Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice, Honey and Soy

Carl Clarke reckons this Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice, Honey and Soy is one of the most delicious recipes in his book A Whole Chicken and having made it, we think he may be right! Following his easy instructions on how to spatchcock, the rest of the recipe was also very straightforward: mix a simple marinade, sit the chicken in it for at least an hour or overnight, and then roast the chicken in a hot oven, spooning the marinade back over the chicken two or three times during the cooking.

Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice Honey and Soy

The flavours of the marinade are so good, we know we’ll make this marinade again. It’s fantastic on the spatchcocked whole chicken but we think it would also work well on skin-on chicken thighs, for an even quicker midweek meal.

Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice Honey and Soy

 

You can find many more delicious recipes for chicken in the book. Do check out our full review of A Whole Chicken by Carl Clarke.

Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice Honey and Soy
5 from 2 votes

Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice, Honey and Soy

This is a simple recipe, but one of the most delicious in this book. The marinade creates a beautiful burnished glaze that chars around the edges as you would get when cooking on a barbecue. This is one of those dishes you can marinate the night before and just cook in the oven when you get in from work, then 40 minutes later it’s ready. Once you’ve made it, I guarantee you will make it time and time again. It’s great served with Smacked Cucumbers with Sesame and Seaweed and maybe some rice on the side.
Author Carl Clarke

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) whole chicken, skin on and spatchcocked
  • 200 g (7 oz / generous 1 cup) steamed white or brown jasmine rice (optional)

For the marinade

  • 4 tablespoons a good squeeze or two runny honey
  • 2 tablespoons groundnut (peanut) oil
  • 6 fat garlic cloves, very finely chopped
  • knob of fresh ginger root, peeled and very finely chopped (to make about 4 teaspoons)
  • 3 heaped teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 4 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon mirin (Japanese rice wine)

Instructions

  • Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large shallow bowl. Using a sharp knife, make a few slashes in the chicken skin, then add the chicken to the marinade and mix to coat well. Cover with cling film (plastic wrap) and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight, turning the chicken in the marinade occasionally.
  • Remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before you are ready to cook.
  • Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/gas 6).
  • You can either pop the chicken onto a shallow baking tray (pan) or cook on a roasting rack over a roasting tray. Drizzle the chicken with the remaining marinade, then roast for 40–45 minutes, basting every 15 minutes or so with the marinade until the chicken is completely cooked through. Serve with steamed rice, if you like.

You can serve with rice, roast potatoes, or whatever you fancy. We had ours with some sliced savoy cabbage lightly stir-fried in sesame oil and a little splash of soy sauce.

 

Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice Honey and Soy

 

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Kavey Eats received a review copy of A Whole Chicken by Carl Clarke from publisher Hardie Grant. Photography from the book (first image) is by Robert Billington.

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8 Comments to "Spatchcock Chicken with Five Spice, Honey and Soy"

  1. Mary Green

    I saw this recipe in Daily Mirror Magazine. Bought all the seasoning ingredients then lost the recipe. Now that I’ve found it on here I’m anxious to try it

    Reply
  2. Carol Robinson

    Fabulous recipe. Had all ingredients in. Would be best with jasmine rice as suggested but we had hassleback potatoes, cabbage and broccoli. Will use this recipe again and again. Stands out from the rest. Thank you 😊

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    So happy you enjoyed it, I think it’s such a simple and delicious and impressive recipe! Thanks for feeding back, too!

    Reply
  3. Frederick G

    Really delicious. I modified slightly adding a little shoaxing wine, lime juice and ma ploy

    Reply
  4. Wally Bustamante

    Trying this today! Am a little concerned with 400F all the way! Thinking it might dry the chicken but let’s see am yet to put the chicken in the oven! Today is the 22nd of May and about 5 o’clock in Washington DC! Am cooking Studio M

    Reply

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