A cross between a roasted chicken & Peking duck, this Peking chicken recipe is for days when you have that craving for a Peking duck but chicken is all you have to work with
Chicken, love it to pieces! It’s easy to find, reasonably priced and takes on the flavors you marinate it in and in this case, it’s soy sauce and five spice!
This Peking chicken is super easy to make and just requires a bit of extra time for it to be marinated. Once it has marinated, you can stick it in the oven and voila you have a flavorful and arromatic Peking chicken, your house will smell amazing!
INGREDIENTS FOR PEKING CHICKEN
- Chicken – For this recipe, I used a whole chicken but you can easily switch it up and use chicken drums or chicken legs as well.
- Soy Sauce – I use both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce for this recipe. The dark syrupy soy sauce gives the chicken its dark color and the light soy sauce gives the chicken it’s flavor and saltiness. If you cannot find dark soy sauce, you can omit it but you will lose out on the brown coloring on the skin.
- Sugar – I have used sugar, honey and maple syrup in this recipe and it works well with all of them.
- Ginger – I highly recommend using fresh ginger for this recipe. Ground ginger powder doesn’t give it the same flavor and I find it too strong.
- Five Spice – For this recipe, I use Chinese five spice powder.
GINGER SCALLION SAUCE (Pairs Wonderfully with Peking Chicken)
This sauce is essentially 4 ingredients (salt, oil, green onions, and ginger) and it packs a lot of flavors. To use it, you would spread the green onion and ginger over the chicken and then eat it! I find it goes amazing mixed in with white rice as well.
You can find detailed instructions on how to make it and what to use this sauce on here: Ginger Scallion Sauce.
4 SIMPLE STEPS TO THE PERFECT PEKING CHICKEN
- Marinate. Dust 1/2 teaspoon of five spice inside the cavity of the chicken, then combine all the marinating ingredients into a ziplock or a large bowl with the chicken. You want to marinate the chicken for a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Cook the Chicken.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before putting it in the oven. Stuff the ginger slices that you used for marinating into the chicken.
- Pre-heat the oven, and put the chicken in when it has come up to temperature. I highly suggest using a rack so that there is proper airflow under the chicken to allow it to crisp up a bit. If you don’t have a rack, you can crunch up foil into little balls and rest the chicken on top of it.
- Create the Basting Sauce. Cook the remaining marinade over the stovetop and add honey or maple syrup at the very end to sweeten and slightly thicken it.
- Basting. This is where the magic begins. In the first 20 minutes of the roasting, the chicken will release its oil from the skin. Use a brush and baste the chicken with the drippings for the first hour every 20 mins. (If your chicken doesn’t have oil drippings, you can use a tablespoon of oil and baste it with that.) After the hour mark, baste the chicken with the basting sauce every 10 minutes, approximately 2-3 times or until the marinade is finished.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THE CHICKEN IS DONE?
Cooking time will always be different and vary for everyone depending on how the oven temperatures are and big the chicken is.
I highly recommend a digital meat thermometer to take the guessing game out of how long to cook meat. Insert the digital thermometer at the thickest part of the chicken, which is usually the thigh.
When I first started using the digital thermometer for chicken, I had a very hard time finding the right spot and I would always insert it between the drums and the thigh which is just…skin! doh! You want to make sure it is inserted into the meat – not the gap between the drum and the thigh. 🙂
I took it out of the oven when it reached 165F (74C). For me, it took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to reach that temperature at 350F (177C).
Let the chicken sit for an additional 10-15 minutes before carving into it to allow the juices to redistribute into the meat, and so you don’t burn your fingers. 🙂
The Kitchn has a great read on ‘Chicken Still Pink After Cooking? Don’t Panic‘ that explains the safety of the doneness of the chicken.
LOOKING FOR OTHER OVEN ROASTED MEAT RECIPES? TRY THESE!
- Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
- Herb Roasted Turkey Legs
- Coffee Rub Roasted Turkey Thighs
- Sweet & Sticky Coca Cola Ribs
NEED A STUFFED ROASTED CHICKEN INSTEAD?
If you are craving a stuffed roasted chicken instead, head on over to The Hungry Bites and try out his ‘Greek Whole Stuffed Chicken with Rice and Chestnuts‘ recipe!
DID YOU MAKE THIS PEKING CHICKEN?
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Oven Roasted Five Spice Peking Chicken
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)
Instructions
Preparations
- Lightly dust the inside of the chicken with 1/2 tsp of five spice powder
- 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)
Prepping the Chicken
- 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.
- 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)
- 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)
Making the Basting Sauce
- 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.
Roasting the Chicken
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F (177C)
- Once the oven has reached 350F, place the chicken in the oven.
- 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.)
- 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)
- 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.
- Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes before cutting it.
- Enjoy! 🙂
Notes
- This chicken pairs amazingly with Ginger Scallion Sauce
- If you have leftover chicken, white rice and ginger scallion sauce the next day, throw it all together in a frying pan with an egg and a bit of soy sauce for a Peking chicken fried rice!
Nutrition
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Steve says
Will this work with bone in skin on thighs? Any change in cooking time or temp. I like my thighs well cooked so they get tender. Typically I cook at 400 for an hour. Thanks
Joyce Lee says
Hi Steve,
This will definitely work on bone-in, skin-on thighs. I would keep it the same temperature, however you may need to experiment on how long they should stay in. It would cook a lot faster than cooking a whole bird. Next time I make it, I will update it on how much time it takes when using thighs and drums.
allison says
Hi do you think this can work in the air fryer?
Joyce Lee says
Hi Allison,
I am not really sure. I have never used an air fryer before.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help!
Joyce
Liesl says
This recipe came out absolutely delicious, thank you! And the Ginger Scallion Sauce is a magnificent fit. The chicken was perfect after 1h 25min.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Leisl!
I’m so happy you liked it! 😊 I do love the ginger scallions sauce! Sometimes I’ll just make the sauce alone so I can have it on white rice! haha
Belinda says
Thanks for this recipe. The flavors were delicious! Loved the ginger scallion sauce. My only issue was that 1hr and 40mins was not enough time even though I checked the temperature and my reading was 167°f. After I let the chicken rest, I started to quarter it and saw pink! I then had to try finishing it off on the stove top. By the time it was cooked, I had spent 2.5hrs total cooking this bird. If I attempt this again, how should I measure the temperature?
Joyce Lee says
Hi Belinda!
Where was the pink located? Was the pink between the bones?
One thing you can try next time is spatchcocking the chicken before you bake it. Spatchcocking will flatten out the chicken so that it cooks evenly and more quickly as well. I don’t have any instructions on my site on how to do it, but there are wonderful youtube videos on how to do it, and it’s easier to see people do it in a video than reading it in text form. 😊
Another thing you can try is to let the chicken rests in room temperature for an hour if you are pulling it in out from the fridge. Especially if the chicken has been previously frozen. This will let the temperature of the chicken be more even before you put it in the oven.
One thing I also noticed is that the temperature can be inaccurate if it is placed in an open airy space between the leg and the body. Try to test the temperature on the breast, and where you saw pink (although its harder if it’s between the bone)
Hmmm that’s all that I can think of for now. I also like making this with pre-cut chicken pieces (chicken leg, drums, breast) I find it cooks a lot faster that way as well. 🙂
Please don’t hesitate to contact me for any more questions! I’m super happy you came back to share this with me!
mandy says
i have a question – could this recipe work with a cornish hen? i’ve never worked with this meat before and am curious to try. any thoughts?
Joyce says
Hi Mandy,
Hmmm…that is an excellent question! I have never used a cornish hen before but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! 🙂 I know that it’s a bit leaner and smaller so you will most likely need to adjust the cooking time for it and cook it for less time.
I hope that helps!
Joyce
LeeAnn Treacher says
This recipe was awesome,I made the ginger scallion sauce,so easy and so much flavor. Another great recipe from you and I Thank You. Do you have any recipe’s for beef?
Joyce says
Hi LeeAnn,
I love that sauce! There’s something so comforting just having that sauce on white rice too! I’m very happy to share yums and thank you for your kind words. 🙂
The only beef recipe that I have so far as a main is Crispy Beef and Bo Kho (which is a Vietnamese beef stew). I have other recipes that have beef in it though like Beef & Onion Soy sauce Noodles, Cumin Beef Fried Rice, Crispy Cantonese Beef Chow Mein, Beef Chow Fun and Beef and Broccoli Noodle Stir Fry! 🙂
Amy says
Lucky me, I found your blog!
Joyce says
Yay! Hope you have fun and find some interesting things to make Amy! 🙂