Extra Crispy Air Fryer Chinese BBQ Duck Breast
Crispy and juicy Chinese BBQ Duck Breast is super easy to make at home. The skin is fried till crisp and golden brown, while the Chinese BBQ Duck Breast is cooked to a perfect medium-rare filled with juices. My Chinese BBQ Duck is made with ONLY 5 simple ingredients in an Air Fryer. Get your rice ready because this recipe will blow your mind!
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Skin-On Duck Breast for Chinese BBQ Duck
To make my Chinese BBQ Duck Breast, you will need to get duck breast with the skin on. I get my duck breast at Costco’s frozen section; I prefer using duck breast instead of a whole duck as it is easier to control the temperature.
If you can’t find duck breast, check out my viral Air Fryer Soy Sauce Chicken recipe that is also super easy and delicious.
Air Fryer BBQ Duck Breast Ingredients
- 1 Duck Breast
- 2.5 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Five Spice Powder
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1.5 tbsp garlic minced
MY AIR FRYER: https://amzn.to/3IA7T9a
Crisp Duck Skin By Keeping It Dry
The secret to crispy Chinese BBQ Duck Breast is to make sure the skin stays super DRY. It is super important to pat the skin dry, as the skin contains a lot of fat and burns quickly!
When you marinate the duck overnight, wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and poke holes so the air can flow through. The air will help dry up the skin, which will ensure the duck comes out super crispy.
Halfway through cooking, turn up the air fryer, top the duck breast with a honey glaze, and the skin will become extra crispy!
5 Simple Ingredients for BBQ Duck Marinade
My go-to marinade for Chinese BBQ Duck Breast requires only FIVE simple ingredients:
- Soy Sauce
- Oyster Sauce
- Five Spice Powder
- Garlic
- Honey.
You can marinate the duck breast and leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days. The longer you marinate the duck, the more flavourful it will become.
With the leftover glaze, you can boil it on the side and drizzle it on top of rice and vegetables when serving.
Step By Step Guide To Chinese BBQ Duck Breast
- Pat the duck breast dry, especially the skin
- Mix 2.5 tbsp of oyster sauce, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, ½ tbsp of five-spice powder, and 1 tbsp of honey.
- Place the duck breast in the sauce and ensure that the skin isn’t touching the sauce. Let it rest in the fridge overnight (make sure it’s not shut closed and there are some air left)
- Add duck in the air fryer skin side facing up and pat dry the skin one last time. Set it to 300F for 15 minutes
- In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp of honey, 3 tbsp of warm water, ½ tbsp of five-spice powder.
- After 15 minutes, add honey mixture all over the duck breast and fry at 400 for 10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.
** if you like it more well-done compared to medium-rare, air fry at 300F for 20 minutes, and air fry at 400 for another 10-12 minutes. keep an eye out to prevent it from burning.
*** if you are using an oven, pre-heat the oven at 320F and bake for 20 minutes, next turn the heat up to 400F and bake for 10-15 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
More Air Fryer Recipes that saves you time and energy!





Extra Crispy Air Fryer Chinese BBQ Duck Breast
By Tiffy Cooks
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Duck Breast
- 2.5 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Five Spice Powder
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1.5 tbsp garlic minced
Instructions
- Pat the duck breast dry, especially the skin
- Mix 2.5 tbsp of oyster sauce, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, ½ tbsp of five-spice powder, minced garlic, and 1 tbsp of honey.
- Place the duck breast in the sauce and ensure that the skin isn’t touching the sauce. Let it rest in the fridge overnight (make sure it’s not shut closed and there are some air left) – poke holes over plastic wrap to allow air to flow in
- Add duck in the air fryer skin side facing up and pat dry the skin one last time. Set it to 300 for 15 minutes
- In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp of honey, 3 tbsp of warm water, ½ tbsp of five-spice powder.
- After 15 minutes, add honey mixture all over the duck breast and fry at 400 for 10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.



Met you at the Red Cross Symposium years ago and never really talked after, but I saw this recipe on my newsfeed and gave it a try. Then I tried the eggs. I’ll be doing the pho next week. My tummy is thankful. You’ve got some serious talent and I’m so stoked for you. Thanks for the awesome recipes!
Hi Tiffy,
Cooked a few of your recipes and have loved them so far.
One question re this one: could you use the marinade when serving if you heated it up in a small suacepan? Just thinking it could be really nice for steamed greens or for rice.
But I’m not sure, maybe it would be too concentrated?
Thoughts?
You definitely can! Make sure to heat it through since it marinated the duck before. If it’s too concentrated, you can add a little bit of water during heating. Let me know how it goes!
This was a very tasty recipe. I cooked it exactly as you say, however, the duck breast definitely wasn’t medium rare, more medium well. Still tender but definitely closer to well done. Any ideas why?
Hi Cloud! Different air fryer may hold heat differently, so I suggest adjusting the recipe by decreasing cook time or lowering cooking temperature for your air fryer.
What basket / rack do you use in this air fryer recipe? I have the same air fryer but don’t have that rack.
Please add link on your Amazon page. Thank you!
This is a terrific, easy recipe. The duck was maybe a tad overcooked, so I might reduce the time of the first phase of cooking to 13 minutes, but otherwise it was great. I ate half of the duck breast for one meal and used the other half in a duck fried rice (as if it were char siu!). Excellent dish.
Hi Tiffany,
I’m just making the marinade for this and the ingredients states 3 tbsp soy sauce but only 2 go in the marinade. Does the rest go in the honey topping? I’m really looking forward to this.
Many thanks
Jane
Hi Jane! Thanks for catching this, it’s a typo! This should be 2 tbsp in the marinade instead.
Tiffy
Fantastic, thank you for replying so promptly!
I used this for my Movie themed dinner inspired by “A Christmas Story” The duck was delicious and cooked perfectly! It was so easy, thank you for sharing.
This looks incredible! I’ve always been intimidated by the idea of making duck at home, but your air fryer method seems so much more approachable. I’m curious, did you find the skin got crispy enough compared to traditional roasting?