What is Chinese Five Spice Powder & How to Cook with It?

You’ve probably spotted Five Spice Powder on your grocery runs before. Bottles of umber coloured fine powder tucked in the spice aisle of your supermarket. It is, in fact, the secret ingredient to many Chinese meaty dishes that makes them so tantalising, fragrant and deeply savoury. And, you can easily integrate Five Spice Powder into your cooking!

What is Five Spice Powder?

The exact origin of Five Spice Powder is unknown, but plausibly born from the ancient spice trade between China and Central Asia via the Silk Road, which shaped the evolution of Chinese cuisine especially when it comes to flavouring.

As the name says, Chinese Five Spice Powder is primarily made of five ingredients: star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds and Sichuan peppercorns.

The star anise has a licorice-like flavour. Cloves exude a rich bittersweet tone. Cinnamon and fennel seeds are sweet, fragrant and warm. Sichuan peppercorns give a bold bracing aroma with a lingering citrusy zest. These five powdered spices combine in a delicately balanced blend that exudes a strong tantalising aroma and rich umami flavour, with a piquant warming taste and bittersweet undertones.

When properly stored in a cool, dry spot, Five Spice Powder can stay fresh and potent for several months, always ready to enrich your cooking.

How to Cook with Five Spice Powder

Five Spice Powder is best used to flavour meats and poultry, often paired with Shaoxing Wine and savoury Chinese sauces. Combined to accentuate the meats’ natural tastes and elevate them to a rich, full-bodied flavour. You can use it for marinades, braised dishes, stews, roasts, stir-fries and barbecue.

Many famed and favourite Chinese specials are flavoured with Five Spice Powder, such as the world-renowned Peking Duck, mouthwatering Salt Baked Chicken, umami Char Siu pork, crispy, savoury Siu Yuk roast pork belly, and Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice.

Five Spice Powder can also be used to flavour fish, like in this Shanghainese Smoked Fish delight. And, you can even give your mushroom dishes a roasty scent and taste with Five Spice Powder, like in this mushroom tofu stew and this braised mushroom with pork mince treat.

Five Spice Powder has also made its way into other Asian cuisines. The Vietnamese Bo Kho Beef Noodle Soup combines Five Spice Powder with ginger, galangal, garlic, palm sugar and fish sauce to marinate the beef, with a host of zesty, savoury spices and sauces to enrich the spicy broth.

This Japanese Somen Salad and this Ramen Noodles with Spiced Tofu and Chilli Lemon Sauce get their comforting umami flavours from Five Spice Powder as well.

Come check out more delicious recipes with Five Spice Powder in our collection. Or discover even more unique and authentic Asian spice blends to enliven your cooking!