Trinidad Baked Chicken Recipe
This baked chicken recipe is simple to make.
I use fresh herbs here like chadon beni, thyme and rosemary.
And the longer you leave it to marinate, the better the flavor of the baked chicken. It’s so delicious and tender.
Ingredients for baked chicken trini style
For this recipe, I used:
- whole chicken
- flour
- chadon beni (culantro) leaves
- garlic
- thyme
- turmeric
- ginger
- soy sauce
- salt
- pimento pepper
- rosemary
- butter
I love these ingredients and flavors together. The garlic, chadon beni, pimento and rosemary are the dominant flavors and they come through in the baked chicken. It’s so good!
But, as much as I love the flavor, I must encourage you to make this recipe your own with your favorite flavorings. Try combinations with oregano, paprika, all purpose seasoning, jerk sauce, worcestershire sauce, and whatever else you like.
How to make Trinidad oven baked chicken
To make this Trini baked chicken, you must clean, butterfly and season the chicken, then leave to marinate, preferably overnight or longer. Finally, bake uncovered in the oven for close to an hour before basting with its drippings.
Let’s get into a little detail.
Prepare the chicken
My neighborhood poultry shop always do a great job cleaning the whole chicken. So, preparing the raw meat is a lot easier.
Step 1: The first thing I do is turn the chicken with the breast side down and cut along both sides of the spine. You need a really sharp knife to do this. Pull to remove the bone and either keep it for making chicken stock or discard.
Step 2: Next, cut out any visible fat and unwanted bits. Once that’s done, turn the chicken over now with the breast side up. Push down on the breast until you hear a pop and the whole chicken lies flat on the tray. You’ve just butterflied or spatchcocked the chicken.
Step 3: Rub some flour and a little water all over the whole bird. This generally removes the ‘fresh’ smell and taste from the meat. It also helps to remove the slime too. You can use a little lime or lemon juice as well, but the flour is often enough. Rinse the entire chicken thoroughly
Step 4: Once that’s done, don’t forget to clean and disinfect your sink and countertops to prevent any cross-contamination.
Marinate the chicken
Step 5: Marinate the chicken with your favorite type of seasoning. I use fresh chadon beni (culantro), celery (cilantro, not actual celery), Spanish thyme, fine thyme, rosemary and pimento peppers from my garden all blended together with garlic and ginger.
I also add salt and turmeric powder that I made from my very own turmeric plant. Soy sauce is another ingredient I sometimes use.
The point is to marinate the chicken with the flavors you love. Cut a couple slits in the meat to allow the flavors to permeate.
Step 6: Cover the chicken and refrigerate for at least four hours to overnight (or even two days later). The longer the chicken is left, the more flavorful the baked chicken will be. I usually leave the meat overnight in the fridge.
Bake
Step 7: Be sure to preheat your oven to about 425°F.
Step 8: Place the chicken flat on a baking tray or roasting pan with the breast side up and tuck in the wings. If you previously cut slits into the meat during marinating, consider sliding thin slices of butter into the slits. The slits may dry out a bit so adding the butter helps to keep the area moist. Besides the butter, I often add rosemary leaves and branches from my rosemary plant. The herb is incredibly strong and that powerful, rosemary flavor really gets into the meat.
Step 9: Bake uncovered or covered with foil for about 45 minutes.
Step 10: Check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken. The temperature should read close to 165ºF for poultry. And the juices from the meat should run clear. At this point, you can remove the chicken from the oven and baste it with some of its drippings or with some melted butter or tasty BBQ sauce.
Step 11: Leave the meat to sit for about 15 minutes and cut into serving pieces.
Trinidad oven baked chicken recipe
Trinidad baked chicken recipe
Ingredients
- 5 lb whole chicken (giblets removed, cleaned)
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup Caribbean green seasoning with garlic, chadon beni, Spanish thyme, fine thyme, rosemary, ginger and pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
- 2 tsp soy sauce (optional)
- 1 rosemary branch (optional)
- 1 tbsp butter (optional)
Instructions
- Turn the chicken with the breast side down.
- Cut along both sides of the backbone.
- Pull to remove the bone and discard or keep for making chicken stock.
- Remove any visible fat.
- Turn the chicken over with the breast side up.
- Press down on the chicken breast to flatten the whole chicken (the chicken is now butterflied or spatchcocked).
- Rub flour with a little water all over the chicken to remove the freshness and slime from the meat.
- Rinse the entire chicken thoroughly.
- Coat the chicken with fresh green seasoning, salt, pepper, and your additional seasoning options.
- Make slits in the chicken breast to ensure the seasonings permeate.
- Cover.
- Refrigerate and allow the chicken to marinate for at least four hours to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Place the chicken on a baking tray or in a roasting pan with the breast side up.
- Add butter to the slits in the chicken breast.
- Place rosemary leaves underneath the skin and in the slits.
- Tuck the wings underneath the bird.
- Bake uncovered at 425°F for 45 minutes or until the thickest part of the breast has an internal temperature of 165ºF and the juices run clear.
- Remove from the heat.
- Baste the chicken with the drippings.
- Leave to sit for 15 minutes or so.
- Serve hot.
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