Chinese Five Spice Chicken. Tender juicy chicken thighs roasted in a delicious, savory, sweet five spice marinade.
This chicken recipe is easy to make and is perfect for dinner or lunch.
I love serving this flavorful chicken with some jasmine rice, white rice, brown rice, or cauliflower rice (if you want a healthy option) and veggies!
It's a great recipe to make for a large family since you can prepare the chicken the night before and, on the day of, pop it into the oven to bake.
Most of the simple ingredients can be found at your local grocery store. It's one of those easy dinner recipe ideas with a big flavor profile!
Sheet pan dinners are the perfect solution for those busy weeknight meals! The only thing with this recipe is that you'll need to baste the chicken every 10 minutes for extra flavor.
Easy Chinese Five Spice Chicken Recipe
This recipe is very easy to make at home! You're simply mixing your marinade in a bowl. Then coating the chicken in the marinade. You also have the option to marinate the chicken or not, depending on how much time you have. Finally bake it and you'll have a delicious tender chicken dish!
Marinating recommended but not required!
Yes, you heard me correctly, I've tested this recipe with and without marinating time and you can skip marinating and just pop the seasoned chicken into the oven. Of course, for best results, I recommend marinating for at least 15 minutes or overnight.
Ingredients
You will need the below ingredients for my Chinese five spice chicken recipe. Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full measurements.
- Chicken thighs with bone in skin on: I'm a big fan of dark meat specifically chicken thighs as they're tender and forgiving if you happen to overcook them due to the fat.
- You may use boneless chicken thighs with skin on but please reduce the cooking time to 20-25 minutes until you reach an internal temperature of 165 F or until juices run clear.
- If you want very tender juicy chicken, I would stick to thighs and avoid using chicken breast.
- Green onions (optional): This is an optional garnish to your five-spice chicken.
Chinese Five Spice Chicken Marinade:
- Chinese five spice: Chinese five-spice powder is a combination of star anise, Chinese cinnamon, fennel seed, and cloves. The fifth spice usually ranges between Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, or white pepper. Any local supermarket or online retailer like Amazon will carry this seasoning blend.
- If you can't find this spice, sub with all-spice powder.
- Garlic powder: This enhances the taste of your Chinese 5-spice chicken thighs by giving it a garlicky taste! You may use regular garlic but I prefer the powder form so it can coat the chicken evenly.
- Salt: To help season your chicken pieces and to bring out the flavors of the delicious spice blend.
- Black pepper: Just like salt, black pepper is a key ingredient to help season your chicken.
- Avocado oil: or any neutral oil like vegetable oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, canola oil. Do not use olive oil as it doesn't contain a high smoking point.
- Rice vinegar or white vinegar: This gives the 5-spice chicken recipe that acidity it needs.
- Regular Soy sauce: Just your regular soy sauce. Do not sub with dark soy sauce. You may use light soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce but please add to taste as light soy sauce is saltier than regular soy sauce.
- Sesame seeds: Or sub with ½ tbsp sesame oil for a stronger sesame flavor.
- Honey: This gives this Chinese chicken dish a sweet taste. Maple syrup is another great option.
- Mustard: It helps make the sticky sauce slightly thicker and gives the chicken a sharp flavor and helps to bring out the flavors of the marinade.
Required: a deep baking sheet or baking pan that can hold water, wire rack, mixing bowl
How to make Chinese Five Spice Chicken
Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full instructions.
- Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together marinade ingredients.
- Pat dry chicken thighs with clean paper towel. Transfer chicken thighs into a large bowl or a resealable plastic bag or Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over chicken thighs and mix until chicken is coated. Alternatively, if you're using a resealable bag, pour marinade over chicken and squeeze out excess air. Marinate for 15 minutes or overnight for better results. If you're short on time, you can actually skip marinating the chicken and it will be flavorful as is.
- Fill a deep 9 x 13-inch baking pan with enough water to cover the base of the pan. Place a wire rack into pan. Place chicken thighs bone side down, skin side up on top of rack. Make sure the water isn't touching thighs. Reserve the remaining marinade as a basting sauce.
- Bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Then remove from the oven and baste with remaining marinade.
- Then bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and baste again.
- Repeat the above step one more time.
- Finally, bake again for another 15 minutes (with or without basting, choice is yours) until cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 F or until juices run clear. Garnish with finely chopped green onions (optional) and enjoy!
FAQ
Below are frequently asked questions about these Chinese five spice chicken thighs:
What can I use Chinese 5 spice for?
This delicious spice can be used to season meat like chicken, pork or beef and vegan plant-based protein sources like tofu. It also can be used to season broths, vegetables, cakes and desserts.
What is 5 spice made up of?
It’s a mix of Chinese cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, Sichuan peppercorn and cloves. The fifth spice ranges between Sichuan peppercorns, ginger or white pepper.
What can I use if I don't have Chinese five spice?
You may substitute with All-spice or a combination of cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and ground cloves to mimic the flavor profile.
Other recipes you may like!
If you like my honey Chinese five spice with chicken, check out my other chicken recipes:
- SOY HOISIN CHICKEN THIGHS
- SOY MAPLE GLAZED CHICKEN
- MONGOLIAN CHICKEN
- OYSTER SAUCE BRAISED CHICKEN WINGS
- HONEY SESAME CHICKEN
- SESAME CHICKEN
- KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN
- CHICKEN ADOBO
- TAIWANESE POPCORN CHICKEN
- SALT AND PEPPER CHICKEN
*This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
Easy Chinese Five Spice Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb bone in skin on chicken thighs (4 thighs)
- 1 green onion finely chopped (optional for garnish)
Marinade
- 1 tbsp Chinese five spice or sub with all-spice powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder or sub with 2 tsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp avocado oil or sub with any neutral oil
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce not light or dark!
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds or sub with ½ tbsp sesame oil
- 3 tbsp honey or sub with maple syrup
- 2 tsp mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together Marinade ingredients as listed above.
- Pat dry chicken thighs with clean paper towel. Transfer chicken thighs into a large bowl or a resealable plastic bag or Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over chicken thighs and mix until chicken is coated. Alternatively, if you're using a resealable bag, pour marinade over chicken and squeeze out excess air.
- Marinate for 15 minutes or overnight for better results. If you're short on time, you can skip this step and go to Step 5 and it will be flavorful as is.
- Fill a deep 9 x 13 inch baking pan with enough water to cover the base of the pan. Place a wire rack into pan. Place chicken thighs bone side down, skin side up on top of rack. Make sure the water isn't touching thighs. Reserve the remaining marinade as a basting sauce.
- Bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Then remove from the oven and baste with remaining marinade.
- Then bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and baste again.
- Repeat the above step one more time.
- Finally, bake again for another 15 minutes (with or without basting, choice is yours) until cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 F or until juices run clear. Garnish with finely chopped green onions (optional) and enjoy!
The Chinese five spice and honey created such a luscious glaze on the your chicken... so irresistible!