Maple chicken

This is always a hit, and always requested by my son, the recipe comes from Nigella Express and in the original recipe you use chicken and ribs, my son loved the original recipe so much that it toppled Elvis' backyard ribs from his top spot, he is extremely fussy about his ribs, I will blog Elvis' ribs one day, they are so good that they never hang around long enough to have their picture taken.


Like most people I am forever looking for ways to jazz up chicken drumsticks so I simply left out the ribs and used this tasty marinade, made with store cupboard staples.

Great for a simple supper.

The original recipe from Nigella Express

Maple chicken 'N' ribs

12 pork spare ribs

12 chicken portions, skin and bone still on

250ml apple juice, as sharp as possible

4 x 15ml tablespoons Maple syrup

2 x 15ml tablespoons vegetable oil

2 x 15ml tablespoons soy sauce

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick, halved

6 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

Put the ribs and chicken in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.
Add the remaining ingrediants, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.
Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to a couple of days.
When marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200c/ gas mark 6.
Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins ( making sure the chicken is skin side up), place in the oven and cook for about a hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown.

Serves 6-8.

This is such a simple recipe and I always have everything to hand in the store cupboard for it, the flavours are subtle though so overnight marinating is essential. It really is delicious, a slight sweetness against the savouriness of the chicken and as always, sticky food is always delicious.