Homemade Five-Spice Powder
Chinese five spice powder (五香粉, five spices powder, or five-spice powder) is a convenient seasoning for Cantonese cuisine. It incorporates the five basic flavours of Chinese cooking—sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty. One common recipe includes China Tung Hing cinnamon, powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, fennel seed, and star anise. It is used in most Cantonese roasted ducks, as well as beef stew. Although this spice is used in restaurant cooking, many Chinese households never use it in day-to-day cooking.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns
- 8 star anise pods
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds
Instructions
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1Toast the Szechuan peppercorns in a dry frying pan for about 3 minutes.
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2Grind the peppercorns in a pepper grinder or coffee grinder together with the star anise pods.
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3Sift the ground spices to remove any larger bits.
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4Mix together the cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds.
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5Grind the completed mixture until it is a very fine powder.
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6Use sparingly, as it is extremely pungent.
Recipe Attribution
Printed from recipe.exchange
https://recipe.exchange/recipes/wb-28561
Printed on October 28, 2026