This is a fantastic roast duck recipe.
It comes complete with an amazing orange and honey flavored glaze.
I always thought that roasting duck would be very difficult or picky and involved. It turns out that it’s not at all.
You do need to do a couple of extra things with the duck before and after you roast it.
Duck does have more fat than chicken or turkey.
It is important to prick the duck skin before roasting (and, as you will see, once more during the roasting). That ensures that as much of the excess fat as possible drains off the duck, while still retaining that distinctive and delicious roast duck flavor.
This roast duck recipe is a real treat and perfect for entertaining. Some serving suggestions are listed below as well.
Just follow the simple step by step instructions and you will be roasting duck perfectly in no time.
Roast Duck with Honey Orange Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 duck, 5 to 6 pounds, rinsed and thoroughly dried
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 oranges, juiced, then retain the oranges
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon potato flour
- 3/4 cup chicken stock, or water
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon orange marmalade, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Remove the excess fat from inside and outside of the duck. Season the cavity and skin to taste with salt and pepper. Prick the skin all over with a fork. Put the saved oranges inside the cavity. Put the onion slices on a roasting pan and cover with a rack. Put the duck on the rack.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. While the duck is roasting, combine half the orange juice and the honey. Baste the duck, then pour off any excess fat. Prick the skin again, then pour the orange juice and honey mixture over the duck.
- Continue roasting and basting the duck. Skim off any excess fat every 15-20 minutes. Roast for 1 1/2 hours, or until the bird is crisp and dark golden brown and the juices run clear when a skewer is inserted into a thigh. Move the duck to a serving platter, tented with foil.
- Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the roasting pan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and stir in the potato flour. Cook, stirring and scraping the glaze and juices from the bottom. Stir in the rest of the orange juice, stock, vinegar and marmalade. Bring it all to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes, or until it is slightly reduced and of a syrupy consistency.
- Taste the gravy/glaze to check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper if needed. Pour the glaze into a gravy boat for serving, or if you want a smooth glaze, strain it first, then add it to the gravy boat.
- Cut the duck into quarters and arrange the pieces on a serving platter. Serve it with the orange honey glaze.
Notes
- It is important to prick the duck skin with a fork. It helps the excess fat drain from the duck as it cooks and helps the skin to crisp while cooking.
- This recipe is wonderful served with rice. The rice absorbs all of that lovely glaze.
- The marmalade is listed as optional but it really ups the flavor profile of the glaze so it is well worth it to include it.
- You can substitute regular flour for the potato flour.
Nutrition
Serving Suggestion:
Keep up the orange theme in the meal and serve this roast duck recipe alongside asparagus with orange butter sauce.
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This was actually terrible. The cider vinegar overpowered the orange juice and the orange marmelade. The onions burned in the roasting pan. I would not recommend this at all. It was a huge disapointment.
I’m so sorry Martha. I’ve had several people contact me who loved the recipe. I am not sure what went wrong for you.
Karen
What about the onions?
Hi Rachael. See instruction 2 – put the onions in a roasting pan.
Karen
Overall great recipe – not sure if it was a mistype but 1 cup of cider vinegar was a bit much. Next time I would probably scale down to 1/4.