Shandong Roast Chicken with Black Vinegar Sauce Recipe
This Shandong Roast Chicken recipe features a whole free-range chicken marinated with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and ginger juice, then roasted to perfection. The dish is complemented by a tangy and spicy Shandong sauce made from black vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, bird’s eye chillies, coriander, and garlic. It’s a flavorful and authentic Chinese roast chicken perfect for a hearty meal.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes (plus overnight marination)
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (excluding marination time)
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Roasting
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Halal
Ingredients
Scale
Chicken
- 1 whole free-range chicken (about 1.6 kg)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tsp grated ginger (juice only)
Shandong Sauce
- ¼ cup black vinegar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 bird’s eye chillies
- 1 coriander root, stalk and root finely chopped (leaves reserved)
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the chicken: Rub the chicken all over with salt, both inside and out, exfoliating the skin to remove any impurities. This helps to clean and tenderize the skin.
- Tighten the skin: Pour boiling water over the entire chicken thoroughly to tighten the skin and firm it up for roasting.
- Apply marinade: In a small bowl, mix the dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and grated ginger juice. Rub this mixture all over the chicken evenly to infuse flavor.
- Marinate: Place the chicken uncovered in the fridge and marinate overnight to deepen the flavors. If short on time, use a hairdryer to dry and tighten the skin quickly.
- Preheat oven: Set your oven to 200°C (392°F) to get it ready for roasting the chicken.
- Roast the chicken: Place the chicken on baking paper inside a roasting pan. Roast in the preheated oven for 1 hour until cooked through and skin is golden and crispy.
- Rest the chicken: Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 minutes to let the juices redistribute.
- Prepare Shandong sauce: While the chicken rests, combine the black vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, chopped bird’s eye chillies, coriander root and stalk, and garlic in a bowl. Stir well until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Enrich sauce with chicken juices: Add a few spoonfuls of the rendered chicken juices collected from the roasting pan to the sauce to deepen its flavor.
- Serve: Cut the rested chicken into serving pieces. Pour the Shandong sauce generously over the chicken and garnish with reserved coriander leaves if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Marinating overnight helps develop deep flavors and tightens the skin for a better roast texture.
- Pouring boiling water over the chicken before roasting tightens the skin for crispiness.
- Using a hairdryer to dry the chicken is a quick alternative when short on time.
- Reserve the chicken juices from the roasting pan to enrich the Shandong sauce for enhanced taste.
- Bird’s eye chillies add heat; adjust quantity depending on your spice preference.
Keywords: Shandong Roast Chicken, Chinese roast chicken, soy marinated chicken, roasted whole chicken, Chinese cuisine, Shandong sauce
