Fresh sliced tomatoes make a beautiful platform for this golden roasted Yucatan Achiote chicken breast dinner. Served with a bright broth and a tangy green chile sauce, this is a chicken breast dinner recipe you’ll want to add to your meal plans. Check this one out.
Achiote chicken is an earthy, sultry, rich flavored Mexican chicken recipe that will bring exciting flavors to your dinner table.
Chicken is marinated in a roasted garlic achiote marinade, then oven roasted crispy on the outside and tender and juicy inside.
Roasting chicken breast skin on, bone in, with a pat of butter under the skin, keeps the chicken breast moist and tender with a beautiful crispy skin.
Achiote chicken is served on a bed of sliced tomatoes and drenched in an achiote seasoned brothy sauce with hints of cinnamon and cloves.
Somewhat exotic in flavor, a relatively easy recipe with a fancy feel.
Let’s take a look.
Table of contents
Ingredients for Chicken Achiote Marinade
This Chicken Achiote calls for Achiote Paste (also known as recado) and Naranja Agria (sour orange juice). My local super market doesn’t carry either of these items, but you can find them at Amazon or at a Mexican Market.
Naranja Agria is a sour orange (a Seville Orange) and its juice is commonly used in Latin American Marinades. Its high acidity works well to tenderize meats. A mix of orange juice and lime juice can be used to closely imitate its flavor. Purchase Naranja Agria from Amazon if you can’t find any locally.
What is Achiote?
What is Achiote paste? It’s a very special ingredient that you should take the time seek out and purchase. It’s huge on flavor and perhaps unlike anything you’ve ever tasted. A combination of ground annatto seeds, garlic, bitter orange juice and spices. Stored properly it will keep well and you can use it in other Mexican Recipes like these Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos, or Cochinita Pibil. It comes packaged in a 3.5 ounce block and we’ll use most of it for this recipe. You can order it from Amazon.
It makes a great achiote marinade for pork, chicken or beef.
Additional Ingredients You’ll Need
- 1 whole head garlic, roasted
- 2 Chicken Breasts, bone in, skin on
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- Green Chile Sauce
- Chicken Broth
- Fresh Tomatoes
- Spices: Salt, fresh ground pepper, cloves, cinnamon, Mexican oregano, sugar
Mexican Oregano is preferred for this recipe. It’s peppery, grassy, earthy flavor is a good compliment for Mexican Food. If you don’t have Mexican Oregano, substitute Marjoram. Known for its aroma and delicate flavor, its related to oregano and will bring a sweet undertone to any recipe.
Step by Step Instructions, It’s Easy
- Step 1: Place roasted and peeled garlic cloves into a food processor and pulse until chopped.
- Step 2: Add olive oil, achiote paste, naranja agria (or orange juice and lime juice), ground cloves, fresh ground black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, sugar and kosher salt.
Expert Tip: Easy way to roast garlic. No need to peel or separate garlic gloves: cut a slit in the side of each clove. Place the head of garlic in a microwavable bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Cool until easy to handle, then slip off the papery husks.
- Step 3: Process until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down sides and run again for about 15 seconds.
- Step 4: Scrape half the marinade into a medium bowl. Add the chicken and toss with your hands to coat evenly. Refrigerate and marinate for 1 hour.
- Step 5: Scrape the remaining marinade into a small saucepan. Add the chicken broth and set aside.
- Step 6: Place marinated chicken on a roast pan fitted with wire rack. Line pan with foil for easier clean up. Loosen the skin and slide 1 tablespoon butter under in between the meat and and skin of each chicken breast. Then push in a teaspoon of green chile sauce. Roast until thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast reads 160 degrees, about 35 – 40 minutes.
Common Questions, Achiote Chicken
Roasting the chicken breast with skin on and bone in, will help keep white meat from becoming dry. An extra step of sliding a pat of butter under the skin before roasting is an easy trick to insure moist and tender chicken. But if you can plan ahead and brine the chicken in a mix of salt water it will improve the ability for lean meats to retain moisture during roasting. Due to the butter treatment, not brining the chicken breast isn’t a deal-breaker, but most certainly is a step to include in the preparation.
I would not recommend boneless skinless breast. The beauty of this recipe is the crispy skin. Bone-in, skin on also serves to keep the chicken breast nice and moist. And seals in the achiote flavors. Chicken thighs would be a better choice. Save those boneless skinless breasts for this Chicken in White Wine Sauce Recipe.
No, it’s fairly mild on the spicy scale with an earthy nutty flavor. It’s made from annatto seeds and warm spices, and adds a beautiful red color to this dish.
Stick with achiote paste for this recipe. Achiote powder is a pure ground spice made from annatto seed and salt and is not seasoned with citrus and spices.
How To Serve Achiote Chicken
- Place sliced fresh sliced tomatoes in a shallow serving bowl. Top with achiote chicken and douse with a splash of the achiote broth mixture. Serve with more Green Chile Sauce to spice things up.
Tips For Success
- Be careful not to crowd the breasts on the roasting pan. They won’t brown and crisp properly if crowded.
- If using orange and lime juice in place of Naranja Agria, use fresh squeezed. You’ll benefit from a more fresh fruit flavor.
- If making Achiote Chicken during Winter months, substitute tomatoes with sliced cooked potatoes, or sliced cooked tender squash such as zucchini or yellow squash.
- About Garlic: Seasoning with garlic can be a very personal preference. And all garlic cloves are not created equal. Some are larger than others. This recipe calls for 1 head of garlic. Granted, roasting garlic mellows the bite that garlic can bring to a recipe, but if you want to go easy, start with 5 cloves roasted garlic. You an always add more.
- This recipe can easily be doubled to serve 4 people.
Wash your hands immediately each time you handle raw poultry or it’s packaging. Raw poultry carries bacteria and once you touch another surface, that surface will become contaminated. Keep a container of disinfectant hand or dish soap next to your kitchen sink to wash hands regularly. Grocery stores also provide plastic bags at the poultry counter. Place the package of chicken you’ve chosen in a bag to prevent bacteria from touching other foods in your grocery cart.
Storage
- Store any leftover Achiote Chicken in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Recipe for Roasted Achiote Chicken Breast
When it comes to spicing up your culinary adventures, few ingredients are as vibrant and enticing as achiote. I hope you add this Achiote Chicken Recipe to your meal plans.
This recipe is inspired by a Rick Bayless recipe for Yucatan Style Chicken.
More Mexican Chicken Recipes
And if you’re looking for even more Mexican recipes, don’t miss my Mexican Food Category, you’ll find lots of great recipes to bring that fiesta to your table. Including the most popular Mexican recipe on my site for How to Make Hatch Green Chili, Colorado Style. And once you make that Hatch Chili, you can use leftovers to make these Chile Cheese Baked Chicken Cutlets.
And if you’re looking for more recipes using Achiote paste, don’t miss this one for Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos. An easy meal to feed a crowd.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Crispy Roasted Achiote Chicken Breast
Ingredients
- For the Marinade:
- 1 head garlic roasted
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup Naranga Agria or ⅓ cup orange juice with a squeeze of lime.
- 2 Tablespoons Achiote Paste
- pinch ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 1 teaspoon Oregano dried, Mexican
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the chicken:
- 2 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 2 teaspoons Roasted Hatch Chile Sauce plus more for serving
- 2 chicken breasts halves skin and bones intact
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 cups tomatoes medium, ripe, sliced
- ½ cup Hatch Chile Sauce or salsa verde
Instructions
- Brine chicken in salt water for about 3 hours. Remove from brine and continue.
- No need to peel or separate garlic gloves: cut a slit in the side of each clove. Place the head of garlic in a microwavable bowl, cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Cool until easy to handle, then slip off the papery husks.
- Place the peeled garlic into a food processor. Pulse until garlic is chopped well. Add the remaining marinade ingredients and process until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down sides and run again for about 15 seconds.
- Scrape half the marinade into a medium bowl. Add the chicken and toss with your hands to coat evenly. Refrigerate and marinate for 1 hour.
- Scrape the remaining marinade into a small saucepan. Add the broth and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Place seasoned chicken on a roast pan fitted with wire rack. Line pan with foil for easier clean up. Loosen the skin and slide 1 tablespoon butter under in between the meat and and skin. Then push in the teaspoon of green chile sauce.
- Roast until thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the breast reads 160 degrees, about 35 – 40 minutes.
- While the chicken is cooking, bring the broth mixture to a boil.
- To plate, Place slices of tomato on the bottom of the plate. Top achiote chicken with a large spoonfull of the broth mixture. Pass around more Green Chile Sauce to spice things up.
Notes
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- Be careful not to crowd the breasts on the roasting pan. They won’t brown and crisp properly if crowded.
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- If using orange and lime juice in place of Naranja Agria, use fresh squeezed. You’ll benefit from a more fresh fruit flavor.
- If making Achiote Chicken during Winter months, substitute tomatoes with sliced cooked potatoes, or sliced cooked tender squash such as zucchini or yellow squash.
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- This recipe can easily be doubled to serve 4 people.
Nutrition
Crispy Oven-Roasted Achiote Chicken …It’s what’s for Dinner.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
I shared the recipe on Pinterest, it is a winner.
This does it – I’m moving next door, and I’m available for dinner – anytime!
Fabulous! I’ll tell one of the neighbors they’ll have to move. 🙂
Rick Bayless creates beautiful Mexican dishes….You have done a fantastic job recreating this dish at home. The flavors, colors and textures are beautiful.
Velva
Thank you Velva. I’m always up for a good RB recipe … when I have a couple of hours. They’re never all that quick, but so worth the fuss.
Hi Lea Ann, this is definitely a five star recipe, very sophisticated!
Thank you Cheri. 🙂
Love Hatch chilies! The sauce looks superb. And the chicken? Just perfectly done. Really pretty dish, and I’m sure it tastes even better. Thanks!
Thank you John. I’ve been making this for years and I agree, it’s so attractive in color.
My husband hates grilling bone-in chicken breasts because he can never get them cooked through without burning the skin. (He doesn’t know how to do indirect grilling – so I only give him boneless, pounded chicken breast) . I love this technique for roasting and we will certain to try it. You can’t go wrong with Rick Bayless recipes – they are always delicious. Pinning!
I agree about those Rick Bayless recipes. When you have the time. In his original recipe he grills the chicken. I’m like your husband, I don’t do well with grilling big ol chicken breasts.
Oh my goodness, your chicken looks so good…yum!
Thank you Karen.
Yes please! You had me at Hatch green chile.
Anything with Hatch Green Chile “has me”.
Fresh tomatoes and green chiles? Ya got me!
I Agree Debra. 🙂
Looks good, LeaAnn! I could eat the chile sauce without the chicken!
Me too Abbe! 🙂
The Roasted Hatch Chile Sauce caught my eye immediately …what a great meal!
Thank you Kate.
…or you could also DRINK that salsa! What a wonderful combo, Lea Ann. I can see where the fresh ripened tomatoes can really tie this dish together, although it looks pretty damn good on its own.
Thanks Adam. And Yay for tomato season. FINALLY