This is a Vietnamese Crispy Skin Chicken recipe with a crackling you’ll keep coming back for! Serve each juicy piece with tomato rice or egg noodles, freshly sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, Vietnam’s signature dipping sauce and some lightly seasoned soup for the complete restaurant experience!
Get restaurant quality at home
If you think you can only get Vietnamese Crispy Skin Chicken from restaurants, it’s time to think again. Let me help you make your dreams come true with this local favorite made in your very own kitchen!
It tastes just like it would when ordered out, but it’s so much better because you’ll have the complete satisfaction of knowing that YOU made it!
It’ll be you who scorches the skin with oil until it sizzles into a delicate bubbling crisp, you who fries the aromatics into the soy stock for that boosted fragrant kick and you who cuts into each piece to reveal ultra juicy, flavor-infused meat.
It’s absolute perfection every time.
The crackling that you get is different to what you might find in Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (鹽酥雞) or Bánh Khọt (Mini Savory Pancakes). While it doesn’t have the enjoyable chew those dishes have, you’ll find that this dish’s crispiness gently shatters with every bite and is truly delightful.
Confession: I pull the crispy skin off just to eat on its own because it’s just that good. Try it out for yourself to know exactly what I mean!
Why this recipe works
- Pouring hot oil over the chicken’s surface slowly crisps it up and turns it golden.
- Cooking the maryland pieces in the master stock gives the chicken extra flavor.
- Letting the meat air dry ensures moisture isn’t trapped when cooking, resulting in a crispier Vietnamese Crispy Skin Chicken.
What you’ll need
About the ingredients
We like to use chicken marylands for this recipe, but you can choose to use whichever piece you like so long as it has its skin in tact. Dad also specifically asks the butcher for cuts with thicker skin just for this dish.
You can buy annatto seed oil from Asian grocery stores, but you can also make your own, as we did with our Bánh Canh Cua (Crab Tapioca Noodle Soup).
Use a neutral tasting oil with a high smoking point like peanut, vegetable, canola, grapeseed or rice bran oil.
How to make this recipe
Pour 4 tbsp oil in a small saucepan on high heat. When hot, turn it down to medium and add the ginger slices, star anise, garlic cloves and cinnamon. Let it cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Meanwhile, bring the water to a boil in a large pot and pour in the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, chicken bouillon powder, honey and annatto seed oil. Add the fried aromatics in and let it boil on high heat for 5 minutes, then turn the heat off.
Combine 1 US cup ice and 1L water. Add the ice water into the stock. This will cool it down and prevent the skin from cracking.
Add the maryland pieces in and bring it back up to a boil. Let it cook for 10 minutes on high heat, then turn the heat off and let the chicken sit in the stock with the lid on for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath with enough liquid to submerge the marylands in. After the 10 minutes of sitting in the stock, transfer the cooked pieces into the ice bath for 15 minutes or until cool.
Then remove the chicken from the liquid and pat them dry with paper towels. Let them air dry for 1 hour or until dry.
Pro Tip: If they’re drying on a plate, lift each piece up, pat the underside dry and wipe the plate clean every few minutes to remove excess moisture. Repeat this every 5-10 minutes.
Heat up oil and the lemon juice in a pot or wok until hot, then place the maryland skin side up into the oil. Let it fry for 30 seconds, then scoop it up using a slotted spoon. Make sure the skin side is still facing up.
Note: Once the chicken goes into the oil, hot oil will start spitting so be careful.
Use a ladle to scoop up the hot oil and pour it over the skin. Repeat this step for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Do this for each piece.
Serve as is or with your favorite sides!
Recipe FAQs
It’s important to dry the chicken as much as possible so the moisture doesn’t keep it wet. Pat it multiple times with a paper towel or let it air dry. Also make sure to pour the oil over repeatedly until it crisps up.
Vietnamese Crispy Skin Chicken is often served with a dipping sauce, so it doesn’t usually need more seasoning. But if you prefer it as a stand alone, you can add more salt and spices to the soy stock.
Certainly! Jut make sure to coat the skin and rack with oil. Cook it at 200°C (400°F) for 10-12 minutes or until the outer layer is golden and crisp.
Tips for the best results
- Use a tall narrow pot. Make sure that it’s large enough to fit all the liquid and meat, but also tall and narrow enough to push the stock upwards. This shape ensures each maryland gets covered in the sauce.
- Opt for a larger ladle. The more oil you can pour over the skin, the more evenly it will crisp and brown.
- Let the chicken dry for longer. If you can, have it air dry overnight or for a few hours so the skin’s free of as much moisture as possible. That way, it will crisp up a lot easier.
- Avoid stirring. The more you move each piece in the pot, the more likely the skin will break.
Get more crunch with these dishes
- Chả Giò (Spring Rolls) and Chả Giò Chay (Vegetarian Spring Rolls) are the best finger foods for an A-list crunch!
- Vietnamese Stuffed Chicken Wings – Coated in a fantastic sweet and savory sticky sauce, these are stuffed then fried for the most incredible snack.
- Ham Sui Gok (Fried Glutinous Rice Dumplings 咸水角) – Classic Cantonese dim sums are always a favorite in our household, but its especially true for these delicately crisp and chewy dumplings.
- Rainbow Beef (牛柳丝) – Restaurant-style steak pieces are fried until golden then coated in a sticky sweet sauce.
- Salted Egg Yolk Prawns (牛油黃金虾) – You’ll love these buttery prawns over rice. When cooked with the shell on, the crunch is out of this world!
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Vietnamese Crispy Skin Chicken (Gà Da Dòn)
Equipment
- slotted spoon/spider ladle
- ladle
Ingredients
- 6 chicken maryland
- 5 slices ginger
- 5 star anise
- 1 Chinese cinnamon bark
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 tbsp oil (plus more for frying)
- 2 L / 8.5 US cup water (for the stock)
- 1/2 US cup light soy sauce (or to taste)
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp annatto seed oil
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 L / 4.2 US cup water (for the stock ice water)
- 1 US cup ice (for the stock ice water)
- ice water (for cooling the cooked chicken)
Instructions
- Pour 4 tbsp oil in a small saucepan on high heat. When hot, turn it down to medium and add the ginger slices, star anise, garlic cloves and cinnamon. Let it cook for 1 minute or until fragrant.
- Meanwhile, bring the water to a boil in a large pot and pour in the light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, chicken bouillon powder, honey and annatto seed oil.
- Add the fried aromatics in and let it boil on high heat for 5 minutes, then turn the heat off.
- Combine 1 US cup ice and 1L water. Add the ice water into the stock. This will cool it down and prevent the skin from cracking.
- Add the maryland pieces in and bring it back up to a boil. Let it cook for 10 minutes on high heat, then turn the heat off and let the chicken sit in the stock with the lid on for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath with enough liquid to submerge the marylands in. After the 10 minutes of sitting in the stock, transfer the cooked pieces into the ice bath for 15 minutes or until cool.
- Remove the chicken from the liquid and pat them dry with paper towels. Let them air dry for 1 hour or until dry.Pro Tip: If they're drying on a plate, lift each piece up, pat the underside dry and wipe the plate clean every few minutes to remove excess moisture. Repeat this every 5-10 minutes.
- Heat up oil and the lemon juice in a pot or wok until hot, then place the maryland skin side up into the oil. Let it fry for 30 seconds, then scoop it up using a slotted spoon. Make sure the skin side is still facing up.Note: Once the chicken goes into the oil, hot oil will start spitting so be careful.
- Use a ladle to scoop up the hot oil and pour it over the skin. Repeat this step for 15 minutes or until golden and crisp. Do this for each piece.
- Serve as is or with your favorite sides!
Notes
- Use a tall narrow pot. Make sure that it's large enough to fit all the liquid and meat, but also tall and narrow enough to push the stock upwards. This shape ensures each maryland gets covered in the sauce.
- Opt for a larger ladle. The more oil you can pour over the skin, the more evenly it will crisp and brown.
- Let the chicken dry for longer. If you can, have it air dry overnight or for a few hours so the skin's free of as much moisture as possible. That way, it will crisp up a lot easier.
- Avoid stirring. The more you move each piece in the pot, the more likely the skin will break.
- We like to use chicken marylands for this recipe, but you can choose to use whichever piece you like so long as it has its skin in tact. Dad also specifically asks the butcher for cuts with thicker skin just for this dish.
- You can buy annatto seed oil from Asian grocery stores, but you can also make your own, as we did with our Bánh Canh Cua (Crab Tapioca Noodle Soup).
- Use a neutral tasting oil with a high smoking point like peanut, vegetable, canola, grapeseed or rice bran oil.
I really loved this recipe, but I was unsure of the oil to lemon ratio. The lemon has a measurement, but the amount of oil for cooking isn’t mentioned. I was never going to fry it though because I was cooking 6 thighs & 9 drums and would have been frying for 3.75 hours, lol! Does the lemon help with crisping up the skin?
I brushed the chicken with homemade garlic oil and some salt, convection baked at 400 for 15-20 in an effort to crisp up the chicken, but no dice. It ended up being a sticky Vietnamese chicken instead, but I didn’t care. It was fantastic – Juicy and flavourful!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Jenni! I usually fill up about 3L (12.6 cups) oil for it but I also reuse the oil in future recipes. Some recipes only use a few cups so there’s enough to pour over the skin. Haha, it does take a while, unfortunately! Baking would’ve definitely been a great alternative for saving time. Perhaps you could try the grill or broiling option for a crispy skin? I haven’t tried it personally, but it might be just hot enough for the skin to crisp up.
Apparently acidic ingredients like lemon juice or vinegar help with crisping the skin. I haven’t tried it without myself, but it would be worth giving it a go!
Thanks for trying this recipe 😀