These Chinese Five Spice Chicken Thighs are a quick and easy dinner that is naturally gluten free, paleo friendly and healthy! Spicy, sweet and so tasty!
PIN Chinese Five Spice Chicken Thighs
Hi, my name is Taylor and I am obsessed with Chinese five spice.
I could put it in five spice eggless vegan zucchini bread or sweet potato muffins, or I could rub it on paleo whole30 chicken wings or paleo oven baked ribs.
OR I could make 5 spice chicken thighs and then coat them in the best sticky, sweet honey glaze and eat them forever and a day.
Which, like, I did. Because Mr. FFF isn’t home during the week because he’s at school, it’s up to me to eat ALL THE leftover food from recipe testing and picture taking by myself.
But when it’s these thighs? I’m A-OKAY with that.
What is Chinese 5 Spice?
Chinese 5 spice is a bold, sweet and spicy seasoning blend that is often used in Asian cooking. This cozy-feeling, zesty-spicy blend is made of cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fennel and peppercorns, and has this zippy flavor profile, with rich notes of fennel and just that LITTLE bit of peppery-ness that is gonna sizzle down the back of your throat and wake up your taste buds like HELLO WORLD, I AM HERE AND I AM EATING.
Not to get wordy or anything.
Skinless or Skin on chicken thighs?
I might be one of the only humans in the world who doesn’t love chicken skin, unless it’s the zaatar chicken thighs, so I opted for skinless chicken thighs to make these Asian five spice chicken thighs.
You COULD try it with skin on chicken, but the skin might lose its crispiness when you cover the pan to cook it!
Boneless or bone-in chicken thighs?
For this five spice chicken recipe, you want to use boneless chicken thighs. Bone-in take MUCH longer to cook and will not work if you follow the rest of the recipe as is.
Chinese Five Spice Chicken Thighs Ingredients
To make this winner winner chicken dinner tonight, you need to grab a few things:
- Chicken thighs
- Chinese 5 Spice
- Oil
- Honey
- Ginger
- Chicken Broth
- Salt
Super simple ingredients that taste DELICIOUS when you put ‘em all together!
How to Cook Chicken Thighs
There are many ways to cook chicken thighs as demonstrated by the zaatar chicken or slow cooker chicken thighs. BUT my favorite way is to sear and then steam!
Step 1: Sear
Heat your oil in a medium pan on medium high heat. The oil is ready to go when it’s shiny and swirls easily in the pan. Add the chicken thighs to the hot oil and sear until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
Step 2: Sauce
Flip the chicken and pour in the sauce.
Step 3: Simmer
Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until an instant read meat thermometer inserted into the chicken reads 165 F. This will take 5-15 minutes depending on the size of the chicken.
EAT
See? Super easy to make Chinese 5 spice chicken tonight!
It’s a little sweet, a little tangy and has the perfect amount of spice that warms up these cold winter nights.
Prediction: you’re about to fall head over taste buds in love with 5 spice too.
Other Healthy Ethnic Chicken Recipes
Grilled Herb Hummus Chicken Kebabs
Paleo Gluten Free Healthy Sesame Chicken
Mango Chicken with Coconut Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 Tbsp Chinese 5 spice
- Sea salt
- 2 tsp Olive oil
- 1/2 Cup Chicken broth (not reduced sodium)
- 1/4 Cup Honey
- 1 1/2 tsp Fresh ginger, minced
- Cilantro, For garnish
Instructions
- Remove any large chunks of fat from the chicken thighs and pat them dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle half the 5 spice over the top of the thighs, rubbing in. Sprinkle with salt. Then, flip the thighs and rub in the rest of the 5 spice and sprinkle with salt.
- Heat the oil in large non-stick frying pan (not a cast iron skillet. That's just for pictures!) on medium high heat. Place the chicken thighs into the hot oil and sear until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
- While the thighs sear, combine the rest of the ingredients in a small microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds, whisking together.
- Flip the chicken, reduce the heat to low and pour in the honey mixture. Cover the pan and cook until an instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the chicken reads 165 degrees F, about 5-15 minutes depending on how thick your chicken is.
- Once cooked, uncover and simmer until the sauce is thick, about 3-5 minutes.
- Garnish with cilantro and DEVOUR!
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
FOR THIS RECIPE, I RECOMMEND:
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PER SERVING: SMARTPOINTS: 8 POINTS+: 8 OLD POINTS: 7
(per 1/4 of the recipe)
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Tammy says
Ooh these sound great! I’ve never used 5 spice in a savory dish before but sounds so comforting and delicious 😀
Taylor Kiser says
You need to try! SO GOOD!
Noelle says
Perfect for my family! Simple and delicious
Taylor Kiser says
Yahoo! So glad to hear!
Anita says
A very easy and delicious way to prepare chicken thighs. We love it more with the skin on. 🙂
Taylor Kiser says
Yay! Thanks!
Irina says
Made it last night. The meal was amazingly delicious! My family was asking for more! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Taylor Kiser says
Yay! so glad!
Dave says
A quick and easy dinner that’s super tasty. Highly Rated !
Taylor Kiser says
Thanks!
Monica Grover says
Hi Taylor, I made this for dinner last night. I had a pack of thighs I wasn’t sure what to do with and ran across this while looking for inspiration. We tend to be spice/flavor lovers as well so even though I only marinated 4 chicken thighs with the skin I kept the original marinate measurements and popped them in the oven at about 6 pm. My husband and my daughter liked it so much. Thank you for yet another AMAZING recipe!
Taylor Kiser says
YAY!!!!! I am SO glad you liked!!!