Roasted Five Spice Chicken

Johanna and I were sitting outside of Little Vietnam Cafe just off of Clement Street in San Francisco, enjoying delicious Vietnamese food, the beautiful weather, and summer solstice, when I suddenly remembered that I had made no plans at all for that night's dinner. Perhaps you've had a similar experience; "mmmm... Green papaya salad; crispy, refreshing papaya shreds, zesty dressing, crunchy peanuts and sesame seeds. Mmmm.... grilled five spice chicken.... Dang! I have to go grocery shopping! What should I make tonight?"

So, as I considered the excellence of five spice, the Asian spice blend of star anise, cloves, Szechuan pepper, Szechuan cinnamon (cassia bark) and fennel, dinner formulated in my mind; I would stop at Berkeley Bowl on the way home and pick up some organic chicken thighs and figure out how to marinate them with five spice powder for dinner.

I consulted a few sources and formulated a recipe; Super tasty? Check. Fast? Check. Easy? Check. Ingredients already in my pantry? Check. In short, a winner, and another fantastic recipe to join the roasted chicken recipe collection. I will be making this dish again - and again.

Five Spice Roasted Chicken

3 pounds of chicken parts (I like thighs)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 TB dry sherry or rice wine
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 TB five spice powder
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 cloves minced garlic

optional: 1/4 cup brown sugar
hot sauce to taste
1 chopped green onion


Wash and dry the chicken parts, and cut off any obvious excess fat, leaving the skin on.

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large container and stir to mix. Add the chicken parts, turning them to make sure they are well covered in the marinade. Cover the container and put in the refrigerator. Marinate for at least two hours, turning the pieces occasionally to ensure even marination. You can marinate overnight, which makes it that much more convenient, and will probably make it even tastier. (I'll do this next time and report back!)

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F, and take the chicken out of the refrigerator while it comes up to temperature. Spread the pieces of chicken on a roasting pan skin-side up (I used the broiler pan that came with my stove; it drains the fat away and helps the skin get nice and crispy.) Reserve any leftover marinade to baste the chicken with. Roast the chicken until it is done and the skin is nice and crispy, basting occasionally with the marinade, about 45 minutes.

Serve it with brown rice which has been cooked with chicken broth, and an aromatic white wine such as a Riesling. (We like "Big House White;" while you can get it in a bottle for about $8, you can buy a box of it, equivalent to 4 bottles, for $20. It's cheaper, keeps the wine from going bad, convenient, and earth friendly, as it uses so little packaging.)

Where can I get Five Spice Powder? Most grocery stores now carry it, and around here we can get a little box of organic Five Spice made by Spicely.