Chinese Roast Chicken with Coriander Rice

This recipe is a longtime favorite in our family, another great find from Soy and Pepper. The drumsticks marinate in a tasty Chinese seasoning overnight, then they just need to be popped in the oven about an hour before dinner. I even marinate them in the baking pan, so it's a super easy dinner (as long as I remember to mix up the marinade the night before! That's the toughest part). The leftover sauce gets mixed into rice, and we usually serve some roasted green beans on the side.

The rice also gets mixed with some coriander leaves, otherwise known as cilantro, so I suppose it should be called "Cilantro Rice". I am not a cilantro fan, though we do enjoy the dried flakes in a few recipes (like this one), so I'm going to stick with the original recipe name and pretend like they are two different things. If you are a cilantro lover, you might want to load it with the fresh stuff instead.



(For those of you counting calories, I've added the amount for each ingredient so you can easily make tweaks without having to re-calculate everything.)


Chinese Roast Chicken with Coriander Rice

1/3 cup soy sauce (53)
1/4 cup sake (80)
3 Tbsp. honey (204)
2 tsp. minced garlic (4 cloves, 0)
2 tsp. sesame oil (87)
2 tsp. grated ginger (2)
1 tsp. five spice powder (0)
10-12 chicken legs/drumsticks, skin removed (2220 for 12)

1.5 cups uncooked rice (900)
3 cups water (0)
1 Tbsp. dried coriander/cilantro flakes (or 3 Tbsp. fresh, 5)


1) Combine all the marinade ingredients with the chicken legs and marinate overnight, or at least 2 hours. (If you have room in the fridge you can go ahead and marinate them in the pan covered with wrap.)

2)  Preheat oven to 350F. Place the chicken legs and marinade in a roasting pan with a tall edge and cook for 30 minutes.

3) Turn the chicken legs over and roast for another 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear.

4) While the chicken is cooking, mix the rice and water in a medium pan. Bring to a boil, give the rice a stir, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the roasting pan and dump in the rice and coriander flakes, stirring to mix well. Serves 5-6.

Calories - 592 (for 2 drumsticks and 1/6 rice)


Tip: If you decide to leave the skin on instead, place the drumsticks under the broiler for a few minutes to brown and crisp the skin afterward.