Shandong Roast Chicken is the most intoxicating combination of juicy, crispy skinned chicken, bathed in a sweet and sour black vinegar based dressing. It's heavenly, light, bright, fragrant and super easy to make at home.
Whisk together all the marinade ingredients then pour over the chicken. Rub into the skin to ensure it's all covered then cover and rest in the fridge for 2 hours.Preheat oven to 200ºCPlace the chicken on a rack in a roasting tin and roast for between 1-1½ hours. After 30 minutes loosely cover the chicken with foil to avoid burning.The internal temperature should be at least 165ºF/74ºC and the juices run clear when pierced through the thighs.Remove the chicken and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
To make the Shandong sauce
Whisk together all the sauce ingredients and set aside.
Assembling the dish
Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. The simplest way to do this is to remove the legs and thighs first and using either a cleaver or poultry shears cut up into pieces.Then, using shears, cut either side of the backbone (the bottom of the chicken) and then cut the whole bird in half to give two full breasts with the bone still in. Then, using a cleave or the shears, cut these into bite sized pieces.
If this all seems like hard work, you can simply strip the chicken from the bones in large chunks and serve that way.
Arrange all the chicken pieces in a single layer on a large platter then pour over the Shandong sauce. Scatter over the cucumber, cilantro and chilli and serve.
You can serve warm or leave to cool completely. If you want to make in advance, refrigerate. Bring out of the fridge about 1/2 hour before you want to eat to let it come up in temperature slightly (it tastes better!).
Video
Notes
Eating Shandong ChickenYou can eat Shandong Roast Chicken at any temperature. Eating cold means you can refrigerate and eat later. The only difference is to not add the dressing until you want to eat. Bring the chicken up to room temperature from the fridge and then pour over the dressing just before serving.Rotisserie ChickenYou can save yourself the trouble of roasting your chicken by using a supermarket bought rotisserie chicken. The only thing is to ensure you buy a straightforward chicken without any added flavour (no BBQ, Mediterranean herb etc). Simply, divide the hot, warm or cold chicken into pieces and pour over the dressing.Instead of a whole chicken, you could roast 4 leg/thigh (Marylands), or 8 thighs (bone in/skin on).