Chinese Roast Chicken

5 from 6 votes

This Chinese Roast Chicken is a budget-friendly, easy dinner recipe made with easy-to-get ingredients, that the entire family will love. (+ a secret tip for getting extra crispy skin, without having to tie the chicken up vertically!)

Prep Time5

Cook Time1

Marinating Time1

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Cantonese, Chinese

Servings: people

Calories: 382kcal

Author: Zen

Equipment

Baking Tray with wire rack
Large Ziplock bag To marinade the chicken. If not, just use a plastic tuppleware box.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken I used a 1.4kg chicken (3 lb.) A bigger chicken would need more marinating and cooking time. A smaller chicken would require less.

For the marinade

6 Tablespoons light soy sauce Reduce to 5 Tablespoons if doing the baking powder- salt rub.
3 Tablespoons oyster sauce I use Lee Kum Kee brand
1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce You can make your own black soy sauce or substitute with sweet soy sauce/ kicap manis (reduce the sugar if you do so)
1 Tablespoon shaoxing wine You can use sake or 1 of these Chinese cooking wine substitutes
½ teaspoon Chinese five spice powder Ideally, for the freshest flavor, make your own five spice mix at home. If you can't get it, feel free to omit.
1 Tablespoon sugar white or brown suagr work.
1 teaspoon salt Omit if rubbing with salt and baking powder later.

For stuffing the chicken

2 inch fresh ginger wash, smash with the back of your knife (or a rolling pin), and slice. No need to peel
1 whole fresh garlic wash, smash, peel. No need to slice.

Optional rub for extra crispy skin (will include extra 12-24 hours of resting time in the fridge)

½ teaspoon baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt

Glaze

1 Tablespoon Honey
½ teaspoon dark soy sauce

Instructions

Mix the sauce ingredients, then pour over the chicken and massage into skin. Ideally marinade in a Ziplock bag, so you can easily turn the chicken around, to ensure the entire bird gets the sauce.
Marinade for at least 24 hours in the fridge. (I tried it for 16 hours and the skin was flavorful, but the meat was a bit bland.)

24 hours after marinating

Pre-heat oven to 220C/ 200C (428F/392F fan.)
Remove the chicken from the fridge 50-60 minutes before you want to roast.
Place a wire rack on a baking tray. Pour some water into the tray, ensuring it doesn't wet or touch the wire rack.
Note: the water will help catch the drippings, and prevent it from burning on the tray and making a mess.
Place the chicken on the wire rack and let it return to room temperature (about 50-60 minutes, depending on the size of your bird.)
Bake at 220C/ 200C (428F/392F fan) for 20 minutes.
Reduce to 180C/ 160C fan. Remove the tray, and turn it around then bake for another 30 minutes.
(Ovens have hot spots, so if you don't turn the tray, one part of the chicken will be more burnt than others.)
After 30 minutes, remove and glaze with the honey mixture. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or till the internal temeprature of the thickes part measures 165F. (Use a food thermometer. The juices should also run clear when cut later.)
Money-saving tip: Whilst the chicken is finishing baking, boil the marinade ingredients for 10 minutes (to kill off all the bacteria.)The reduction can be used as a dip for the chicken meat (if you didn't have time to marinade it, and it's less flavorful) or to replace hoisin sauce when making chicken wraps etc. However, do not use the reduction to glaze the chicken because it will make the skin much too salty.
Once the chicken is cooked, use oven gloves to remove the tray from the oven. Rest the bird for 10 minutes before cutting and serving

Notes

Leftovers: Caan be used to make chicken congee or one of these leftover rotisserie chicken dishes.

Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.

Nutrition