Forget Tasteless Meat – Marinate It Using This Chinese Spice Blend For The Best Meal Of The Week

On a busy weeknight, a flavorful and time-efficient dinner can seem like an impossible dream. Not in the mood to fire up the grill for a frozen pizza hack? A delicious Asian-infused dinner can be yours in under an hour if you have a package of defrosted meat and one secret ingredient in your arsenal: Chinese five spice powder. Fatty meats in particular really shine in a quick marinade featuring Chinese five spice (the pungent flavor can overwhelm leaner cuts), but don't be afraid to get flexible with your choice of game, beef, poultry, or seafood. Just sprinkle a moderate shake of this spice into a carrier marinade of broth or oil and some flavor enhancers like honey and fresh ginger, and you can have a perfectly marinated protein in as little as 30 minutes.

"Chinese five spice" can be a bit of a misnomer, as there aren't always five spices in the mixture ... there can be either more or less, depending on the manufacturer. A good Chinese five spice should include at least star anise, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, clove, and fennel, but that list may not be exhaustive. The point is that the spice should pull from multiple taste profiles in accordance with the Chinese notion of five natural elements existing in harmony. Five spice is a little spicy, a little warming, a little cool, and very flavorful. Pushing your simple weeknight dinner in an Asian direction with a pantry staple is nothing new — don't forget the Japanese condiment ponzu as a classic marinade for chicken — but five spice is an accessible option for home cooks looking to whip up a delicious dinner with big flavor and not much effort.

You don't need to order one of the unhealthiest Chinese dishes from a restaurant to savor delicious Asian flavors with minimal effort. A sweet, spicy, umami-heavy five spice marinade will elevate your main dish and delight your family with a burst of flavor that isn't always a given in a weeknight dinner. If you have the opportunity to do so, you can marinate your protein in the fridge all day while you're at work and really give the flavors time to penetrate the meat. Keep in mind that there's an upper limit, however, as too much time in an acidic marinade can make your meat unpleasantly mushy. Delicate proteins like tofu or thin cuts of meat may also suffer from too long a turn in the sauce, so be mindful of how you treat your main dish. 

We love the idea of serving your five spice chicken, beef, pork, or fish Chinese-restaurant-style with hearty domed scoops of white jasmine rice and a generous helping of stir-fried veggies doused with the remaining sauce from dinner. Remember that you can reuse a marinade for post-cooking consumption if you boil it for five minutes to decontaminate it. Add texture and even more pops of flavor with canned chow mein noodles, crisp diced scallion, and toasted sesame seeds! With Chinese five spice powder, you can easily whip up a dinner that tastes like it came from your favorite takeout joint, only with much less cost and no need to leave the house.