This Chinese roast chicken recipe is 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 aromatic Peking chicken, your house will smell amazing and it is absolutely delicious with a side of steamed rice or garlic fried rice (sinangag)!
INGREDIENTS FOR PEKING CHICKEN
- Chicken - For this Chinese roast chicken 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 ½ 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?
If you made this, I want to see! Follow Pups with Chopsticks on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @pupswithchopsticks and #pupswithchopsticks. I love to know what you are making!
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Recipe Card
Oven Roasted Five Spice Peking Chicken
Joyce's Recipe 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!
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- ½ teaspoon five-spice powder (for dusting the cavity)
Marinade
- ¼ 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 ½ 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! 🙂
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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Davey says
I have yet to make this recipe but I did get a recipe for crispy duck from a chinese neighbor from a old lady from china. I had to use a verticle roaster along with the recipe the duck came out restaraunt quality great crispy brown skin moist juicy meat I even made my own shrimp fried rice and egg rolls from scratch following Pinterest recipes. Yum when I can afford the side dishes I will try the chicken as posted will not use vertical roaster
Joyce says
I honestly think the recipes passed on are truly wonderful gems! You're super lucky! 🙂 I haven't had a duck recipe passed on to me yet so I'm definitely still experimenting with this poultry - I find the meat is a lot more tougher and harder to work with than chicken. Speaking of chicken, I think the vertical roaster would work very well with this chicken! I haven't suggested it because not many people have it and to be honest - I didn't think of it myself as well! 😀 heehee Your roast duck and shrimp fried rice with egg rolls sounds fantastic Davey - I wished I could have enjoyed that! 🙂
Sue R says
I've just found your lovely blog on Pinterest. The photo of the chicken certainly got my attention. Yum! I will be making this for sure. I must brag though. A couple of weeks ago I bought 7 frozen ducks! I couldn't resist since they were half price. There was zero space left in my freezer 🙂 I've been using a Peking duck spice mix on them I found at the Asian supermarket. Lovely!
Joyce says
No way! I'm jealous haha! We just had frozen duck on sale recently too but my freezer is so full I couldn't buy more than 1! haha and thank you for your kind words 🙂
Now I am craving duck! heehee
Davey says
What is the difference between dark soy sauce and regular soy sauce I use kikkoman the oldest?
Joyce says
Hi Davey,
Dark soy is a syrupy, and usually less salty soy sauce that is mainly used to add a natural brown colour to the chicken (or any foods). Regular soy sauce is a lighter brown and has a more watery consistency but is a lot more saltier than dark soy. If you don't have dark soy you can add half the amount in regular soy sauce (in this case instead of using 2 tablespoons of dark soy, you can use 1 tablespoon of regular soy sauce instead) the only difference is you might not get as much brown colour you see on the chicken skin 🙂
Hope that helps!
AC says
Hi Joyce! I'm actually VERY interested in trying this recipe - though I've never had an inkling to make or try Peking anything before lol
Question: I've read the recipe a few times and am trying to determine what you mean by use the rest of the marinade to heat and baste the chicken with. Are you putting all of the marinade on the chicken to marinate then using what's left in the bowl to heat and add syrup to? OR do you set some of the marinade aside before marinating the chicken? If this is the case, how much do you set aside before you marinate?
I'm asking because I personally would not reuse leftover overnight marinade from raw chicken. But I'm not sure if that's essential to making this recipe a success.
THANK YOU!!!! (:
Joyce says
Hi AC!
Don't worry you are not alone, I would not directly use raw marinade to baste the chicken with as well, heehee!
So what I mean is pour the marinade (that used to marinade the chicken) into a pot, and heat it up and cook out the germs and while it is cooking, add some honey or maple syrup to thicken it up a little bit as well. Once it is slightly thickened, then you can use it to baste the chicken near the end. 🙂 You don't need to set aside marinade aside. Hope that helps? Don't hesitate to ask anymore questions.
AC says
That absolutely answered my question! Thank you so much for getting back to me! I'll be making this wonderful recipe tomorrow <3
Joyce says
Woohoo! 🙂 <3 Let me know if you have any more questions! 🙂
Josie says
Everyone from our family love to eat this ROASTED FIVE SPICE PEKING CHICKEN. Said yummy yummy. I just marinated the whole chicken following your ingredients. Then put into oven till done. Easy to make.
Will do it again some day. Thank you.
Joyce says
Pleasure is mine! I love sharing recipes and I am so happy to hear your family loved it! 🙂
colleen kennedy says
Wow, this may just be the most beautiful roast chicken I've ever come across! Pinning to try!
Joyce says
You are too kind. 🙂
Edyta at Innocent Delight says
OMG this chicken looks divine! I cook whole chicken often too and I'm always on a look out for a new great recipe. I will be making this for sure!
Joyce says
I know what you mean, I'm in the same boat! You can't have too many whole chicken recipes right? 🙂