Brush Your Chicken with Pomegranate Molasses for a Lacquered Finish.
I’ve written about buttermilk brining chicken more times than I can remember at this point. It’s what I always do before roasting a chicken. I think it delivers the best tasting chicken. Enough said.
This time I wanted to see if I could get a lacquered finish on the chicken by simply basting it several times with pomegranate molasses. The only thing I added was a small amount of soy sauce. After removing the chicken from the buttermilk and patting it dry, I brushed it with the molasses and roasted it at 450° for 10 minutes. I took it out of the oven, brushed it with another layer of molasses and let it roast for another 10 minutes. I continued in this manner until my chicken was done at 50 minutes.
I had a large chicken – 4 3/4 pounds. The amount of cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken. When it came out of the oven, I lightly brushed it with a little more molasses and let it sit for 20 minutes before carving it. As you can see, it roasted up beautifully. The skin was shiny and had a wonderfully bright/sweet/salty flavor. I showered it with pomegranate arils and served it with my Eggplant Spread and Ekmek. Was it as delicious as I’d hoped? Yep, it was. And no matter how many times I serve a roast chicken, it is always one of my family’s favorites. And one of mine, too.
Roast Chicken with Pomegranate Molasses
6
servingsButtermilk Brined Spatchcocked Chicken Brushed with Pomegranate Molasses
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Ingredients
4.75 pounds 4.75 whole chicken, spatchcocked
2 cups 2 buttermilk
4 teaspoons 4 table salt or 2 tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1/4 - 1/3 cup 1/4 - 1/3 pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon 1 soy sauce
1/2 cup 1/2 pomegranate arils
Directions
- Marinate the chicken in the buttermilk and salt overnight. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before roasting.
- Stir together the pomegranate molasses and soy sauce.
- Preheat oven to 450° with a rack in the center. Remove the chicken from the brine, letting the buttermilk drip off. Lay the chicken on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Pat the skin dry with a paper towel. Brush with pomegranate molasses and roast for 10 minutes. Continue to roast for another 40 minutes, brushing with the pomegranate molasses every 10 minutes.
- The chicken is done when a temperature probe registers 165° when poked into the thickest part of the thigh. Let rest for 20 minutes before carving and garnishing with pomegranate arils. Enjoy!
Equipment
- Half Sheet Pan
2 Responses
Made this tonight for dinner and my only regret is that I didn’t take a picture – as beautiful as it tastes! I will never roast a chicken without first marinating in buttermilk again. Even the breast of a 4.75# bird was tasty and juicy. And the pomegranate/soy glaze was the perfect blend of sweet and savory and resulted a beautifully crisp skin. Mashed sweet potatoes were a perfect accompaniment. Thanks for an awesome recipe that I’ll be making over and over!!
Gary, you have no idea how thrilled I am to hear this!! I really like this recipe, too, and I love knowing that someone else agrees with me. Lol! Thanks so much for letting me know!