This colourful dish is low-effort and packed with flavour from the chicken – an easy winner certain to appease hungry guests
Diana Henry The Telegraph's award-winning cookery writer
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
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The work here isn’t just done by the oven but by the flavours you add to the chicken. This dish looks lovely too – vibrant. Good with roast sweet potatoes and a green salad on the side.
Requires 4 hours marinating time
Overview
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
40 mins
Serves
6
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1.7kg chicken, jointed
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp chipotle paste
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 3 garlic cloves, grated to a purée
- 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1½ tbsp soft light-brown sugar
- Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges of lime, to serve
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 10g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
For the peppers
- 2 red and 2 yellow peppers, deseeded and cut into slices 1cm thick (at the thickest part)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1½ tsp cumin seeds
- 1½ tsp ground paprika
Method
Step
Trim any excess skin from 1.7kg chicken (jointed) on the joints so they’re neat, but don’t trim too much as the skin will shrink while the chicken is cooking. Make incisions all over the fleshy side of the chicken with a small knife and put the joints in a dish.
Step
In a small bowl, mix together 1 tbsp ground cinnamon, 3 tbsp chipotle paste, 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard, 1 tbsp ground cumin, 3 grated garlic cloves, 2 tbsp sherry vinegar, 1½ tbsp soft light-brown sugar, juice of 1 lime and 2 tbsp olive oil.
Step
Season with salt and pepper, then pour the marinade all over the chicken, turning the pieces to ensure they are well coated. Cover the dish with cling film or foil and put it in the fridge. Leave for four hours, turning the pieces every so often.
Step
Heat the oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 6.
Step
Pick the chicken pieces out of the marinade and put them on a baking tray with a rim, or in a roasting tin (discard the marinade). The chicken needs to lie in a single layer, skin-side up, but there shouldn’t be a lot of room around each piece, otherwise the juices will run off and burn. Sprinkle a little salt over each piece.
Step
Put the chicken in the oven and cook for 40 minutes, spooning the juices up over the chicken now and then as it cooks.
Step
Meanwhile, slice 2 red and 2 yellow peppers into 1cm strips and put on to a baking tray with a rim where they can lie in a single layer.
Step
Add 2 tbsp olive oil, 1½ tsp cumin seeds and 1½ tsp ground paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Toss everything round with your hands.
Step
After the chicken has been cooking for 10 minutes, put the peppers in the oven and cook until they’re soft and slightly scorched.
Step
When it’s ready, put the chicken into a big, shallow serving bowl (preferably one you’ve heated) and add the peppers and their juices. Spoon some of the chicken cooking juices on top.
Step
Scatter on 10g roughly chopped coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges for squeezing.