The other night while I was tucking in my super snuggly 10 year old into bed, we discussed possibilities for the next night’s dinner.
“Fennel” he suggested, “I really like it because it’s sweet and also very healthy!”
“What would you like for our protein dish?” I asked. “What about that roasted chicken I made the other night that you guys gobbled up?”
“No, something else, something sweet and sour,” he replied.
“Ok,” I said. “What about agave lime chicken?”
“Yum! That sounds great.” my little gourmand answered.
After that we snuggled up some more and I asked him what he was thankful for.
“That I get to go to school, eat pizza and play my instrument,” he said babbling on happily about still other things for which he is grateful.
Having children is a lot of work, as we all know. And yet, there seems to come a point (when they can dress themselves and then help with the household chores some) that they start to become a lot more fun and a lot less work. That’s the point that we’re at now. We’ve been there for a while and I am relishing every moment of the time we spend together (except when they’re fighting, that’s a bit loud).
On a different night, my son begged to come along to a class I taught at the fabulous Culinary School of the Rockies (the place is amazing and I highly recommend ALL of their classes).
He pleaded with me, “just tell them you have an assistant and he teaches with you.”
I left the house without him and still had a delightful time teaching in their stunning facilities with a great bunch of students and the amazing CSR staff helping out to boot. Maybe next time I’ll take him ;-) For now, he’ll have to settle for the agave lime chicken.
Agave Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, 2-3 pounds
- 1-3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 3 limes
- 2 onions
- 1 head garlic
- dash cumin
- dash chili powder
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry
- Place chicken in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish breast side down
- Drizzle with olive oil and agave, then sprinkle with salt, cumin and chili powder
- Stuff one lime into the cavity of the bird
- Cut the other 2 limes and place in the pan
- Cut the onions in half and place in the pan (I left the skin on)
- Leaving the skin on the garlic, break the head apart and scatter the cloves around the pan
- Bake at 350°F for 45+ minutes until the skin starts to brown
- Remove chicken from oven and raise heat to 450°F
- Turn the chicken over so that breast side is now up
- Bake for an additional 15 to 25 minutes or until thigh temperature (taken with an instant read meat thermometer) is 170°F-180°F
- Remove chicken from oven
- Carve chicken and drizzle with pan juices before serving
I may have first heard about agave lime chicken from ~M, who discussed it long ago in the comment section of one of my posts.
The original credit for this recipe goes to the Goddess. The Goddess of Gluten-Free that is. She has a delightful looking recipe for this combo and I give her full credit for coming up with it. Thanks Karina! I love your down to earth ideas and super sassy writing style.
mrs spock says
Just made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS! I just used chicken breasts and minced garlic. I squirted one lime slice over the chicken before baking as well. My kids ate it and my husband asked to make it again. Thanks!
Michelle says
Thank you! You just answered my question.
Danielle says
Hi Elana,
Can you specify what size chicken you used? I cooked mine according to your recipe and it looked beautiful….but it was very undercooked after the 45 mins. plus 25 minutes. I ended up having to cook it for another whole hour and even though I covered it with foil, the extra hour burned up all of the sauce and the skin was not very tasty. Plus, everyone was ready to eat and then had to wait an additional hour – made for some cranky hungry people :)
Stephanie says
I think this is my favorite of your chicken roast recipes! I had to sub honey for agave, but it is still so incredible. My one complaint is that it cooked much slower than your recipe said… maybe would flip the bird (ha! flip the bird!) a bit sooner. It could also be that my bird was much bigger (about a 5 lb. one), but your recipe did not specify what size you used when creating the recipe. Thank you so much– I am an absolute addict of your site. I love all of your almond flour baking recipes.
Morgan says
Uh…. YUM. I made this tonight and myself, my hub and my 18 month old loooved it. Wow. Thank you so much.. I was anticipating yummy, but instead it was amazing.
~:D
T says
This turned out so good! I cooked this in my crock pot and finished it off in oven and broiled for a couple minutes for a beautiful brown color. Great, easy recipe!
melissa routzon says
How long was it in your crockpot?
Jane Schaible says
This was YUMMMMMY! Thanks, Elana!
LaLa says
I made this once, and it was like the best thing I ever tasted – even edged out he Roasemary Apple Chicken, which is the bomb.
I made it again, and it was GROSS.
I have no idea what the difference was, or what happened,and I’m scared to try again! Darn it!
Jane Linkenman says
Thanks Elana for sharing this recipe. I created this wonderful agave lime chicken. It was a beautiful golden brown. Our 5 year old announced with conviction that she would not be eating any of the chicken because of the “gross onions and limes.” I have gotten away from cooking with onions and garlic because of her particular hate for onions. This is a new year after all!! I’m determined to change her attitude about different and unusual flavors. After she realized that she would not actually be eating an onion or a lime…she decided to try a pc of the chicken. She then said “wow mommy that is really good…ok I do like the chicken…may I have more. She had 2nd’s and 3rd’s in fact everyone had more. I was so surprised how the limes really did flavor the chicken. I have declared this as a keeper recipe and announced it to the world (or whomever actually reads my blogs on my glutenfreelife blog on livejournal and my facebook) that this is certainly a “thumbs up” recipe compliments of you and from your amazing and helpful website. A BIG THANKS to you! You have changed my 5 year olds way of thinking about “gross” things like onions, garlic and of course limes! My next adventure is your recipe for Chicken and cherries.
Dawn says
Elana-I made this the other day and everyone loved it. My 6-year old daughter refuses to eat meat without putting BBQ sauce on it. She finished her meat immediately without asking for any sauce. Thank you for all the great recipes!
elana says
Kristin,
Thanks for pointing out that omission; I’ve changed the directions to include adding spices along with the salt.
Elana