Chinese Five Spice Chicken. Tender juicy chicken thighs roasted in a delicious, savory, sweet five spice marinade. Easy to make with simple ingredients. One of those easy dinner recipe ideas with a big flavor profile!
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What is Chinese Five Spice Chicken?
Chinese Five Spice Chicken features tender juicy chicken thighs seasoned with a very popular spice blend in Chinese cooking and roasted in the oven until golden brown. Chinese five spice is very common spice in Chinese cuisine. The spice is a mixture of ground cloves, star anise, cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorns and fennel seeds. You can often find this spice at most regular grocery stores or Asian grocery stores. It has a warm licorice flavor with a numbing taste and it's divine with seasoned roast chicken. This is a dish that you don't often find at Chinese restaurants, at least from where I'm located.
This chicken recipe is easy to make and a great way to enjoy chicken if you're looking for depth of flavor! In fact, there's no marinating time at all if you want to keep the cooking technique simple. 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. Making it the perfect solution when you have less time to cook. I love serving this flavorful chicken as a main dish with jasmine rice, white rice, brown rice, or cauliflower rice (if you want a healthy option) and veggies!
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.
- 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.
- Neutral oil: any flavorless oil like avocado oil, peanut oil, grapeseed oil, vegetable oil or canola oil with a high smoke point. I would avoid using olive oil or coconut oil due to its heavier scent.
- Rice wine vinegar (aka rice vinegar) or white vinegar: This gives the 5-spice chicken recipe that acidity it needs.
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce of your choice. I wouldn't suggest using fish sauce for this recipe.
- Sesame seeds: Or sub with ½ tablespoon sesame oil for a stronger sesame flavor.
- Honey: This gives this Chinese chicken dish a sweet taste and balances out the saltiness. 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 dish that can hold water, wire rack, mixing bowl
Note: Your local grocery store or Asian grocery store will carry most of these ingredients.
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 with a meat thermometer or until juices run clear. Garnish with finely chopped green onions (optional) and enjoy!
Storage & Reheating
This dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.
Expert Tips
- Source fresh chicken thighs. Avoid using chicken that may have an odor to it or you will unfortunately taste it.
- Use a fork to some poke holes in the chicken thighs before marinating. This allows the marinate to penetrate through the chicken skin creating flavor inside the marinated chicken.
- For best results, marinate chicken overnight. This allows the flavors to seep through.
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 chicken recipes you may like!
If you like my honey Chinese five spice with chicken, check out my other recipes:
- Soy Hoisin Chicken Thighs
- Soy Maple Glazed Chicken
- Oyster Sauce Braised Chicken Wings
- Chicken Adobo
- Soy Sauce Chicken
📖 Recipe
Easy Simple Chinese Five Spice Honey Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb skin-on bone in chicken thighs (4 thighs)
- 1 green onion finely chopped (optional for garnish)
Marinade
- 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice or sub with all-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or sub with 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil or any neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce (not dark soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds or sub with ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoon honey or sub with maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon 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!
Baker Tara
What does “mustard” mean? Dry or yellow?
christieathome
Yellow mustard in the bottle form
kait
Tastes great on the grill!
christieathome
So glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate the kind review, Kait! Thanks for making my recipe! The grill must add some great flavor 🙂
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
The Chinese five spice and honey created such a luscious glaze on the your chicken... so irresistible!