Oven Baked Orange Pepper Beer Chicken
Jackie Dodd-Mallory
(Senior Editor)
Oven Baked Orange Pepper Beer Chicken, delicious one-pot, super quick and easy meal!
There’s a thing about chicken that always seems to be true no matter how I make it: it’s just as much at home on a white tablecloth in a dimly lit sommelier infested fine dining space as it is on the rickety picnic table of a small backyard gathering.
I like this about chicken, it can go all places. This, in one way or another, is how I try to live my life. I want to be able to feel at home at the opera, or on the farm, or in the inner city. I say I TRY, not that I succeed. I try to be chicken, with its delicious versatility. I try to please everyone from nugget-loving-kids, to batter-dipped-and-fried-devotees to people who confit things.
I don’t, however, think it works all the time. I swear too much, making suburban moms nervous to have me at football parties. When I drink I get loud and start to draw too much attention. And I will probably knock down a toddler to pet a strangers dog. These are not very chicken-like things. Chicken makes people happy, chicken blends in but leaves a good impression. Chicken is a crowd pleaser.
I’m more like beer. You either love me or you don’t. But I do my best to make everyone happy. And maybe there is enough chicken in the world. But a girl can dream.
Oven Baked Orange Pepper Beer Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon orange zest about 1 large orange
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 lbs chicken legs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup 4oz pale ale (or pilsner, wheat beer)
- ¼ cup 2oz orange juice (about ½ one large orange)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a small bowl combine the zest, pepper, salt, garlic powder and cornstarch.
- Rub the spice mixture into the legs on all sides.
- Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet until hot but not smoking.
- Add the chicken, searing on all sides until browned. Pour the orange juice and beer over the chicken.
- Transfer pan to the oven, cooking until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Comments
PattiAnn October 14, 2018 um 9:55 am
Very tasty easy recipe. Perfect meal to eat while watching baseball playoffs. I always put a slice of orange in my Blue Moon Belgium so I understood the flavor profile but never thought of braising chicken in it. I did add more pepper & salt, but that was it.
Thanks.
Jackie October 14, 2018 um 1:53 pm
Awesome! SO glad you liked it 🙂
Karen October 15, 2018 um 8:10 pm
I would rather be beer in any case. Beer is multifaceted. We can be strong and nutty at the same time; hoppy when the good times are rolling. Sweet, clean, crisp by day or dark, rich and roasty by night. Sure we can be sour and bitter, but sometimes the world needs a reality check that a please-everyone poached chicken breast could never even aspire to.
PS I’m making this recipe because a) it sounds freaking delish and b) chicken got together with beer and hung out, which is a social interaction that needs to be supported
Jackie October 16, 2018 um 10:01 am
I like the way you think, Karen 🙂