Even though I’ve been trying to eat less meat, there’s one thing that I try to do every few months that’s an extremely economical way to eat and use meat: roasting a whole chicken. It provides a great meal, good leftovers, and enough stock to make even more meals in the future.

I think if there was one thing I wish I could convince people to do more of, it would be to move away from the boneless skinless breast situation and start using the whole bird.

For this version, I coated the chicken with a delicious five spice powder and a soy sauce and honey glaze. The chicken was very moist and had a delicious caramelized skin.

I’ve done a few roasted chickens for Macheesmo before (check out the roasted lemon chicken and the famous Zuni roasted chicken), but this guy is an entirely different creature. The spice gives the chicken a savory/sweet taste that is out of this world and the glaze makes it deliciously browned.

Five Spice Roasted Chicken

Yield: 1 chicken. Serves 4.

Prep Time: 10 minutes + marinade time

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes + marinade time

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, giblets removed
Few inches of ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 orange, cut into quarters
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon 5 spice powder (You can find this in some supermarkets or online or make your own.)

Sauce:
1/2 Cup soy sauce
1/4 Cup rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
Zest from orange (use the zest from the same orange as above)
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 clove garlic, grated
Scallions, thinly chopped (optional)

Helpful Equipment:
Microplane for zesting and grating ginger and garlic
Meat Thermometer

Directions:

1) About an hour before cooking, get your chicken ready by folding the wings behind the bird so they don’t just flap around.

2) Mix up your canola, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, and five spice powder in a bowl. Whisk it well to combine.

3) Pour your glaze all over the bird. Be sure to rub in the spiced liquid and get it all over the bird. Sprinkle on a little extra five spice powder.

4) Cover this with plastic wrap and let it marinade in the fridge for an hour or so. Halfway through, turn chicken over and re-coat the chicken with the liquid.

5) Prep your orange and ginger. Add into the cavity of the chicken. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

6) Once your oven is hot, stick in your bird and set your timer for 20 minutes. If the bottom of your pan is dry, meaning that all the glaze has cooked down, add about 1/3 Cup water to your pan and
scrape up the glaze so it liquefies again.

7) Cooking until chicken reaches 165 degrees (remember the chicken will rise 5 – 10 degrees while resting outside your oven), about an hour. Baste chicken ever 20 minutes.

8) Cover loosely with foil and let your meat rest about 10 minutes before you start slicing into it. That will give the juices some time to redistribute throughout the meat. If you don’t do this, your meat will be a
lot dryer. And nobody likes dry meat people.

9) Then you can slice up the pieces for serving!

10) Take your carcass from the bird and add it to a pot of cold water with a few ribs of celery, an onion cut into quarters, a few carrots, a bulb of garlic cut open horizontally, 20 or so black peppercorns,
a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary or parsley (or all three) and a pinch of salt.

11) Bring this to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 2 hours covered.

12) Strain out the veggies and chicken and you’ll be left with enough delicious stock for many meals. You can keep it in the fridge for a week or freeze it for future use.

Adapted from a Serious Eats recipe.

Making the Glaze and Sauce

It looks like there is a lot of ingredients in the sauce and glaze, but really there is a lot of overlap. These are the basics that you’ll need.

The only difference between the glaze and the final sauce used to serve with the dish is that the glaze has canola oil and honey which helps with browning and the sauce has rice vinegar which gives it some acidity.

As far as the five spice powder goes, I made my own a few months ago for some popcorn and I’ve been hanging onto the leftovers.

To make the glaze just mix up your canola, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, and five spice powder in a bowl. Whisk it well to combine. You could make your sauce now also which is basically the same idea. You could also make the sauce while your bird cooks though.

Prepping the Chicken

About an hour before cooking, get your chicken ready by folding the wings behind the bird so they don’t just flap around. This will make sure they cook evenly. Otherwise they’ll be burned and dry. Then pour your glaze all over the bird. Be sure to rub in the spiced liquid and get it all over the bird. I also sprinkled on a little extra five spice powder because why not.

Cover this with some plastic wrap and let it marinade in the fridge for an hour or so. Halfway through, turn your chicken over and re-coat the chicken with the liquid.

Right before you are ready to roast, prep your orange and ginger.

Add these things into the cavity of the chicken before you stick it in the oven. As it cooks the oranges will release a lot of juice which will keep the chicken nice and moist and the ginger will give some flavor to the chicken from the inside. Good stuff.

Cooking the chicken

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Once your oven is hot, stick in your bird and set your timer for 20 minutes. The total cooking time will probably be closer to an hour depending on the size of your chicken (mine was 3.5 pounds). Every 20 minutes though, you want to pull out the chicken and brush the skin all over with the glaze that’s in the bottom of the pan.

This was after 20 minutes:

If the bottom of your pan is dry, meaning that all the glaze has cooked down, add about 1/3 Cup water to your pan and scrape up the glaze so it liquefies again. Then spoon the glaze back over the chicken.

This is my finished bird. I checked on it two times while cooking and spooned the sauce back over the bird, basting it with the glaze.

The only way to for sure know your bird is done is to use a meat thermometer. I highly recommend picking one up. Depending on your oven and the size of your bird, cooking time can vary quite a bit. The GOV recommends an internal cooking temp of 165 for poultry and I usually pull mine at about 160 as the temp will raise 5-10 degrees while resting.

Resting

Anytime you are roasting meat, one of the most important things to remember is to let your meat rest about 10 minutes before you start slicing into it. That will give the juices some time to redistribute throughout the meat. If you don’t do this, your meat will be a lot dryer. And nobody likes dry meat people.

So once your bird is out, cover it loosely with foil and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then you can slice up the pieces for serving! Whatever you do, don’t throw away the carcass! That’s good stock just waiting to happen.

When I’m carving a chicken, I always do wings, then legs and thighs and then the breast. If you need some help with this, this video does a good job of showing how to carve (Around minute 4:50 is when he starts carving).

These were my final pieces. My favorite pieces are the dark meat, but Betsy likes the white meat. It works out nicely for us.

I served this chicken with a small salad, some brown rice, and a good amount of the sauce on the side. The brown rice soaks up all the flavors from the sauce and chicken and also gives a great nutty flavor.

P.S. If you want to make little cones of rice like I did here, just very lightly spray a clean coffee cup with non-stick spray and the pack it full of hot rice. Flip it over on a plate and gently lift the cup up. It’s a bit cheesy, but kind of looks cool.

We’re Not Done

Anytime you roast a chicken, there’s really no excuse to not make a basic chicken stock for later use. Just take your carcass from the bird and add it to a pot of cold water with a few ribs of celery, an onion cut into quarters, a few carrots, a bulb of garlic cut open horizontally, 20 or so black peppercorns, a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary or parsley (or all three) and a pinch of salt. The water should just cover the chicken – probably about 8 cups.

Bring this to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 2 hours covered. Strain out the veggies and chicken and you’ll be left with enough delicious stock for many meals. You can keep it in the fridge for a week or freeze it for future use. This stuff destroys store-bought chicken stock.

This might look like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. Most of the time stuff is just in the oven or simmering on the stove. Just because of the total time though, it’s probably a weekend meal, but definitely a doable one for most people.

The five spice powder gave the chicken an amazing, almost sweet, flavor. I really liked the results. I haven’t used the stock yet for anything, but based on the smell alone, I can tell it’s gonna be good.