One-Tray Spiced Tea Chicken with Milk Tea Glaze

A properly stocked drinks shelf does more than quench thirst — it shortcuts dinner. A spiced tea bag becomes a poaching liquor, a fizzy isotonic tin becomes a marinade, and a milk tea sachet becomes dessert. Here's a 25-minute chicken traybake that uses all three, then turns the leftovers into a drink.

Why this works

This is a spiced tea-poached chicken traybake with a citrus-milk-tea glaze, served with quick-pickled cucumber. It earns a weeknight slot because everything roasts on one tray while the rice cooks, and the spice blend is already balanced for you. The red bush tea does the heavy lifting: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, black pepper and cardamom steep into a warm poaching liquid that seasons the chicken from the inside out.

What you need

From YummAsia

• Palanquin Red Bush Spiced Tea Bags - 100g — 3 bags
• 100 Plus Isotonic Drink - 325ml — 1 tin
• 3:15 PM Sun Moon Lake Milk Tea - 100g — 2 tbsp

From your cupboard

• 6 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• Steamed rice, to serve

How to make it

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Boil 400ml water, add the tea bags and steep for 5 minutes, then lift them out and stir in the honey and soy sauce.
2. Sit the chicken in a roasting tin, pour over half the tea liquid and roast for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toss the cucumber with the rice vinegar and sugar and leave to pickle at room temperature.
4. Whisk the milk tea powder into the remaining tea liquid with the oil to make a glaze.
5. Pull the tin out, brush the glaze over the chicken and roast another 8–10 minutes until sticky and deep gold.
6. Rest the chicken for 5 minutes. Pour the isotonic drink into glasses over ice and serve alongside, with the pickles and rice.

Make it yours

Swap the chicken for salmon fillets and drop the first roast to 12 minutes. Add a grated garlic clove and a knob of ginger to the glaze for extra punch. If you like heat, scatter chilli flakes over the pickles. Anyone with allergies should check each product page's supplier allergen information before cooking.