Sweet & Spicy Roast Chicken with Carrots, Dates & Pistachios
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This sheet-pan roast chicken dinner is the perfect no-fuss dish for company. Everything can be prepared and assembled a day in advance, so all that’s left to do at dinnertime is pop it in the oven.
Don’t you just love discovering new “keeper” recipes? The first time I made Melissa Clark’s fabulous sweet and spicy roast chicken recipe from The New York Times, I knew it’d be a family favorite for years to come. The chicken is immersed in a honey, citrus, and chili-infused marinade, and then roasted on a sheet pan with carrots and dates.
Before serving, herbs, scallions, and pistachios are added for freshness, color, and crunch. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also the perfect no-fuss dish for company. Everything can be prepared and assembled a day in advance, so all that’s left to do at dinnertime is pop it in the oven. Serve with couscous and a green vegetable and dinner is done!
Table of Contents
“I told the family I would clear up after dinner so I could have a quiet moment alone with the leftovers. Such a delicious dish!”
What You’ll Need To Make Sweet & Spicy Roast Chicken
The original recipe is wonderful as printed but, as with any recipe, each time I’ve made it, I’ve tweaked it to suit my style and my family’s taste. What follows is the version I make today.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by making the marinade: whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, orange juice, olive oil, mustard, honey, red pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, and salt.
Place the chicken, carrots, onions, and dates in a large sealable plastic bag. Add the marinade and seal shut. Massage to make sure everything is evenly coated with the marinade, then marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Transfer all ingredients from the bag, including the marinade, to a rimmed sheet pan. Turn the chicken skin side up.
Roast until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes. Turn on broiler (leave pan on middle rack), and cook a few minutes more, or until the skin is golden brown and crispy. Watch very carefully: the honey in the marinade can cause the skin to burn quickly!
Transfer the chicken, carrots, onions and dates onto a platter, along with the sauce in the pan. Sprinkle the parsley, scallions and pistachio nuts over top and serve.
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Sweet & Spicy Roast Chicken with Carrots, Dates & Pistachios
This sheet-pan roast chicken dinner is the perfect no-fuss dish for company. Everything can be prepared and assembled a day in advance, so all that’s left to do at dinnertime is pop it in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from 1 large lemon
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, from 2 oranges
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- 6 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 2½ teaspoons salt
- 4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks and breasts)
- 3 cups ¼-inch sliced carrots
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 cup thinly sliced dried dates
- 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, for garnish
- 2 scallions, light and dark green parts, thinly sliced, for garnish
- ¼ cup chopped salted pistachios, for garnish
Instructions
- Make the marinade: In a medium bowl whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, orange juice, olive oil, mustard, honey, red pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, and salt.
- Place the chicken, carrots, onions, and dates in a large sealable plastic bag. Add the marinade and seal shut. Massage to make sure everything is evenly coated with the marinade. Place the bag on a rimmed sheet pan to protect against leakage and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- Transfer all ingredients from the bag, including the marinade, to a rimmed sheet pan (do not line the pan with foil). Turn the chicken skin side up. Roast until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes. About halfway through cooking, stir the carrots so that they don’t burn around the edges of the pan.
- Turn on broiler (leave pan on middle rack), and cook 1 to 3 minutes more, or until skin is golden brown and crispy. Watch carefully: the honey in the marinade can cause the skin to burn quickly.
- Transfer the chicken, carrots, onions and dates onto a platter, along with the sauce in the pan. Sprinkle the parsley, scallions and pistachio nuts over top and serve.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 1,022
- Fat: 62g
- Saturated fat: 15g
- Carbohydrates: 59g
- Sugar: 49g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 60g
- Sodium: 1306mg
- Cholesterol: 227mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Hi. I have this marinating in the fridge for tomorrow night, but was wondering if I could cook it in an 11×9 baking dish. If so, would you recommend I adjust the time or temp?
Hi Shannon, I’m concerned that you won’t be able to fit everything in the baking dish. (I use the sheet pan b/c it’s roomier.)
By far one of my favorite OUAC recipes! It’s so colorful so it makes for a great presentation and is absolutely delicious. Always a crowd-pleaser. Great fall dish especially! Highly recommend.
Why do you say not to line the pan with foil? If it is because of food sticking? If that is the case do you know there is now nonstick aluminum foil?
I’ve found in this recipe that the chicken tends to stick to the foil, I think because of the honey. Feel free to use nonstick foil here.
The chicken was delicious! But most of the carrots, dates & onions burnt to a crisp. Used a metal sheet pan & followed recipe exactly. I’m going to be making it for Passover so I’d like to get it right.
Sorry you had a problem with this! Did you use a dark metal baking sheet? Anything in contact with dark metal can cause it to cook more quickly.
Thank you for that info. Would parchment work on a dark pan?
Unfortunately, I don’t think it would help as a dark pan is still absorbing more heat than a light one. Sorry!
Hi Jenn! I am going to make this delicious dish for Passover. I have seven guests coming for dinner. The recipe services 4-6. For seven guests would you suggest doubling it? I know this may be a dumb question but let me know what you think. Thank you so much!
Not a dumb question at all! I’d suggest making 1.5 times the recipe (you may end up with some leftovers). Hope everyone enjoys!
Thank you so much! Can you recommend a good recipe calculator to get the exact measurements for making 1.5 times the recipe? Also, since I have you (I am starstruck, btw!), I am doing more of a Sephardic dinner for Passover this year and I think I am going to serve rice with the chicken. Would you recommend white or brown rice with this dish? Or even quinoa?
And would you recommend a North African rice dish with fruit/nuts or would you keep it simple with white or brown rice given the ingredients in the recipe? (i.e. dates, carrots, pistachios, etc.)
Hi Carolyn, another reader suggested a tool for scaling recipes — it’s called AnyList (https://www.anylist.com/complete). I took a peek at it, and it appears that there are a lot of free options but if you want to scale a recipe, that’s an option you need to pay for. (Keep in mind that I haven’t tried it myself.) If you Google it, you may find free options online as well. And personally, I’d go with either brown or white rice, but quinoa would work nicely too. I think I’d skip the North African rice as it will compete with the other components in the chicken dish. Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! I appreciate your time and insight!
Just tried this dish and it was a big hit. I reduced the honey by 1 Tbsp. and used Aleppo pepper for the spice. Served with Israeli couscous and roasted broccoli. Delicious meal. Thank you for a delicious, easy and impressive meal.
I just went to prep the dates for this meal and discovered that they’re all very old and bad. Are there any other fruits (dried or fresh) that I could use to as a substitute for the dates?
Hi Andrea, Do you have any dried apricots? I think those would work well.
Ooh I’ll try it out, thank you!!
Hi Jen. I have regular mustard or spicy brown mustard in my fridge. Which would be the better substitute?
Hi Tess, I’d go with the spicy brown. Enjoy!
I followed the recipe, but I used boneless chicken breasts. I added some additional vegetables. It smelled really good, but didn’t turn out how I had hoped. Were using boneless breasts a bad idea? Or how should I have modified it for boneless chicken breasts?
Unfortunately, boneless breasts are not a great option for this one so I suspect that’s what the problem was.
WOW ! I’ve been saying WOW each time I’ve made one of your recipes. This one is no exception. I can’t wait to make this again for guests.