Chicken with Paprika Stuffing

Chicken with Paprika Stuffing is a sensational recipe for chicken. This recipe is also excellent for duck. 

This is not the regular stuffing you may expect

This isn’t stuffing as you may know it though. The chicken isn’t kept whole and its cavity filled. This filling is stuffed under the skin and so coats the meat.  The bird is then marinated over-night so the flavours permeate fully before it’s roasted. Believe me the flavours are simply incredible.

What heat levels do you enjoy?

The recipe does include fresh chillies, so consider what heat levels you enjoy. Either use mild chillies which provide all the flavour but only a little heat or maybe choose ones that have a bit more of a kick if that’s what you enjoy.

The spices in the marinade infuse the meat

The sweet paprika and the slight spiciness of the chilli infuse the meat and gives it such a powerful boost of flavour which compliments the essence of the meat and elevates it rather than overwhelms it.

Like so many other ladies in Egypt, my daughter in law’s mother is a fabulous cook. This is a wonderful dish that she makes on frequent occasions. I remember the first time I had it. It was so unusual, the flavours were amazing and it just blew me away.  

Chicken with Paprika Stuffing is a great choice for entertaining

This is a great recipe for when you’re having friends around. All the prepping gets done the day before and then you just need to pop it into the oven for half an hour on the day.  Plus, in my experience it’s always a real crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

• 1 chicken (or duck) – cut into quarters

Ingredients for the salt rub

• white vinegar
• juice of a lemon
• liberal sprinkling of salt

Ingredients for the Marinade

• 2 medium onions very, very finely chopped or grated
• 3 beautiful ripe tomatoes – skinned and de-seeded and flesh finely chopped
• 1/2 ripe red pepper – very finely chopped or grated
• 1 red & 1 green chilli finely sliced into rings
• juice of 1½  lemons
• 2 stock cubes – grated
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 bay leaves very finely chopped

Method

First you need to make your pockets

Take the chicken and make pockets between the skin and the meat where the stuffing will be put. Simply lift the skin and slip your fingers in to make the pocket. There’s a lot of stuffing and it all needs to go in, so, make the pockets as big as you can.  This is actually much easier with chicken than with duck.  You may need to use the tail end of a spoon or something similar to ease the skin up.

Rub in the salt mix & pop in the fridge

Rub the salt rub deep into the skin and flesh of the duck and put it into the fridge for about ½ hour whilst you prepare the stuffing.

Let’s make the stuffing for your Chicken with Paprika Stuffing

To skin the tomatoes cut a cross slit into the skin, put them into a heat-proof bowl and cover them with boiling water. Leave them for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the water and their skins should just slip off. If they don’t come off easily simply repeat the process.

Once skinned cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds. Then chop very finely.

Slice and chop all the ingredients for the stuffing as required and then put them into a large bowl.  Bring them all together by really squeezing them between your fingers and do this for several minutes.  This will amalgamate all the ingredients and produce finely chopped ingredients within a lot of liquid. 

* PLEASE make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after handling the chillis and even then don’t touch your eyes for the rest of the day or even your face (or other parts) as it will make them burn and tingle beyond belief.

*You could alternatively do this in a food processor and blitz everything until it’s very fine.

Rinse off all the salt

Take the salted duck out of the fridge and rinse it under cold running water, rubbing it with your hands as you do so, to remove all the salt rub.  Remember to rinse out the pockets you made to make sure that salt hasn’t got stuck in there.  Squeeze the portions to remove as much water as possible and allow them to drain for a couple of minutes before moving on to the next stage.

Now to fill those pockets for your glorious Chicken with Paprika Stuffing

Now you are ready to begin stuffing. 

Take one portion at a time and resting it above the bowl of stuffing, open up each pocket and scoop up the solid part of the stuffing and push in as much of it, under the skin, as you possibly can.  It may seem like there is far too much stuffing but as it cooks down it will reduce down and actually become quite a thin, but very tasty, layer.

Marinade your Chicken with Paprika Stuffing over-night if you can

When you’ve used all the stuffing to fill the pockets, put the duck portions into the bowl and pour the liquid from the stuffing over the top.  Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours or preferably over-night to marinade.

Pre-heat your oven

20 minutes before cooking, Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees C.

Bake in the oven

Remove the chicken portions from the marinade and place on a baking tray.

Rub a ltlle oil onto the skin of the chicken pieces, this will help it to crisp up and brown.

Roast in your pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes until the skin becomes beautifully golden and crispy.

Remove from the oven, cover with kitchen foil and allow your chicken to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Your beautiful Chicken with Paprika Stuffing is now ready

As Chicken with Paprika Stuffing has so much flavour, it’s good to serve it with something like a Egyptian Rice and maybe a a Herb Salad. This allows the chicken to take centre stage and for all the wonderful flavours to shine through.

I do hope you’ll try this recipe for Chicken with Paprika Stuffing, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed, as I said the flavours are incredible.