Ginger garlic chicken with broccoli and sesame chilli sauce
- Published: 2 Mar 23
- Updated: 25 Mar 24
“It’s chicken and veg but not as you know it. The flavours here have been taken up a notch, with soy sauce acting as a brinemaking the chicken really juicy and flavoursome,” says food writer Melissa Thompson. “The roasted broccoli crisps up beautifully while the sesame chilli sauce is at once comforting and enlivening.”
Have you tried air-fryer roast chicken yet?
- Serves 6
- Hands-on time 20 min, plus 2 hours marinating. Simmering time 20 min. Oven time 45-55 min
Ingredients
- 100ml light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 100ml chicken stock
- 100ml shaoxing wine, plus 4 tbsp for the glaze
- 2 tsp chinese five-spice powder
- 80g ginger, grated
- 1 garlic bulb, cloves peeled and chopped
- 3 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 large free-range chicken (approx. 1.5kg)
- 2 broccoli, quartered
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced on the diagonal
- Cooked rice to serve
For the sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2-3 tsp chilli oil or to taste (we used chiu chow chilli oil)
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp chianking black vinegar
Method
- Add the soy sauces, stock, shaoxing wine, five-spice, ginger, garlic and 2 tsp of the sugar to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer then cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Spatchcock the chicken by using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to cut down either side of the backbone (save the backbone in the freezer for stock). Turn the chicken breast- side up and press against the breastbone to flatten. Score the breasts twice and legs once, cutting through the skin into the flesh, then put the chicken in a deep tray or dish. Strain the cooled soy sauce mixture through a fine sieve over the chicken, ensuring it goes into the slashes and spooning it into any nooks, crannies or pockets on both sides of the bird (discard the solids). Cover and keep in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Drizzle the broccoli with the sesame and vegetable oil, sprinkle with sesame seeds and set aside. For the sauce, mix together all the ingredients until smooth and creamy, then add 2 tbsp water and mix again. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 160°C fan/ gas 4. Lift the chicken out of the marinade and pat dry with kitchen paper. Pour the marinade from the tray/dish into a saucepan with the remaining 1 tsp sugar and 4 tbsp shaoxing wine, then leave to simmer into a thick sauce (about 15 minutes).
- Put the chicken on a roasting tray breast-side up and roast for 20 minutes. After this time, brush the chicken liberally with the reduced marinade and nestle the broccoli around it, trying not to overlap and keeping the heads uncovered. Return to the oven and cook for another 25-35 minutes, brushing the chicken every 15 minutes with more of the marinade. The chicken is ready when the juices from the thickest part of the thigh run clear or a temperature probe reads 70°C.
- Rest for 10 minutes, then transfer the chicken and broccoli to a serving platter, ensuring any sauce in the bottom of the tray is spooned over the top. Drizzle the broccoli with the tahini sauce, garnish with spring onion, chilli and more sesame seeds and serve alongside white rice.
- Recipe from March 2023 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 336kcals
- Fat
- 10.6g (2.3g saturated)
- Protein
- 44.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 13.1g (9.1g sugars)
- Fibre
- 5.3g
- Salt
- 3g
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