Food

Roast chicken with butter beans, sage, shallots and fennel recipe

This golden roast chicken with orange and fennel is hearty and comforting, perfect for winter.

Written by Lucy Rosenberg

18 June 2025 •4 min read

This roast chicken with orange and fennel is hearty, elegant, and deeply comforting. It’s a little bit Jewish Friday night, a little bit French bistro. My Nanna is French, and I grew up watching her cook with instinct and care. She never overcomplicated things, just paired beautiful ingredients with confidence.

The chicken roasts until golden and crisp and the shallots melt in your mouth. It’s a dish that feels generous, not just in portion, but in spirit. It fills the room, invites seconds, and makes people stay a little longer, to have those meaningful conversations.

When I cook this, I think of my family, the stories we’ve passed around over the years, and how food, especially food like this, keeps us connected across time, tables, and generations.

  • Serves: 4-5

  • Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 mins

Ingredients

  • Chicken and marinade
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What to do

    1. First, salt the chicken in the table salt and let it rest in the fridge, uncovered overnight. The next day, wash the salt off and pat dry.

    2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

    3. Mix together the remaining marinade ingredients until all combined.

    4. In the oven tray, add the oil, orange slices, fennel, shallots, and chicken. Spread the marinade all over the chicken and underneath the skin.

    5. Cook the chicken in the oven for 40 minutes, then add in the verjuice, chicken stock and butter beans. Cook for a further 30-40 minutes, basting the chicken intermittently until the chicken is deeply golden, cooked through, and everything is bubbling and glossy.

    6. Let rest 5–10 minutes. Serve straight from the pan with lemon wedges, crusty bread or a leafy salad. Finish with an extra drizzle of olive oil and flaky salt if you like.
Family Roast card game

Get together and have a tasty conversation. 

The Medibank Family Roast is a card game designed to get families connecting and talking. Because when the bonds of family are stronger, Australia is stronger. So get around the dinner table, it’s time to serve the questions you’ve always wanted to know the answer to.

Find out more
Written by Lucy Rosenberg

Lucy Rosenberg is a Melbourne-based part time chef, content creator, recipe developer, stylist and caterer known for her bold, flavour-first approach to food. Find more recipes by Lucy at @food_bylucy on Instagram.

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