Spiced Orange Roasted Chicken with Delicata Squash & Garlic Roasted Broccoli
Having a go-to marinade is an essential skill for any home chef. Something that is quick, easy, and simple, yet complex enough to add robust flavor to your dish, but also not packed with sugar and salt to just trick our tastebuds. The marinade used in this recipe may just become your saving grace. It has everything you’re looking for; a good amount of cumin to amp up the savory flavor with a hint of allspice to add an often-overlooked flavor, orange and lemon citrus juice to make your meat soft and juicy, a healthy fat by way of olive oil to retain moisture and bring out flavor, and salt via liquid aminos to help water-soluble flavor penetrate into the meat. Finally, roasting your chicken atop the delicata squash infuses more flavor into your meat, another good tip for aspiring home chefs.
There’s a good chance you have never cooked with delicata squash—it’s often hard to find and can be substituted with acorn squash or any other hard squash, but the thin skin of delicata is actually edible, making preparation easy. Delicata squash provides you numerous health benefits. High in vitamins A, B6, and C, folate, magnesium, fiber, riboflavin, phosphorus, and potassium, the vegetable is a serious nutritional-packed power-house!
Paired with garlicky roasted broccoli and a simply dressed baby greens salad, this recipe is a complete meal that fits squarely into Mountain Trek’s nutrition tenants.
Tip: use a little bit of the liquid at the bottom of the roasting pan as a delicious no-effort sauce to drizzle over the top of your dish.
Note: 12 guests recently made this recipe alongside our chef and nutritionist in a virtual Basecamp Weekend Retreat.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- ½ t allspice
- 1 t cumin
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- 3 cloves garlic
- Olive oil (1 t + 1 T)
- Liquid aminos ( ½ t + ½ t)
- 1 delicata squash (can sub other squash if needed)
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs1
- 1 head broccoli
- 1-1.5 C baby greens
Cooking Instructions
- Combine ½ t allspice, 1 t cumin, zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon, 3 smashed cloves of garlic, 1 t olive oil, and ½ t liquid aminos and marinate chicken thighs. This can be done in a covered bowl or tightly sealed freezer bag. Marinate overnight if possible but 1-2 hours should do.
- Heat oven to 375 F and slice delicata squash into half-moons, removing inner seeds. Play evenly on bottom of 13×9” baking dish.
- Remove chicken from marinade and place on top of squash. Pour enough marinade over the chicken and squash such that it comes about halfway up the squash slices. Place in oven and cook until chicken is cooked through (center is 165 F).
- Roughly chop 1 head broccoli into ½”-1” pieces and quarter 2 cloves garlic. Toss in 1 T olive oil and ½ t liquid aminos and spread evenly on parchment-lined sheet pan. Place in oven and cook through until tender, stirring once halfway through.
- When all components are complete, plate and serve with baby greens drizzled with your favorite dressing.
What is Mountain Trek?
Mountain Trek is the health reset you’ve been looking for. Our award-winning health retreat, immersed in the lush nature of British Columbia, will help you detox, unplug, recharge, and roll back years of stress and unhealthy habits. To learn more about the retreat, and how we can help you reset your health, please email us at info@mountaintrek.com or reach out below:
