the bird is ready to be eaten.
6. Give it 15 minutes to rest before serving.

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Whether you are looking for chicken breast recipes South Africa or roast chicken recipe in general, this list will have all your needs. These are some of the best recipes that you can prepare over the weekend for your friends and create good memories. You can also prepare some of these recipes on a daily basis for your family and have them enjoy the best of the roasted chicken recipe.

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Source: Briefly News