In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty big on za’atar right now. But regardless of my newfound love of the spice mix, I’ve been making a variation of this chicken for quite some time. I decided to kick it up a notch for the holidays by adding red wine, honey and dried fruit for a festive finish.
Za’atar is a mixed herb and spice blend popular in the Middle East. It’s primarily made up of sumac, thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and salt. The spice blend is widely available in supermarkets, but you can also find it on amazon.
Other za’atar recipes:
grilled corn with za’atar garlic compound butter
malawach cheese pastries with dipping sauce
Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Dried Fruit
1 pkg chicken, quartered
3 tbsp za’atar
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
approximately 20oz. dried fruit (I use apricots and pitted prunes)
1/2 cup dry red wine
kosher salt, to taste
1/3 cup honey
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread out dried fruit on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. In a bowl, combine the za’atar and olive oil to create a paste. Rub the za’atar over the chicken (skin-on) and place on top of dried fruit. Pour wine into the pan and sprinkle everything with salt. Cover and bake for 1 hour.
Uncover the chicken and drizzle honey all around. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce.
Related recipes:
sweet Hawaiian chicken
Rosh Hashanah roast
honey mustard chicken pastrami roulade
Looks delish! Any suggestions if I try with a whole chicken?
I would roast it at 425. Also, the chicken will render a lot more fat/juice so you might want to strain the “sauce” and reduce it.
Mouth is watering!
I have been waiting for this recipe since you had talked about it! Looks so good, perfect for RH!
am also obsessed with Zaatar but never went sweet with it — love the idea!!! thanks as always for inspiring!
Should I /do you leave the skin on ? Does it matter for this recipe?
Yes, when roasting chicken uncovered, it’s best to leave the skin on otherwise it will dry out.
Made for chag, it was amazing, received rave reviews from family and guests definitely a repeat
Glad to hear, thanks for sharing!
I made it for Rosh Hashona and it was absolutely delicious!
Never thought of combining Zaatar with dried fruit and and wine. Sounds like a very delicious combination
This looks amazing! I have so much zaatar in my pantry, what a great recipe to try it on.
LOVING the glaze on this chicken!
I just went out and bought dried fruit so I can make this recipe. It looks so dang good!
Can I omit the honey? Do we must use it??
Hi Sarah, If you want to omit the honey, I would just put a splash of wine in the bottom of the pan and drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and dried fruit.
If I don’t have red wine, anything else I can use?
I can’t think of anything else that would work in this recipe. Sorry!
Hi sorry- when you say 1 package of chicken, how many chicken legs does that mean?
4 chicken bottoms (legs and thighs).
Have you ever tried this recipe on roast instead of chicken?!
HI Raizy, I actually have a similar recipe for a Rosh Hashanah roast using dried fruits wine and honey. Recipe here: https://busyinbrooklyn.com/rosh-hashana-roast/. You can adapt it to use za’atar if you’d like.
Hey making it right now :) is semi dry red wine okay?
Yes. The honey will sweeten it up!
Made this for Rosh Hashana and everyone loved it! It was flavorful, moist, and looked lovely served. Thank you!
I’m SO glad you enjoyed, thanks for sharing!
What a fantastic blog. I love, love, love your flavor combinations. The blending of cultures, through food, creates such interesting flavors. Thanks.
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this recipe. My huband LOVES za’tar. (I think he would sprinkle it on his ice-cream if I’d let him!) Made this dish last evening for Erev Rosh and it was a huge hit and super easy. I’ll be checking out your site again.
I”m so glad you enjoyed it Rebecca. Za’atar on ice cream doesn’t sound half bad!!
Hi! can i use regular red wine instead of dry red wine?
Sure, I’ve used port wine (very sweet wine) with great results!
Hi chanie – love your website!
Is the Pereg zahtar the same as the za’tar you are referring to? looks like a great recipe!
Yes, there are lots of variations in the spelling.
Hi there
I would LOVE to make this for Rosh Hashana – just came back from Israel with a big bag of za’atar! I just want to check – your recipe says 20oz dried fruit – is this correct? It’s over a pound.
Thanks so much!
bev
Yes, it’s a 10oz. container of each apricots and prunes. You may use less if you wish.
thanks so much for your quick response Chanie
I’m making a lot of chicken for a crowd, so I think I’ll use a bit less
bev
hi!
This looks amazing! Can it work with boneless chicken as well?
It may work with dark meat boneless chicken, but I wouldn’t try it with white.
Followed the exact measurements with even less chicken and it doesn’t look juicy at all compared to the picture. Any tips? Can’t wait to rate it. Thanks!!!
Hey Dana, using less chicken can actually make it less juicy because the chicken releases juices while it’s cooking. That is likely the issue.
Hi Chanie! Would you recommend a quartered 2-3 pound chicken for this recipe or would you recommend a larger chicken? I think I’m going to give this a pre-chag trial run next Shabbat!
You can go either way, but for a large chicken, you’ll probably need to cook it for a bit longer.
Does this freeze well? How many days does it last in fridge?
Yes, it freezes great. It lasts 4 days in the fridge.
Please indicate how many this recipe serves–4? I don’t want to quarter a chicken since I’m serving so many people for the holiday. I’d like to use just thighs and breasts. Thank you
A quartered chicken usually serves 4, unless you separate the thighs and serve smaller portions. You can easily use 6 pieces of chicken for this recipe if you wish.
Hey! Does it freeze well?
Yes, very!
If I’m freezing this dish, should I remove all the fruit, honey, etc before freezing or just freeze the while thing together?
BTW- just bought two copies of your book. Very excited to try some recipes for Yom Tov.
You can freeze it together.
looked this up and made this again after a few years ,, used just the backs and it served great !! guests loved it
That’s what we call an #oldiebutgoodie! Shanah Tova!
Made this for Sukkot and it was fab! Used a whole chicken and stuffed potatoes inside. The combination was delightful and delicious!
That sounds delicious!
This recipe turned out great! We’re beginning cooks and the recipe was easy to follow and delicious. I personally don’t like fruit so I left out the dried fruit and used more olive oil and za’atar.
Chanie, someone give us your cookbook for our wedding and we love using it! Thank you for all of your great food.
I’m so glad you are enjoying it!
Do you think I could use boneless, skinless chicken thighs with this recipe? Would the timing/oven temps be the same?
Yes! I would cook covered for 45 minutes and then uncover for like 20.
do you drizzle the honey on the chicken or just around(on the fruit?)
On everything!
If I am making this with an entire quartered chicken (all still on the bone), should I adjust the cooking time (or anything else) for the white meat? Can I make the dark/white meat together?
You can make it together, no adjustments needed.