Learn to make your own homemade 5 spice powder, so you always have the freshest and most powerful spices on hand for extra delicious food!
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What is 5 spice powder?
Also known as 五香粉 (wu Xiang fen), 5 spice powder is a ground mixture of various spices that is used in many Chinese, Vietnamese and even Hawaiian dishes. The number 5 doesn't actually refer to the number of spices in the recipe- some feature 6 or more- but rather the 5 flavours (salty, spicy, bitter, sweet and savoury) or the traditional 5 elements.
Why make it yourself
If you're anything like my friends, your first question on seeing this post may be: " WHY make your own 5 spice powder when you can get it in the shop at such a cheap price?" Other than the fact that I like making things from scratch- other DIY culinary ingredients include makgeolli, fermented plum syrup, tangerine-cheong and salted eggs- it's good to make your own spice mixes because:
- The spices are fresher so the dishes you cook will be more aromatic. (Old spices lose their taste with time so you need to refresh your spice cupboard and toss old ones out every now and then. 5 spice powder only needs to be used sparingly and isn't the most commonly-used spice, so a bottle usually loses its flavour long before one uses it up.)
- You can tailor the mix to your taste- I've given exact proportions for each spice in the instructions below but it's more of a guideline so feel free to fudge the quantities. (I'd be carefully with the cloves though as it's quite a strong spice and can be overpowering.) In fact, you don't even have to use the same spices as I do- for example, some people replace cassia with cinnamon as the latter is more readily available outside of Asian supermarkets. In addition, Sichuan peppercorn is sometimes substituted with sand ginger or white peppercorns.
- It's really easy to make your own 5 spice powder!
Note: There's also a lesser-known Chinese 13-spice powder- I'll share the recipe for that soon- it's slightly more complicated to make as some of the ingredients are quite difficult to find.
How to reduce the spices to a fine powder
You can:
- blitz it in a spice or coffee grinder
- pound it up the old-fashioned way in a mortar and pestle (it took me about 10 minutes to reduce the spices to a powder) then sieve the spice mix to remove any overly large pieces- if not your mix will be quite gritty!
Note: using a blender isn't ideal as the spices will be broken down into uneven, fairly chunky bits. However, if you don't have a spice/ coffee blender and want to save on the arm strength, you could blend it first then pound the broken spices in a mortar till you get a fine mixture.
How to use 5 spice powder?
5 spice powder goes amazingly with meat, particularly pork and chicken. In Singapore, one of the most common everyday dishes in a Chinese household is tau yew bak (literally translated as soya sauce pork)- it calls for 5 spice powder and is really simple to make as well as delicious! Other ideas include:
- braised Chinese peanuts, mushrooms, tofu and/ or eggs (a must-have with rice porridge)
- as a seasoning for popcorn
- as a dry-rub for roast chicken (Your roast leftovers can then be used to make stock as well as these dishes so don't toss them!)
- as well as these recipes from other bloggers
On the more exotic side, I've seen some dessert dishes that use 5 spice, but have not tried including it myself so no comment for now. I'd love to hear how you use this quick homemade 5 spice powder! On my end, I'm making these 5 spice braised carrots tonight! (Verdict: they were OK but not so good that I plan to make them more than once!)
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Homemade Chinese 5 spice powder
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
- OR coffee/ spice blender
- Pan and wooden/ silicone spatula
- sieve
Ingredients
- 4 Star anise Look for broken pieces as it makes the pounding easier
- 1.5 teaspoon sichuan peppercorns
- 1 casssia stick (Chinese cinnamon) about 1-2g
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon cloves
Instructions
- Dry fry the spices in a pan till their fragrance is released
- Blitz the spices in a coffee or spice grinder. If you don't have one, you can also pound them by hand in a mortar and pestle. (This took me 9 minutes 52 seconds so it's not too time consuming.)
- Sieve the powder to remove any bigger bits
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place till you want to use it.
lulu says
made this over the weekend and it was SO MUCH better than the McCormicks I usually buy! def a keeper recipe thanks! Used a spice grinder so didn't have a problem with the bits in the mix
Zen says
glad to hear, Lu Lu 🙂 yes i've stopped buying ready made after making my own r-spice at home 🙂