Why not spice up everyone’s life this Christmas with this aromatic & delicious Chinese roast duck? It’s incredibly easy and looks impressive
Homemade roast duck made easy
Whether it’s Peking, BBQ, roast, stir-fry or in curries, I simply love duck. Ducks aren’t as popular as chicken here, but it’s still easily obtainable at our local supermarket.
Wait, hold that thought! Well, unless Christmas is nearing, and we just came out of lockdown, a frozen duck may be difficult to find! I experienced the same issue when I was looking for the right size of salmon when I was making my Salsa Verde with Salmon.
After visiting several supermarkets in our area with no frozen duck in sight, I had enough. I asked a staff if they had any in stock. She walked over to a freezer with empty shelves. I was ready for her to apologise for having none in stock, but she opened the door and reached deeply into the freezer. I couldn’t believe my eyes because she had a duck for me!
Each Christmas, I like to prepare different dishes for my guests. This Chinese inspired roast duck popped in my head because it’s so tasty, easy to make and looks spectacular on the table.
Traditional Chinese ducks may take up to 3 days to prepare for roasting to achieve that glorious crispy skin and aromatic flavour. I’ve tried making duck this way once, and to be honest, I would skip the effort and pay good money to get one at a Chinese BBQ chop house. Just like I did when I made Red Duck Curry with Lychees
This duck is a Vietnamese style roast duck with a Chinese influence. So we skip out on lots of prep but not the taste. We’ll still end up with crispy skin, flavour and aromatic duck that is juicy and tender. It’s so impressive that you would have to just try it yourself to see how good this is!
Subscribe to 3CatsFoodie’s FREE Newsletter
For the latest recipes and other fun stuff!
My ducking experience
For food and dishes I love, I’m always up for a challenge. This means I’m willing at least make try a dish once regardless of how difficult the process is. That’s why I attempted to make Chinese roast duck the traditional way following a Chinese cookbook.
I don’t recall all the exact details because I made it years ago, but I remembered it was a lengthy process that took days. I remember I spent most of the time drying the duck in the sun. My neighbours must’ve thought I was a complete weirdo because I had this large featherless bird sunbathing on my balcony.
My husband, Tomasi, thought we would die from salmonella from eating the duck and kept questioning if I read the instructions correctly.
So what was the result, you may ask? The duck looked beautiful; the colour was amazing, and the skin was super crispy but it lacked flavour, it wasn’t as aromatic as I expected. Overall, I’m glad I attempted the recipe, but it was so much hassle! As mentioned earlier, I would have rather paid for a BBQ duck.
The skin is not as crispy, and the colour is not as pretty with this shortcut method. However, the ease of this recipe and the flavour of the duck is truly sensational, and this makes up for it.
I’m hopeless with is chopping the duck cleanly and nicely. Last time, Tomasi watched a video of a man easily chopping the duck and thought he could follow it. It was a disaster because we were looking down at the worst looking chopped duck we’ve ever seen. This time I did the chopping, it still looks messy, but I think I did a better job than hubby!
Love duck and chicken? here are some more inspiration:
Easy Classic Roast Duck
Chilli Lime & Ginger Chicken
Spicy Korean Wings
Red Duck Curry with Lychees
Ingredients for Chinese roast duck
Whole duck – Aim for a duck that weighs 2kg to 2.5kg (4.4 to 5.5lb). If frozen, thaw the duck completely before preparation. The cavity of the duck should be clean, with the organs removed.
Fermented bean curd – This is the secret ingredient! To make bean curd, they preserve tofu in rice wine, vinegar and salt. Bean curd comes in cubes with its fermented juices. It’s soft, but it doesn’t have a potent smell. Asian grocers stock a few varieties and flavours in jars. I purchased the Fermented chilli bean curd because I love spicy food but it was very mild and had no chilli taste on the roast duck.
Chinese 5 spice powder – A popular Chinese seasoning usually made from star anise, fennel seeds, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon. A little goes a long way, as it’s quite potent. Supermarkets stock 5 spice powder in the spice rack section or near it.
Light soy sauce or regular soy sauce but avoid the dark or sweet soy sauce varieties, as these are not interchangeable.
Black bean sauce is a savoury cooking sauce made from fermented, salt-preserved soya beans. Supermarkets stock their black bean sauce either in the International section or near other sauces.
How to make Chinese roast duck
Step-by-step guide with photos
Trim off the roots off from the spring onions removing as little as possible, then cut them into 7cm (4in) in length. You will only need these tips for this recipe.
For the spice paste marinade – Place the spring onions tips, garlic and ginger into a food processor and pulse a few times until a chunky paste forms. Add in the remaining spice paste marinade ingredients and pulse to combine.
Dry your duck by patting it all over with paper towels. Using a spoon, place 2/3 of the spice mix into the cavity of the duck. Use steel or a wooden skewer to secure the opening of the duck’s cavity. Rub the remaining spice mix all over the duck’s skin, under the wings and legs. Place the duck in a large snap bag or on a large plate wrapped in plastic film. Allow the duck to marinate overnight in the fridge.
Take the duck out of the fridge and leave at room temperature on the kitchen bench for 30 minutes. Prepare the roasting tray – For easy cleaning, line the base of a large baking tray with baking paper (parchment paper) then line the entire inside of the tray with foil. Place the roasting rack on top.
Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F) or 160°C (320°F) for fan-forced ovens. Use paper towels to completely remove the marinade (spice paste) from the duck skin, but don’t remove the skewer or the marinade in the cavity.
Roast the duck
Make the glaze by mixing balsamic vinegar and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place the duck on the roasting rack with the breast down and brush the duck all over with the glaze.
Roast the duck for 30 minutes, then glaze the duck again. If any part of the duck looks dark, such as the wings or legs, cover it with foil. Rotate the baking tray and bake for another 30 minutes. Carefully turn the duck over so the breast is facing up and brush on the glaze, then bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the baking tray and glaze the duck and back for another 30 minutes. It should take approximately 2 hours in total to roast the duck.
Switch your oven to grill or broil mode on medium to high heat to crisp up the duck skin. This should take between 5 to 10 minutes on each side, but take care not to burn the duck.
Allow the duck to rest on the tray for 15 minutes. Remove the skewer and drain out the marinade in the cavity before chopping and serving.
Leftovers – Allow the duck to cool completely at room temperature. Transfer the duck into a sealed container and refrigerate. It’ll be good for up to 3 days.
I’ve used a third-party application to calculate the calories and nutritional information, so please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements. For specific details and conversions, visit our Australian Cooking Measurements page.
I would love your feedback and support if you made this recipe. To do this, please rate this recipe and provide a comment by scrolling down this page or by clicking that green circle on the bottom left. An email address is required (for spam), but it won’t be published. I would also love to see your dish, so don’t forget to tag me on my Instagram account ‘3catsfoodie’
Cheers – Cat T
CHINESE ROAST DUCK
Ingredients
- 2 kg Whole duck (or weights between 2kg to 2.5kg (4.4 to 5.5lb) (NOTE 1)
FOR THE SPICE PASTE MARINADE
- 7 spring onions tips (scallion, green onion)
- 7 cloves garlic
- 6 cm piece ginger (2.4in, roughly chopped)
- 4 large cubes of fermented bean curd or 6 small cubes) (NOTE 2)
- 2 tbsp Fermented bean curd juice (from jar) (NOTE 2)
- 2 tbsp black bean sauce (NOTE 3)
- 2 tsp Chinese five spice seasoning (NOTE 4)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp chicken powder (chicken stock powder or garlic powder)
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
FOR THE GLAZE
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce (NOTE 5)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Trim off the roots off from the spring onions removing as little as possible, then cut them into 7cm (4in) in length. You will only need these tips for this recipe.
- For the spice paste marinade – Place the spring onions tips, garlic and ginger into a food processor and pulse a few times until a chunky paste forms. Add in the remaining spice paste marinade ingredients and pulse to combine.
- Dry your duck by patting it all over with paper towels. Using a spoon, place 2/3 of the spice mix into the cavity of the duck. Use steel or a wooden skewer to secure the opening of the duck's cavity. Rub the remaining spice mix all over the duck's skin, under the wings and legs. Place the duck in a large snap bag or on a large plate wrapped in plastic film. Allow the duck to marinate overnight in the fridge.
- Take the duck out of the fridge and leave at room temperature on the kitchen bench for 30 minutes. Prepare the roasting tray – For easy cleaning, line the base of a large baking tray with baking paper (parchment paper) then line the entire inside of the tray with foil. Place the roasting rack on top.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F) or 160°C (320°F) for fan-forced ovens. Use paper towels to completely remove the marinade (spice paste) from the duck skin, but don't remove the skewer or the marinade in the cavity.
- Make the glaze by mixing balsamic vinegar and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place the duck on the roasting rack with the breast down and brush the duck all over with the glaze.
- Roast the duck for 30 minutes, then glaze the duck again. If any part of the duck looks dark, such as the wings or legs, cover it with foil. Rotate the baking tray and bake for another 30 minutes. Carefully turn the duck over so the breast is facing up and brush on the glaze, then bake for 30 minutes. Rotate the baking tray and glaze the duck and back for another 30 minutes. It should take approximately 2 hours in total to roast the duck.
- Switch your oven to grill or broil mode on medium to high heat to crisp up the duck skin. This should take between 5 to 10 minutes on each side, but take care not to burn the duck.
- Allow the duck to rest on the tray for 15 minutes. Remove the skewer and drain out the marinade in the cavity before chopping and serving.
