12 Easy Glaze Recipes for Roasted Chicken

One of the easiest meals possible is to get a plain store-roasted chicken, then add your own simple sauces or glazes. Of course, you can start with a chicken you've roasted yourself, too.

Why not just buy a pre-glazed one? Making your own glaze ensures that there's no corn syrup - high-fructose or otherwise - in the glaze, or other unwanted ingredients, be they soy, gluten, white sugar, high sodium, or MSG.

Most of these have a high level of sugar, usually in the form of honey or maple syrup. So to keep them from burning, you'll want to add the glaze right before serving or give it just a few minutes in the oven. If you're on a sugar-restricted diet, you can cut back the sugar part of the equation.

One suggestion: since a lot of these are sticky, you may want to cut the chicken up into serving pieces before glazing. But that's optional.

Here are a few simple recipes that you can whip up quickly and easily -- or make the night before and have ready to go right when you get home! Many of them have just three ingredients.

Chutney-glazed chicken -- Chutney, lime juice, and curry powder.

Maple black pepper glaze -- Maple syrup, butter, and black pepper. Pretty simple!

Honey-spiced glaze -- Honey, olive oil, cinnamon, and paprika. Rated 5 stars.

photo by Taste of Home

A fruit-and-wine glaze from Taste of Home -- White wine or chicken broth, apricot preserves or quince jelly, and a bit of mustard. Rated 4 stars.

Orange-rosemary glazed chicken -- Orange marmalade, rosemary, and your choice of vinegar.

Honey-lemon-soy glaze -- The ingredients are -- surprise! -- honey, lemon juice, and soy.

photo by Eating Well

Pomegranate glaze -- Uses pomegranate molasses (with instructions to make your own, if you wish), honey and black pepper.

Barbeque, honey and soy -- Another easy, 4-star recipe, from Taste of Home.

Red-hot honey glaze -- A buffalo chicken style sauce from Bobby Flay. Includes a recipe for a blue cheese dipping sauce.

photo by The Sriracha Cookbook website

Honey sriracha lime glaze -- Although this recipe is for wings, you can use on any chicken pieces. Experiment to find the right level of heat/sriracha for you. Also, I think the added salt is unnecessary.

Korean barbecue sauce -- This is one you might want to make ahead; it has several ingredients, and benefits from some time simmering. I've made this; if you cook it low and slow long enough, you can skip the corn syrup and water part. But don't cook it too high; it burns easily. (Voice of experience!)

Honey-mustard glaze -- You could skip the curry if you don't like curry or don't have any.

Multipurpose Spicy Asian Marinade Recipe

This (for now) is a recipe I haven't tried -- yet.

So why am I posting it? Since it got a 4-fork rating on Epicurious -- the highest possible -- I definitely want to try it. Also, it got great comments. Bonus: it's sugar-free! But there's no pinnable image on the original, so I can't post it to my "recipes to try" Pinterest board from there.

Various reviewers said...

"I ground chicken thighs in the food processor, marinated as directed, and then browned the meat for delicious and simple lettuce wraps. I think I will go to this marinade again and again."

"I marinated some shrimp in this for about an hour, and then sauteed them with the remaining marinade; they were so flavorful!"

"Used this over asparagus. Cut the spears into 2" long pieces, marinated it a bit and then sauteed the asparagus in oil, reserving marinade. After removing asparagus from pan, I added reserved marinade along with a cornstarch slurry to thicken for a sauce."

"I used this marinade with scallops and veggie kabobs. It was fantastic!"

The author comments...
"This all-purpose marinade can be used for chicken or turkey breast, pork cutlets, firm-pressed tofu, and seafood. If you prefer to omit the chile, use smashed fresh ginger instead."

Recipe: Spicy Asian Chicken Marinade

by Spices of Life, by Nina Simonds , via epicurious

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine or sake
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried chile flakes or hot chile paste (or 5 to 6 slices of smashed fresh ginger)
• 1 tablespoon virgin olive oil (or canola oil)

Combine all ingredients and use as directed in your recipe.

photo credit: formalfallacy @ Dublin (Victor) via photopin cc

Recipe review: White Bean Chicken Chili

I saw a yummy-looking recipe pinned on Pinterest the other day and thought it sounded like great food for a snow day. But when I looked up the recipe, it didn't sound so great. The recipe was scaled to feed a crowd, and used very little actual chicken.

I still loved the idea, though, so I hit AllRecipes and found this one there.

Photo from AllRecipes.

I made a couple minor tweaks: I only used one can of beans, and skipped the cayenne. I also used already-roasted chicken breasts from Dillon's deli to cut down on some time and effort. (The secret to getting juicy roasted chicken at the grocery store? Pick it up at 3:30 or 4 pm. By 5 or later, they've been sitting under heat lamps too long and have become nasty-dry.)

This was a hit with my husband -- and that's sayin' something, because he is an avowed soup-hater! And he even commented on how good the chicken was. He's not really a huge fan of chicken, either.

I liked it because it was fairly simple to throw together. And yes, yummy! (A tiny bit too spicy for me, but then, I'm a spice wimp.)

If you've already made traditional chili in the last week but you're not out of snow days yet, this is great cold-weather food! White Bean Chicken Chili, via AllRecipes. Husband and wife approved.

Recipe Roundup: Three by PW

So, you've heard of Pioneer Woman, right? Apart from having an entertaining writing style, fabulous photography, and thorough, encouraging instructions, her food is really, really good. Or, as my husband says, "The girl can cook!"

Here are three of her recipes we love. All photographs are hers. (The title of each section below is the link to the original recipe.)

Crash Hot Potatoes
I think this is the recipe that was my portal into PW's blog. I can't remember why I was looking for a potato recipe, but this one caught my eye. Red potatoes are boiled till tender, then coarsely smashed on a cookie sheet, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with rosemary, salt and pepper, then baked briefly at high heat so they come out golden brown and crunchy around the edges. Hungry yet?

The thing that makes or breaks this dish is getting the salt right. I was a little too shy with the salt the first time; a mistake I won't make again.

By the way... Did you know that new (aka, red) potatoes are lower on the glycemic index than baking potatoes? And that boiling them keeps them lower than baking? Boiled new potatoes rank in the mid-50's; baked potatoes, 85.

Quesadilla de Camarones
This was our second PW dish.  Shrimp are briefly marinated in a fiery off-the-shelf sauce, then given a quick, hot saute, along with some peppers and onions. Put it all between two tortillas and slap 'em back in the pan till everything is toasty.

If you want to be healthy, use whole-wheat tortillas. If you really want to go hardcore PW, make her from-scratch tortillas. (How does that woman stay thin?) I have to confess: I don't make homemade tortillas -- but my dear daughter does, and I have to say, they rock! No comparison to grocery store tortillas. None! But here's a handy compromise: go by a local Mexican restaurant (not a chain) and get some tortillas to go.

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp
This is frequently a birthday entree in our house. Not because it's difficult to make -- it's not. But you really don't get the full wham! of the dish unless you have some crusty French bread (or crescent rolls) to sop up the garlicky, slightly spicy, melty butter that the shrimp is swimming in after it comes out of the oven. And now that we're low carbers, white bread is a once-in-a-while treat. But this stuff is SO worth it!

The other thing that makes this party food is that it's roll-up-your-sleeves, dig-in-and-eat-with-your-hands kind of food. And after that, a lick-your-fingers kind of food. Yeah, you'll want every drop!

Slightly spicy slaw: perfect for pork or fish tacos

I made these Chipotle Pork Tacos for dinner last night. I love that I can prep everything ahead, throw the pork in the marinade, and chill it while I go do other stuff. Then when it's time to actually cook dinner, all I have to do is cook up the onions and pork -- which just takes a few minutes -- warm up the tortillas, and we're good to go!

I wanted to get some vegetables on the plate, though, and I thought slaw sounded like a nice go-with. I surfed the net looking for a southwestern-y slaw recipe, but didn't find anything that just fit the bill. So I improvised this, and it was a hit! Because I used half mayo, half sour cream, the mayo flavor doesn't overwhelm. The spicy-sweet flavor and crispy-creamy texture of this slaw is the perfect complement to the tacos, in my opinion. I think it would also be great on fish tacos, with barbecue, or straight-up on its own. (Which is how I had it for lunch today.)

Here's the cast of characters. (Splenda and green onions weren't present on picture day.)

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce comes in a little can, but it still takes me forever to use one up. (Spice wimp.) So after I've opened a can and used what I need for that recipe, I put the rest in a labeled glass jar and keep it in the fridge.

If you've never used chipotles in adobo sauce, here's what you need to know: the sauce is fairly mild; the flesh of the peppers is quite a bit hotter, and the seeds are ridiculously hot. (To me, anyway. Consider the source.) So adjust what parts you use and the amount you use to your own tolerance for spiciness. Of course, it's best to start mild, taste it, then add more if you so desire.

A little tip about slicing green onions: I've found that slicing them on the diagonal not only looks fancier, it also keeps the little buggers from rolling off the cutting board.

Slightly Spicy Slaw

1/4 c. mayo, sour cream, or a combo (I like 50/50)
1 t. chipotle chiles and/or adobo sauce (more if you like things spicy)
1 green onion
2 t. red wine vinegar or lime juice
1 pkt. Splenda or 2 t. sugar
1/8 t. salt - or just a few shakes
3 c. slaw-cut cabbage

Dice the chipotle pepper small, and remove any seeds. Slice the green onion thinly, discarding the roots and any wilty parts of the green.

Put everything except for the cabbage in a medium bowl, and stir till well blended. Then add the slaw and stir till all is well combined. Chill for 1-2 hours.

Use to top pork or fish tacos. A topping of cilantro highly recommended.

Serves 4.

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