Crispy Roasted Achiote Chicken Breast

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.

Ingredients for Achiote Chicken 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 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.

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

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.

Serving Suggestion

• Crock Pot Frijoles Rancheros
• Green Chile Mac and Cheese
• Toasted Mexican Green Rice
• Michiladas

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 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.

Crispy Oven-Roasted Achiote Chicken …It’s what’s for Dinner.