This elegant and easy Citrus Duck roast will turn out amazing without much fuss. You get a crispy skin with sweetness from the orange, tender meat, and the perfect golden brown. I think duck intimidates people because it’s not a super common option here in the US, but the duck is a delicious fatty bird. This citrus duck with crispy skin roasts up while rendering delicious fat over diced vegetables.
This is the perfect centerpiece for your holiday table. It’s perfect for a smaller group and much juicier than a turkey. Opt for this stunning duck roast and you will wow your guests!
Grab Your Ingredients
- Duck: you want a 3-4 pound duck, I get the Mary’s Farm ducks at Whole Foods.
- Oranges or clementines: any winter citrus will do, as long as it’s sweet.
- Coconut Aminos: not soy sauce, you want these sweet aminos they will help create that sticky sweet flavor.
- (AIP reintro: 1 tsp black pepper)
Duck, Duck…
It’s meatier than chicken, with a thick layer of fat under the skin, that if cooked right, crisps up nicely. It also renders a lot of fat. Duck fat is liquid gold. It makes everything taste better, especially roasted vegetable. My favorite part of roasting a duck is removing the fat from the drip pan, tossing veggies in it, then putting them right back in the drip pan. You have a whole meal in the oven & that’s a beautiful thing.
This Citrus Duck with Crispy Skin…
It hits all the classic roasted duck notes. Crispy, check. Sweet, check. Use fat for the side dish, check. BONUS! It’s allergen-friendly and perfect for holidays. Especially if you’re only cooking for one or two people. Much smaller than a turkey, this roast is perfect for a small Thanksgiving or Christmas.
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Citrus Duck with Crispy Skin
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 65
- Total Time: 75
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Holiday
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Crispy Skin Duck!
Ingredients
- 1, 3-4lb, duck
- 4 clementines (or oranges)
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- (AIP reintro: 1 tsp black pepper)
- 1 tbsp Himalayan pink salt
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 Vidalia onion
- 3 stems celery
- 3 sprigs Thai basil
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 450F
- Remove your bird from wrapping, check inside the cavity for the neck & giblets. If it has them, you can save them for stock (I store them in the freezer).
- Measure out coconut oil and drizzle it over the duck, use your hands to evenly coat it. Next, measure your salt and pepper, then rub down your oiled bird with salt (and pepper, if applicable).
- Peel onion & dice into 1/2 inch chunks, same with celery. Stuff into the cavity of the bird. Place on the roasting rack over drip pan. Roast at 450F for 25min.
- In the meantime mince 5 garlic cloves. Then juice 4 ripe clementines- I halve them and use a lemon juicer or just squeeze into a bowl with my hands.
- Remove seeds from juice, then add in garlic, ginger, coconut aminos & Himalayan salt.
- After 25 minutes are up, remove the duck from oven.
- Lower temp to 375F. Drain fat from drip pan {use for veggies}.
- I had my veggies diced and ready to go. I tossed them in the fat, and spread them out over the sheet pan, they were ready to eat along with the duck!
- Brush duck with juice aminos mix. Make sure to get in between the wings and thighs and the underside too.
- Place back in the oven & brush every 20 minutes (just brushing the top thoroughly will do) for an hour or until done .
- The duck skin will begin to darken, becoming golden, then orange-brown and crisp looking.
- Each time you insert your brush in the mix give it a little mix to pick up the garlic & move the ginger. Let it settle for a few minutes after removing from oven. In the meantime mince a bunch of Thai basil to serve with it.
- Cut duck into quarters or shred it, serve over roasted vegetables with basil on top. perfection.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 792
- Fat: 35g
- Carbohydrates: 12g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 69g
Selena says
This was my first attempt at duck. I was given one from a friend that just hunted it this last weekend. I did cook it in a countertop convection oven. I think I probably should have cooked it a little less time on both sections, but the inside was perfect and delicious! Thank you so much.
Cristina Curp, FNTP says
awesome!
Stephen Guthartz says
Flavor was great. I used a 5lb duck from Costco and the skin never crisped up and sadly after 90 minutes of roasting it still hadn’t reached 165 internal temp. I had to cut it up and roast the parts with the vegetable to get it to temp. Will try again but I’d appreciate some advice
Cristina says
Keep cooking it. I used a 3.5 lb duck. Start with a bird that’s room temp and just cook until you get that internal temp, the skin will crisp.
Ms. Lab Rat says
Castaway,
This meal lit up our quarantine Thanksgiving. I’d always thought duck was difficult. Not the way you taught. And my oh my….yum!
Our thanks and praises.
Cristina says
Thank you that makes me so happy
Kelsey says
Can this be cooked in a crockpot instead?
Cristina says
No, the skin will be chewy. Duck is very fatty, it needs to be in the oven to get crispy
Jo says
It’s keto. You mention roast veggies but none in the ingredients. Don’t get it ..
Cristina says
I like putting veggies in the roasting pan while the bird cooks, but it’s totally optional…. last time I checked you can eat vegetables on keto, not sure what you don’t get
Britt says
What vegetables did you use in the pictures above? I’m terrible at knowing what goes together well. I see Brussels sprouts but can’t tell what the other things are!
Christa says
Is this cooked cover off or on?
Cristina says
the bird is roasted uncovered
Cherie says
Hi, I’m curious how this is Keto if there are 54 grams of carbs in it?
Cristina says
That’s a mistake, the clementines must have been factored in whole, not just the juice for basting… total carbs for 1/4 of the entire recipe 12g, net carbs 10gs