We’re pretty sure that this Easy Asian Dry Rub Chicken will become your go-to recipe for busy weekdays. It’s perfect prepared ahead of time, but it’s also comes together really quickly in real-time. Ha! To borrow a phrase from Jamie Oliver, it’s dead easy to prepare and make!
Mix the dry rub, rub it on the chicken, let it marinate overnight, take it out of the fridge, put it into the oven and you’ll be eating in 30 minutes. You may even wonder if someone slipped some MSG into the bowl when you weren’t looking! It’s that tasty. A secret of this oven baked dry rub chicken recipe is the use of ginger powder and galangal powder (or “sand ginger” powder) in the dry rub, so before you ask, don’t think about leaving these two ingredients out!
The flavor of this recipe reminds me of Chinese Salt-baked Chicken, and anyone who has had salt-baked chicken knows it’s really really really good. I promise that your family and friends will ask you to make this Asian Dry Rub Chicken again and again. In fact, when you take the leftovers to lunch, your co-workers may ask you for the recipe–if they ever get over their lunchtime food envy.
If you’re missing ginger powder or galangal powder, you can also try our Five Spice Baked Chicken, another crazy easy baked chicken recipe you can try when your standard herb seasoning starts to feel stale. The two dishes have different flavors, but both are extremely simple and equally delicious.
Add either garlicky broccoli, stir fried bok choy, or garlicky baby bok choy for a vegetable side to accompany your chicken, get that rice cooker working, and you’ve got dinner taken care of! Brownie points if you season your chicken thighs now–you’ll be glad you did when you get home hungry from work tomorrow!
Recipe Instructions
Combine all the spices to make the dry rub (salt, sugar, white pepper, ground Sichuan peppercorns, garlic powder, onion powder, five spice powder, galangal powder or sand ginger powder, and ground ginger powder).
There is enough dry rub to make 12 chicken thighs, so you can either save half of the dry rub for another time, or double the amount of chicken used.
Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Use half of the dry rub for 6 chicken thighs, ensuring you get an even coating of spices all over the chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 6 hours).
After the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Transfer the chicken to a cast iron skillet or baking dish and roast for 15 minutes.
Use a spoon or brush to baste the chicken with any drippings at the bottom of the skillet/baking dish.
Feel free to remove the chicken from the oven to baste. When you’re done, return the chicken to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.
After 10-15 minutes, use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature near the bone is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When the chicken is done, baste it one more time with the drippings, and garnish with scallions.
Serve your oven baked dry rub chicken with rice and your choice of vegetable to complete the meal!
If you prefer using boneless chicken thighs, see our post on How to debone skin-on chicken thighs and adjust/reduce cooking times accordingly.
Easy Oven-Baked Asian Dry Rub Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons galangal powder (or sand ginger powder)
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat)
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- Combine all the spices to make the dry rub. There is enough dry rub to make 12 chicken thighs, so you can either save half of the dry rub for another time, or double the amount of chicken used.
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry with a paper towel. Use half of the dry rub for 6 chicken thighs, ensuring you get an even coating of spices all over the chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 6 hours).
- After the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Transfer the chicken to a cast iron skillet or baking dish and roast for 15 minutes.
- Use a spoon or brush to baste the chicken with any drippings at the bottom of the skillet/baking dish.
- Feel free to remove the chicken from the oven to baste. When you're done, return the chicken to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- After 10-15 minutes, use a meat thermometer to check that the internal temperature near the bone is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When the chicken is done, baste it one more time with the drippings, and garnish with scallions.
- Serve your oven baked dry rub chicken with rice and your choice of vegetable to complete the meal!
I have made this dish multiple times and love it! Tonight I decided to season chicken drumsticks with it and air fry it along with some Thai basil towards the last 10 minutes. Delish! This spice rub is so versatile and finger lickin’ good! I may try it on baby back ribs.
Oh and Happy mid-autumn festival!
Thank you and I wish you, your family, and all of our readers a happy Mid-Autumn festival!
Hi Alice, that sounds delicious! I was skeptical about air fryers but I have to say they are quite amazing.
They certainly are and I use it to crisp up any left over fried chicken, spring rolls and heating up hash browns or tater tots- no more sogginess! Now that I’ve tried the air fried Thai basil, which is a tasty snack by itself, kale chips may be the next experiment! Perhaps we’ll be seeing some WOL recipes using the air fryer??? :)
Made this last night and served with fried rice. Oh my! I loved it. I have never used 5 spice powder before. I had all ingredients on hand But never used them together like that. I was very impressed with the flavor it gave the chicken.
Hi Lauri, so happy to hear you tried it and loved it. Five spice powder makes a really tasty baked chicken, but not all five spice powder is created equal so you may want to try our own homemade five spice powder recipe. Happy cooking!
Thanks Bill, I did make my own five spice from your recipe, How to make five spice powder. I’m now looking for recipes with five spice in them just so I can use it. It’s so good. Thanks again!
The flavor was excellent, but boy was it salty. Next time I will make this I will use half the amount of salt. Other than that, keep up the good work. I love your site. If I keep this up, this German born girl living in Florida will open up a Chinese restaurant in no time flat.
Hahaha…don’t forget to let us know if you are opening a Chinese restaurant ;-)
I bet the “salty tongue effect” of the Szechuan peppercorns aggravated the salty flavour of the rub. In 2018 the article “Potential of Szechuan pepper as a saltiness enhancer” was published in the International Journal of Food Properties by Tram Hong Le Bao, Siree Chaiseri and Yaowapa Lorjaroenphon. Their study indeed proved the saltiness enhancing property of Szechuan peppercorns. They also found that the peppercorns themselves contain a relatively high amount of salt.
I have the strong feeling that some people are more sensitive to this salty tongue effect than others. If I eat a dish with these peppercorns the dish tastes awfully salty, which can’t be attributed to the NaCl content (incl. the NaCl in sauces like soy sauce, oyster sauce etc.) of the dish alone. And when I subsequently drink milk or water, the milk or water tastes very salty as well. But others seem not to have this sensation to the same extent. So, I guess you belong to the group of people who are quite sensitive to the salty tongue effect of Szechuan peppercorns. If you come across a recipe with these peppercorns you can either cut down on the peppercorns, the salt content (incl. salty sauces etc.) or a combination of the two.