Soy Sauce Chicken from the Oven is easy to make, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. It's chicken with soy sauce and garlic flavorings. The soy sauce, herbs, and butter ensure the chicken becomes tender and crispy on the outside. This homemade soy sauce chicken is a real crowd-pleaser!

A photo from above of a chicken on a grid in a baking pan. Delicious brown with sesame seeds and parsley. A hand grabs the chicken leg.

Crispy Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe, Oven-Baked

We like to eat chicken because it is so versatile. I've got a lot of chicken recipes with all kinds of cooking processes. I use chicken breasts in a delicious risotto, boneless thighs as a separate piece of meat, crispy chicken wings, or boneless skinless chicken thighs in a stir-fry dish. But the ultimate piece of chicken is undoubtedly a whole chicken when it comes out of the oven crispy baked. So that's our cooking method for today. Delicious!

This chicken is marinated with soy sauces, sambal, herbs, brown sugar, and butter, giving a delicious taste to the chicken meat. And make sure that you'll get a tender chicken. The butter makes the skin nice and crispy! And the whole house smells lovely.

And after dinner, I made a delicious chicken broth from the leftovers in the slow cooker. That's how everything is used!

What do you need for this Butter, Soy, and Garlic Roasted Chicken?

For the preparation of this Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe, you require the following ingredients (you can find the correct amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the blog):

Ingredients Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe on a white background

Soy Sauce used

A mixture of soy sauce is used in this recipe: Kecap Manis and Kecap Medja. The latter is the sweeter, syrupy version of soy sauce Manis. If you don't have these soy sauces at home, but do you have light soy sauce, low sodium soy sauce, or dark soy sauce? Then add two tablespoons of honey and one tablespoon of extra brown sugar or rock sugar to the soy sauce.

Butter to use

In this recipe, you preferably use butter, unsalted at room temperature. Salt is already added to the recipe. Remove the butter from the refrigerator half an hour before making the chicken so that you can mix in the seasonings well. You could also melt the butter on low heat and brush the chicken.

What are the ingredients of Five Spice Powder

Five spice powder encompasses five flavors: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami and is made from five spices to achieve that. Star anise, Chinese cinnamon, cloves, Szechuan pepper, and fennel seed. This gives an extra rich flavor to the chicken.

How do you make Soy Roast Chicken?

A recipe with extensive steps and the right amount of ingredients, which you can also easily print, can be found at the bottom of the blog.

Four-step preparation of whole soy sauce chicken from the oven

Start by making the soy sauce chicken marinade. This will serve as your chicken marinade. You do this to distribute the flavors evenly over the chicken (because the butter melts slowly, the herbs are absorbed well).
Peel the skin from all sides of the chicken by pulling slowly with two fingers and pushing it further loose. Divide half of the butter mixture under it.
Then, spread the rest of the butter over the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken in a roasting pan with a rack.
Cover the chicken with aluminum foil and bake for 75 minutes. Halfway through, spoon some fat from the roasting pan over the chicken (so that it stays nice and moist). Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it from now on because soy sauce bakes quickly. Now, take the chicken from the oven.

Garnish (optional) with sesame seeds, parsley, or green onions. Serve! This soy sauce chicken recipe with rice is delicious. Or use brown rice or noodles and serve with stir-fried bok choy. Serve sweet chili sauce as your dipping sauce.

Tips and Variations

Tie the chicken legs together: You do this so that the chicken is cooked equally quickly everywhere. Otherwise, you will get dry, burnt pieces (and you don't want that). You can easily do this with kitchen twine.
Check if the chicken is done: Check with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken. Because when using a larger chicken, the cooking will take a longer time. It must indicate 167 °F (75 °C). If you don't have a roasting thermometer, insert a thick, darning needle deep into the broadest part of the chicken. Then, press the chicken meat until moisture comes out of the opening. If the chicken juices are clear, the chicken is done.
Use aluminum foil: In the first part of this recipe, use aluminum foil. Soy sauce burns rather quickly, and this is prevented by the foil. Finally, give the chicken a crispy brown crust by removing the foil.
More flavor: Add a tablespoon of sesame oil and Shaoxing rice wine to the butter.
Baste: You'll get juicy and tender meat by basting the chicken with braising liquid several times with the released cooking liquid.
Oven: If you don't have an oven, use a Dutch oven or your slow cooker (look for the instructions at this rotisserie chicken slowcooker recipe)

A baking tin with a grid on which a cooked soy sauce chicken with sesame seeds and parsley lies on a white background. One hand holds the chicken leg.

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A square photo from a whole chicken soy sauce with sesame seeds and parsley on a baking tray.

Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe

Author: Andréa

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 40

Asian

5 of 6 votes

For 6 persons

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Ingredients

⅔ stick butter
1 teaspoon chili paste
½ teaspoon garlic powder or 2 squeezed garlic cloves
½ teaspoon five spice powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons Kecap Manis
2 tablespoons Kecap Medja
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 Whole chicken about 3 pounds, take it half an hour in advance from the refrigerator

Ingredients you need per step are listed below the step in Italic

Instructions

Preheat a conventional oven to 430 °F or 390 °F.
Put the butter in a bowl and add sambal, garlic powder, five spice powder, salt, pepper, kecap Manis, kecap Medja, and brown sugar. Mix everything well.
⅔ stick butter, 1 teaspoon chili paste, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon five spice powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 4 tablespoons Kecap Manis, 2 tablespoons Kecap Medja, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Place the chicken in front of you and carefully loosen the skin from the meat at the back of the chicken. Then, continue with your fingers under the skin to loosen all the chicken pieces. Repeat for the front and back. Do it gently so that the skin stays intact. You cannot loosen the skin at the chicken legs.
1 Whole chicken
Take half of the spicy butter and grease the chicken on both sides under the skin.
Smear the outside of the chicken with butter. You can do this with your hands or with a brush.
Place the chicken in the roasting pan and tie the legs together with kitchen twine. Cover the chicken with aluminum foil.
Bake for 70 minutes in the oven, and check with the roasting thermometer whether the chicken is cooked (see tips). Otherwise, cook for an additional 5 minutes and check again. In between, baste the chicken with the released shortening.
Remove the aluminum foil from the chicken and baste again with the shortening. Bake in the oven for another 20 minutes until you have a crispy skin.
Remove from the oven and serve!

Notes

1. Soy Sauce: Kecap Manis and Kecap Medja are the soy sauces combined in this recipe. Don't have soy sauce at home, but do you have light soy sauce or Japanese soy sauce? Then, add two tablespoons of honey and one tablespoon of extra brown sugar to the soy sauce.

2. Butter: Use the butter at room temperature. Remove the butter from the refrigerator half an hour before making the chicken so that you can mix in the seasonings well.

3. Tie legs together: You do this so that the chicken is cooked equally quickly everywhere. Otherwise, you will get dry, burnt pieces (and you don't want that). You can easily do this with kitchen twine.

4. Check if the chicken is done: Check with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken. It must indicate 170 °F (75 °C). If you don't have a roasting thermometer, insert a thick, darning needle deep into the broadest part of the chicken. Then, press the chicken meat until moisture comes out of the opening. If the liquid is clear, the chicken is cooked.

5. Use aluminum foil: Use aluminum foil in the first part of this recipe. Soy sauce burns rather quickly, and the foil prevents this. Finally, give the chicken a crispy crust by removing the foil.

6. Basting: By basting the chicken several times with the released cooking liquid, it remains tender and juicy

7. Storage:
Let the chicken cool quickly before storing. Leftover meat is delicious in, for example, fried rice, potato stir-fry, chicken soup, or noodles.

Refrigerator: Remove the meat from the bones and store it covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Freezer: Remove the meat from the bones and store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Bones: With the bones, you can make a delicious chicken soup. For example, slow cooker chicken stock with this recipe.

Indication Nutritional Value (Per Person / Portion):

Calories: 453kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 24gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 122mgSodium: 601mgFiber: 1gSugar: 17gVitamin A: 495IUVitamin C: 2mgIron: 1mg

3 x Chicken

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