Skillet Roasted Pomegranate Chicken

This whole roasted chicken with lemon, rosemary and pomegranate is crispy, sweet and seriously delicious. Perfectly roasted chicken is basted with a rosemary and pomegranate juice reduction that can only be described as tart, woodsy and citrusy. It is the perfect complement to any whole roasted chicken recipe, and is actually fairly easy to make! You are definitely going to want to add this skillet roasted pomegranate chicken recipe to your back pocket for a snowy day!

Spatchcocking A Chicken:

One thing that I love about this recipe is how complex the flavors are, and how ‘fancy‘ spatchcocking the chicken looks, yet how simple it really is to do.

Meals that look complex but are actually easy are my bread and butter. And in the end, that’s what we all want when it comes to serving guests. We want it to LOOK like we have mastered complex and intricate cooking techniques, when in reality we used scissors to cut the back bone out of a chicken like we were cutting wrapping paper!

Why Spatchcock A Chicken?

Considering how easy it actually is to do, spatchcocking has a lot of benefits!

• Spatchcocking allows the chicken to lay flatter in the pan, exposing all of the chicken skin. This makes sure ALL of the skin is crispy, not just on the back. The skin is my favorite part, so this is HUGE for me!
• Spatchcocking allows the bird to cook quicker. In my experience, it is only about 15 minutes quicker, but still!
• Since every part is laying flatter, the white breast meat will cook at the same time as the dark leg meat. A uniformly cooked chicken helps to prevent some pieces from drying out quicker than others.
• I personally like to remove the entire breast plate using scissors, instead of just breaking it. This makes the carving process SOO much easier.

How To Spatchcock A Chicken:

Guys, it’s not hard at ALL! I promise!

1. First, lay the chicken on it’s breast, with it’s back facing up. Using a good pair of kitchen shears or poultry shears, cut through the cartilage on both sides of the spine, until you have fully cut through each end. Remove the spine, and press the sides of the chicken to open up the cavity.
2. Here, you have the option to break the breast bone, or to remove it entirely. I personally like to remove it because I find that it makes the carving process easier. If you choose to just break it, press a knife into the middle of the breast bone. Remove the knife, and using your hands, press down on the sides of the breast plate until it cracks. If you choose to remove it like I did, press the knife along the sides of the breast bone. Using the scissors, cut the breast plate OUT of the chicken. Make sure to NOT cut fully through the chicken! (see images below)
3. THATS IT! See, I told you it was easy!

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OXO makes great, affordable kitchen supplies. If you are in need of some poultry shears, these are spring loaded to make the job easier! OXO Good Grips Spring-Loaded Poultry Shears

Pomegranate Sauce For Chicken:

The sauce absolutely transforms this meal. Pomegranate chicken recipes don’t have to be complicated, and this sauce only uses 5 ingredients! Pomegranate juice is actually really easy to find at the grocery store. Just pick up a 16 fl oz bottle of Pom Wonderful (not sponsored, I just find it the best and most widely found) at your local grocery store, and that will be enough for this recipe.

To make the roast chicken pan sauce, place the pomegranate juice, lemon juice, honey, ginger and rosemary in a sauce pan and let it simmer down for about 15 minutes. It will be slightly syrupy, but not too viscous. After cooking the chicken for 25 minutes, remove it from the oven and brush the pomegranate sauce all over the skin of the chicken. Pour the rest of the pomegranate sauce for chicken over the top and continue to bake, basting every 10 minutes or so.

This is the exact oven safe skillet that I use, and I highly recommend it! All-Clad D3 Stainless Cookware, 12-Inch Fry Pan with Lid, Tri-Ply Stainless Steel, Professional Grade

What Does This Pomegranate Recipe Taste Like?

This elegant chicken recipe is complex, yet rustic with its intricate balance of flavors. There is nothing subtle about the pomegranate sauce, as the flavors of piquancy, evergreen and citrus can be tasted in every bite. The crispy spatchcock chicken is cooked perfectly, yielding moist white breast meat. Basting the bird with the roast chicken pan sauce ensures that every single bite will be infused with the pomegranate sauce.

In short, its heavenly. In all honesty, it’s like nothing I have ever tasted before.

When To Serve Skillet Roasted Pomegranate Chicken:

This recipe makes for a great snow day dinner! It’s so comforting and cozy. Alternatively, if you are looking for a unique chicken recipe, the flavor in the pomegranate chicken is definitely quirky. Whole roasted chicken recipes also make for a fantastic dinner party dish. As I mentioned, spatchcocking the chicken gives the appearance of a difficult and fancy cooking technique, despite it being so easy to do! And the red-golden roasted color looks magnificent on a dinner platter with pomegranate seeds, lemon and rosemary lining the border.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the health benefits of pomegranate juice?	Pomegranate juice is LOADED with antioxidants, which help reduce free radicals in the body and can reduce inflammation. It is being studied for it’s potential ability to prevent prostate cancer and slow the progression of Alzheimers disease!
How much does a whole chicken cost?	For this recipe, I used a 5.16 pound chicken. This chicken easily fed me and my husband for 2 meals, and cost only $9.98! I don’t know why I don’t cook whole chickens more often!
Chicken done temp?	ALWAYS cook chicken to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. To be honest, I usually cook my chicken a little over, just to be safe. To check the temperature, push a meat thermometer into the meatiest part of the breast. Due to spatchcocking the chicken, make sure you do not push it THROUGH the chicken breast, as this can be easy to do.
Why do we cook the chicken for 25 minutes before adding the pomegranate sauce?	There is a reason to the madness! We do this to ensure that the skin of the bird does not burn. The sauce contains sugar from the pomegranate and the honey, and sugar has a tendency to burn if cooked for long periods of time or under high temperatures. So to be safe, we cook the chicken for 25 minutes first and THEN add the sauce. Works like a charm.
Do I HAVE to cook the pan sauce after the chicken is done to thicken it?	No, you can definitely skip this part if you are happy with the consistency of the sweet pan sauce. I personally like the sauce more like the consistency of a thin gravy, so I toss it on a burner with some cornstarch to thicken it up a bit. But if you are in a time crunch and are happy with the consistency, you can skip this step.

If you like this Skillet Roasted Pomegranate Chicken recipe, than you will LOVE my Cranberry Braised Beef Stew recipe!