The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement
Good Food logo

Cumin and lime roast chicken recipe

Adam Liaw
Adam Liaw

Advertisement
Adam Liaw's Tex-Mex cumin and lime roast chicken.
Adam Liaw's Tex-Mex cumin and lime roast chicken.William Meppem

Real Mexican food is fantastic, but don't write off its most famous spin-off. Tex Mex is a cuisine in its own right. Spices and herbs such as cumin and oregano became staples when Mexicans had access to a bigger American pantry. Slow roasting this chicken gives the spice flavours time to develop and produces a meltingly tender result.

Advertisement

Ingredients

  • 1.6kg whole free-range chicken

  • 1 tbsp salt

  • 75g unsalted butter

  • 1 tbsp ground cumin

  • 2 tsp ground coriander

  • 2 tsp smoked paprika

  • grated rind of 1 lime, rest of the fruit reserved

  • 1 tsp dried oregano

  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed

  • 2 large red onions, cut into eighths

  • handful coriander, to garnish

Method

  1. Rub the chicken inside and out with salt, then combine the butter, cumin, coriander, paprika, lime rind, oregano and garlic.

    Loosen the skin of the chicken from the breast and rub the butter onto the breasts, pulling the skin back over to cover.

    Push more butter between the skin of the thighs and the meat. Cut a deep slit into each drumstick and fill with the butter. Rub any remaining butter over the outside of the bird.

    Halve the lime and place the halves into the cavity with a couple of pieces of onion.

    Heat your oven to 120°C. Scatter the remaining onion over the base of a roasting pan. Place the chicken on top and roast for around 2½ hours.

    Increase the heat to 200°C for the final 10 minutes, then rest the chicken for a further 10 minutes, spooning any collected juices and oil over the bird after it is carved.

    Garnish with coriander, then serve.

    Suggestion: Serve with Adam's squased potatoes with avocado salsa

The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.

Sign up
Adam LiawAdam Liaw is a cookbook author and food writer, co-host of Good Food Kitchen and former MasterChef winner.

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement

Similar Recipes

More by Adam Liaw