These chicken thighs roast to a golden brown perfection atop fennel, apple, red onion and sweet potato. What’s even better than that is it only uses one pan to get the job done. Exotic in aroma and warm to the senses, Chinese Five Spice is a rich spice blend that’s used in a basting sauce for this Five Spice Roasted Chicken.
The warm spices in the blend are perfect to switch up the usual fare and I thought a Chinese influence on delicious roasted chicken thighs was perfect.
What’s in Chinese Five Spice?
The spices in the blend are star anise, clove, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper (Szechuan) and fennel seeds. Most of these are used in the typical Fall and Winter baking so they are not that big of a surprise.
To make this complete I roasted the chicken on a bed of vegetables, namely fennel, apples, red onion and sweet potatoes. I add a pinch of red pepper flakes, but feel free to omit if you like.
I love a one pan meal. This one has a bit of a twist with the wonderful Chinese Five spice blend.
Roasted vegetables, apple and chicken are perfect for that busy week night dinner.
The vegetables get savory, caramelized and reach a nice sweetness. Paired with the delicious chicken it’s a wonderful dinner. I use bone-in skin on chicken thighs. I think they have a richer flavor than a chicken breast, but by all means use a chicken breast. I love them, too!
I keep the skin on when roasting chicken because the skin renders it’s fat and bastes the chicken, keeping it moist. When serving I take the skin off and dig in!
Halfway through roasting I baste again with the chicken broth, butter, honey and Five Spice mixture to ensure a flavorful and golden brown texture. Enjoy!
Five Spice Roasted Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 fennel bulb with feathery stalks
- 1 in large sweet potato peeled and cut into 1/4-. slices
- 1 in medium red onion cut lengthwise into 1/3-.-wide slices
- 2 large Honey Crisp apples (See Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 4 in bone-skin-on chicken thighs (1.5 lbs total)
- Basting sauce:
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 1/2 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
- 1/4 tsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Cut off fennel stalks and set aside feathery leaves. Trim base of bulb and tough outer layers. Halve bulb lengthwise, cut out core in a V, and cut bulb lengthwise into slim wedges.
- Brush olive oil on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and arrange fennel, sweet potatoes, onion and apples in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt, black and red pepper flakes.
- Arrange chicken on top, skin side up. In a small bowl, combine chicken stock, butter, honey, Chinese Five Spice powder, soy sauce. Brush half of sauce onto chicken.
- Roast 15 minutes, then baste again with sauce and any pan juices (use a bulb baster or wide spoon). Continue to roast until chicken is nicely browned and no longer pink at bone (cut to test or 165°F), 15 to 20 minutes more. Baste everything again and scatter reserved fennel leaves on top.
Notes
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
Nutrition
Great recipe! My family of 4 loved it and I’ll be preparing it again.
Thank you for sharing! I am so glad you enjoyed it!
My husband loved the basting sauce. I made the Chinese five spices from scratch using dill weed instead of fennel seeds. I add a bit more to aniseed. Also, I used the basting sauce as stir fry. It is delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
The dill seed is an interesting substitute of yours, so happy you enjoyed this one Judy. Appreciate you coming back to let me know. Cheers!
Just made this dish last weekend for friends/grandchildren. The group definitely included some picky eaters, but this was a huge success, not to mention easy for the cook to prepare, despite working around some last minute schedule changes – meaning it sat in the oven with the heat turned off after being basted halfway through…the sign of a very forgiving recipe! The crispy skin was enjoyed by some, pulled to the side by others. One of the group who is pretty much a non-vegetable eater loved the roast vegetables. I added some butternut squash leftover from another recipe. And…I made… Read more »
Julie! So happy you guys enjoyed this one. I love a well seasoned dish and this delivers. It was great seeing all of you recently and your new home is amazing. I could sit and read in that back yard for hours. 🙂 Love you guys.