Soy Sauce Whole Roast Chicken (Ga Nuong Xi Dau)
When I bought my new house a year ago, I made sure I was within a 5-mile radius of a Costco. Priorities, right?
- 1 whole chicken
- 4 tablespoons Maggi seasoning sauce or light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice Powder
- 4 tablespoons shallots (finely minced)
- 1 tablespoon ginger (finely minced)
- 1 tablespoon garlic (finely minced)
- n for faster cooking by cutting out the backbone. Save the backbone for future stock.
- Maggi seasoning/soy sauce, sugar, salt, five spice powder, shallots, ginger, and garlic in a large shallow mixing bowl. Add chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight in the fridge for best results.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper to reduce cleanup then place a wire rack or roasting pan on top. Lay chicken skin side down and bake for 40 minutes. Flip and repeat for an additional 40 minutes.
I needed to ensure my easy access to their rotisserie chicken. Their chicken, along with their food court items, comes in handy for days when I don’t feel like cooking and I need a way to feed my family quickly and cheaply.
It’s safe to say I make back my membership fee in rotisserie chickens and free samples.
As much as I love Costco’s roasted chickens, the flavors are quite mellow and sometimes I want to change it up. This is when I skip their deli counter and grab the nearby two-in-bag fresh whole chickens and a bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce or Maggi seasoning sauce.
I chuck one chicken in the freezer and use the other one for my Asian-inspired rotisserie chicken. Together with a few other simple ingredients, I make a tasty soy sauce/Maggi sauce roasted chicken that the whole family enjoys.
Maggi seasoning sauce is the same sauce squirtted into Vietnamese sandwiches (bánh mì). It’s a liquid form of concentrated flavor enhancer. Marinate the whole chicken with Maggi seasoning and you’ll get an umami-rich soy sauce-like flavor.
Maggie seasoning sauce is widely available. Costco has them in industrial-size bottles.
I prefer the Maggi seasoning sauce, as it’s deeper and more complex in flavor. But, if in a pinch, soy sauce can be used to achieve a similar flavor profile.
