This Mexican Chicken is a great dish to serve alongside my Homemade Mexican Rice, Grilled Mexican Street Corn, and Horchata! There is something about a whole roasted chicken that is so comforting and satisfying. A good whole roasted chicken is one of those skills that every home cook needs up their sleeves. If you have never roasted a whole chicken before, it’s much easier than you might think and a really versatile method of preparation since you can use the same technique and just switch out the herbs and spices for a whole different flavor profile for your chicken! I chose to use spices that are typically found in Mexican cooking when roasting this chicken, which is why I’m calling it a Whole Roasted Mexican Chicken. While I can’t make any claims to authenticity or allude to this being a method of preparation commonly used South-of-the-Border, I can certainly attest to it’s deliciousness! Roasting in the oven is one of my favorite methods of preparing foods. If you haven’t already tried my Slow Roasted Oven BBQ Beef Brisket, it’s one of my favorite roasted main dishes, and my Oven Roasted Asparagus with Garlic, Parmesan & Lemon is one of the most popular recipes on this blog. Roasting brings out the natural juices and flavors in meat and allows them to develop slowly. And it does amazing things to most vegetables too! The onions, peppers and carrots in this one pan meal almost seem to caramelize as their natural sweetness is brought out through the roasting process. Plus, while most of the meal is roasting in the oven, you can be cleaning up so that by the time dinner is ready, your kitchen is clean too! Or making some Mexican Rice to go along with your meat and vegetables. Speaking of cleaning, one of my favorite kitchen tools is a mesh cleaner that I use for cleaning my cast iron pans like the one I roasted this chicken in. It looks like a square of chainmail from the middle ages and it is perfect for cleaning pots and pans! If your chicken is slightly larger, adjust the temperature accordingly. It’s one of the reasons why I prefer to use a digital meat thermometer (affiliate link) to check the doneness of my chicken when roasting it in the oven. Just make sure that the internal temperature of the thigh part of the chicken is 160°F and that the chicken juices are running clear and your chicken will be roasted to perfection! Let the chicken rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving it so that the juices can redistribute.
One Pan Whole Roasted Mexican Chicken with Peppers, Onions & Carrots
Achiote (or Annatto) Powder
One of the spices I’m using here might be less familiar to some readers, but it’s called Achiote (or Annatto) powder (the names are used interchangeably). It’s a dark reddish-orange powder that is common in many Latin American dishes and I can usually find it in the Hispanic aisle at my grocery store. But if you have a hard time locating it there, you might try a local Mexican or Latin American market or just order it online here. Achiote gives that nice reddish color to the skin of the chicken and adds an earthy sort of flavor that’s hard to describe. You could probably replace the achiote with paprika in half the amount called for, since paprika has a stronger flavor, but I haven’t personally tried that and think achiote is likely more of an authentic flavoring, which is why I like to use it.
Cook Once, Eat Twice
Honestly, I almost always roast two chickens at the same time if I have room in my oven so we can eat one one night and I can take all the meat off the second chicken and use it for enchiladas or pasta or some other dish the second night! It takes all of 2 extra minutes to double the amount of vegetables and spices to make two chickens at once, so why not, right? I hope you give this One Pan Whole Roasted Mexican Chicken with Vegetables a try soon! If you do, I would love to hear what you think!
More Easy Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
Slow Cooker Applesauce Pulled Chicken Sandwiches Chicken Spaghetti Casserole Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Skewers Smoky Chicken Tinga Tacos Best Chicken Salad Recipe Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken Thighs The BEST Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe Chicken Madeira Creamy Apple Cider Chicken Skillet Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Rice Casserole
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