Five Spice Roasted Chicken

As it was a crazy early January and chinese new year being a bit earlier this year, I didn’t have time to plan a proper chinese new year dinner. So i just made a simple dinner for 2 at home and wanted to make a roast chicken but with asian flavors.

Recipe from https://pupswithchopsticks.com/oven-roasted-five-spice-peking-chicken/

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes plus marinating time

Serving: 4 

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken

  • 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder (for dusting the cavity)

Marinade

  • 1/4 cup light soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (for the dark brown color)

  • 1 tablespoon sugar

  • 5-6 slices ginger

  • 1 teaspoon five-spice powder

For Basting Sauce

  • Leftover marinade (cooked)

  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey)

Method:

  1. Lightly dust the inside of the chicken with 1/2 tsp of five spice powder.

  2. In a large bowl or ziploc bag, combine the marinade and coat the chicken in it. Marinate for a minimum of 4 hours. (Preferably overnight)

  3. Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes prior to cooking it and stuff the chicken with the ginger that it was in the marinade.

  4. Set up a tray with a rack and set the chicken on it. (If you don't have a rack, you can crunch up foil balls and set the chicken on it, you need airflow to roast the chicken optimally)

  5. Pre-heat the oven to 350F (177C)

  6. With the leftover marinade, cook it in a small pot over the stop top for 5-10 minutes on low heat. Add in 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey at the end to sweeten and thicken it. Set this aside for basting at the end.

  7. After 20 minutes, you should see oil drippings. Baste the chicken with the oil every 20 minutes for an hour. (If you don't get any oil drippings, you can use 1-2 tablespoon of oil and brush it on instead.)

  8. Once the chicken has cooked in the oven for an hour, start basting it with the basting sauce every 10-15 minutes or until the marinade is used up. (approximately 30 minutes). If you are using an external digital thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the chicken, usually into the thigh without touching the bone. (Not between the drums and the thigh, but the thigh itself).

  9. Remove chicken when the temperature hits 165F (74C), which is about 1 hour and 30 minutes of cooking. This may vary depending on the size of the chicken and the stove settings.

  10. Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting it.

A super simple but very delicious recipe, next time i will try to marinate it overnight to see if the flavor then becomes more intense. this time i only marinated it for a couple of hours, also as i tried to make the skin crispier i accidently burned it a bit but those bits were still quite good. the chicken was nice and tender and the flavor wasn’t completely like a beijing duck but it was still very good, sweet, salty and accidently crispy. I served it with some stir fried green beans and glutinous rice dumplings. A simple and tasty chinese new year dinner.

chicken, cooking, chineseJackie Wongfive spice, roasted chickenComment