Can I just say this is spectacular. There I said it. Not only is this Cherry Roasted Honey Chicken super easy, comes to your plate in an hour, but the aroma and flavors here are incredible. Fresh cherries, honey, balsamic vinegar and turmeric are just a few of the ingredients that make this marinade double as a glaze.
What’s great about roasting chicken is the skin bathes the chicken as it cooks, rendering and basting with natural fats and adding so much flavor. Marinate that same chicken first, and you have one amazing finished dish.
Sweet and tart cherries are in season and I’m taking full advantage with making desserts like these Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies, slicing them into fruit salads, baking up Cranberry Cherry Pecan Scones and dishes like today’s post.
I’ve got a house guest coming soon and I’ve been working on all sorts of good things lately trying to get a few recipe ideas to come to fruition and taste test this week. I want to be able to have some free time and leave myself open to do whatever we choose as it’s her first visit here to San Diego. Tour guide time!
Cherries cold from the refrigerator, in salads, baked into goodies and added to savory dishes make me happy. The flavor works so well with herbs like thyme and basil, two of my favorites.
This chicken dish starts with a quick marinade that as the chicken roasts becomes a wonderful, aromatic glaze that is absolutely delicious. I wanted a punch of flavor here and felt the orange concentrate and cherries would provide the tart and the honey and balsamic vinegar would provide a sweet note with healthy turmeric in the mix for taste and color.
The chicken gets a quick salt and pepper rub and then the marinade is poured over before roasting. I like to keep things simple when I can and some steamed rice and a salad would do nicely with this Cherry Roasted Honey Chicken.
I kept the marinade chunky and didn’t purée it so it would stick to and crisp up on top of each chicken thigh while roasting. If rendered chicken skin isn’t your thing, remove after you roast this. Keep it on to keep the chicken moist while roasting, this is key!
All those delicious fruity and savory flavors get absorbed into the chicken, trust me.
The honey and cherry marinade thicken as this roasts and gets all sticky on top, so good! Enjoy!
Cherry Roasted Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- 6 in bone chicken thighs
- 2 cups pitted cherries
- 1/2 cup red onion diced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat over to 350°F.
- Place the cherries, red onion, orange juice concentrate, homey, vinegar, turmeric, garlic and fresh thyme leaves in a blender or food processor. Pulse several times. Keep this slightly chunky, not completely puréed. Set aside.
- Rinse and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. Generously salt and pepper on all sides. Add to marinade and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Pour a third of the marinade on the bottom of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or in greased baking dish. Smear to cover bottom and add the chicken, skin side up. Pour remaining marinade over chicken and roast 35 to 45 minutes until deep golden brown. If it gets too brown before cooked, cover loosely with foil and return to the oven. Internal temp should be 165°F. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
This is seriously creative, Kevin! We’re so behind you season-wise – our sour cherries won’t be ripe here for at least a month, but I’m SO making this the second they’re ready.
Thanks Marissa, I LOVE cherries and try to find new ways to get them in certain dishes unexpectedly. They blended with the other spices and created a wonderfully flavored sauce where one ingredient didn’t out shine the others. Quite tasty. Have a great day!
You had one lucky house guest! This dish looks so flavoursome and delicious. When I have visitors coming to London I love to create menus for them and to take them around London. Would love to visit San Diego one day.
Thank you Miriam! I’d happily take you around San Diego if you ever visit. Please email if you do.
Thigh is my favourite cut from a chicken and I’m so pleased you used it with the bone still intact. So much more flavour! And I love to gnaw on the bone, as well. Fantastic idea to use cherries in the marinade/cooking sauce. Delicious!
So often one can find them boneless and skinless, it seems a pity to me! People are missing out on all that flavor. Thanks John.
Your house guest is going to be so spoiled with your good cooking, the chicken sounds and looks delicious.
Thanks Karen, we had a great visit with lots of eating, laughing, a little working, eating and more fun. 🙂
Oh wow, this is spectacular chicken, Kevin!! Feels weird even calling it chicken, because it’s so much more than that! The cherry honey marinade and sauce sounds ah-maze-balls! So much yum going on here!! Hope you have a great time with your house guests buddy!! Cheers!
Thanks Chey,I love when the skin gets all crispy, too. I actually pulled it off all of these after roasting and pan seared to make chicken crackling. The concentrated flavors were outstanding. So glad cherries and all the seasonal fruit is starting to hit the markets. As for my house guest, we had so much fun, although the time went so quickly.
You temperate-climate people and your freakishly early spring are driving me out of my mind! We won’t have fresh local cherries in Chicago for at least a month and a half! And this looks so delicious. I have to wait until July to give it a try!
Thanks Jeff! I wish I could ship you out some cherries, a month and a half is a darn long time to wait friend. OR, you guys could always come out for a visit and I could should you around. 🙂
You’re in San Diego, right? We’ve been there many times. Next time, we’ll be sure to look you up!
Please do, we’d be happy to take you around… we could eat our way around town.
I adore fruity and spicy marinades that double as a sauce too and this is one heck of an awesome example! Simply drooling at the combo of fresh cherries, honey, oj concentrate, balsamic vinegar, and turmeric, roasted and reduced down with juicy chicken things! Your houseguest is in for a treat – gosh, she might not wanna leave!!
Thanks Shashi, it was quite the tasty meal. As for my house guest we had so much fun cooking, baking and shopping with San Diego touring adventures thrown in the mix, too. Good times. 🙂
Hey Kevin! Between Nagi’s chicken post today and this one I am in serious chicken mode! And no naked chicken for me, crispy chicken skin is the best! 🙂
I so agree with you Dorothy! It was great hearing your voice and talking the other day while Nagi was here. If that chicken skin is super rendered and crispy I’m all over it, but I usually remove it before eating just to be good.
What an interesting combination, Kevin! Who would have thought to put cherries with chicken ? Obviously, you did 😉 And glad you did! Plus, I love vinegar…I put in on/in so many things, including soups and chili so this is sounding and looking delicious to me. I’ve been really loving chicken thighs lately, too. So much more moist than chicken breasts. I usually take the skin off, though, just to save a few calories. Pinned, of course. Have a great weekend ! We have a long weekend coming up, the unofficial start to the Summer, so totally looking forward to… Read more »
If that skin is super rendered and crispy I’m all over it, but I usually remove it before eating as well, too. It’s great to baste and keep the chicken moist while roasting. I think the chicken thigh has more flavor, but the breasts are so darn versatile to use too. Love chicken! Enjoy the start of Summer this weekend up there in Newfoundland!
I love every single ingredient in this dish! Dave is going out of town for work as we speak and I know what the welcome-home meal is going to be. Great recipe, Kevin!
Nice! I’d welcome that meal as I came home 🙂 Funny as I taste tested this with the turmeric I thought of Dave and you. We are too funny…
This looks incredible, Kevin! I love that you left the marinade slightly thicker. I’m literally just drooling thinking about how delicious this one must be. You’ve got one lucky house guest! A local tour guide AND meals like this on the table? That’s worth at least $500/night I’d say! 🙂 #WolfpackHotel?
Thanks Dave, I think the chunkier it sticks on top as it roasts and doesn’t drain off. As for my house guest we had a blast cooking, baking, touring San Diego, hiking in the mountains and doing food geek things like prop shopping and touring all my favorite spice markets. We even gave Dorothy a ring as promised when Nagi arrived. It was a great time. She left yesterday, back to the grind!
OMG Kevin that is fantastic! I love love love it, I must try it! Pinned!
Thanks Farida! Any leftovers and I shred the chicken and toss in a salad, lots of tasty flavor. 🙂