Okay, first of all, let’s not mistake this Chicken with Garlic Sauce dish with what’s on your Chinese takeout menu. This is about 99 times better. Trust me on this.
Secondly, winter bamboo is in season. You can now find them in your local Asian market. They are somewhat expensive (prices range from $3 – $6 per pound), as they are imported from China, but it’s SO worth it. Especially for people who’ve never had them before. You need to try it. Live a little, I say.
If you can’t find fresh bamboo, the canned bamboo shoots in water will do just fine.
Thirdly, this chicken and garlic sauce dish is authentic, yet super easy to make. After just some minor chopping, you’re minutes away from a restaurant quality dish. In China, this dish is almost always made with shredded pork. It’s kind of our take on鱼香肉丝 (yu xiang rou si). But today, we will be making it with chicken breast. Chicken is a little more widely used here in the US, and it’s equally delicious.
The dish isn’t quite as spicy as it looks, though you can certainly leave out the dried chilies and the chili oil (for a chili oil recipe, check out our Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup recipe). If you’re curious about the rice in the photo, it’s a mixture of white rice and millet, which is a little healthier and tastes great.
When we visited Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province two years ago, besides visiting the pandas, we tried many famous native Sichuan dishes. I remember we had this dish in a fancy hotel restaurant, so you could say we’ve tasted it in it’s place of origin. I am very proud of this recipe; we hope you enjoy our Chengdu experience and a taste of China through this dish.
We recommend that you also try another one of our popular Sichuan or Szechuan dish, Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce!
Chicken with Garlic Sauce: Recipe Instructions
Marinate the sliced chicken with salt, cornstarch, and oil. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. For more information and preparing chicken for stir fries, see Bill’s post on Chicken velveting 101.
Before you start cooking, mix together the ingredients for the sauce (light soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, sugar, and chicken broth) in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the dried red chilies, ginger, and garlic, and cook for a minute.
Turn up the heat to high and immediately add the chicken. Stir-fry until the chicken is opaque. Add the winter bamboo shoots, wood-ear mushrooms, and bell pepper. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the prepared sauce, and give everything a stir. Bring to a boil.
Add salt to taste, chili oil (if using), and the cornstarch slurry. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, allowing the sauce to thicken. Add the scallions, give everything a final toss, and serve with rice.
We served our chicken with garlic sauce with some jasmine rice mixed with millet, a healthy and tasty combination.
Chicken with Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 10 oz. chicken breast (280g; thinly sliced)
- A pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon oil
For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3/4 cup chicken broth (or water)
Additional Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 12 dried red chilies
- 1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 small winter bamboo shoot (outer husk peeled, thinly sliced, and then julienned)
- 1 cup reconstituted dried wood-ear mushrooms (julienned)
- 1/2 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons chili oil (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 2 tablespoons water)
- 1 scallion (sliced on an angle)
Instructions
- Marinate the sliced chicken with salt, cornstarch, and oil. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Before you start cooking, mix together the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the dried chilies, ginger, and garlic, and cook for a minute. Turn up the heat to high and immediately add the chicken. Stir-fry until the chicken is opaque.
- Add the bamboo shots, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add the prepared sauce, and give everything a stir. Bring to a boil. Add salt to taste, chili oil (if using), and the cornstarch slurry. Stir-fry for 30 seconds, allowing the sauce to thicken. Add the scallions, give everything a final toss, and serve with rice.
nutrition facts
Thank you so much for this recipe! I cannot wait to try it.
For clarity:
I understand that the nutrition is an estimation (not an issue) but, I am curious if it refers to a single serving or the entire dish.
Thank you very much!
The info is for singer serving.
Great twist on the usual versions, imho. No substitute for kitchen testing with knowledgable judges!
The recipe stands out as one of those feel-good stir-fries that has a great balance and assortment of veggie textures. I was pretty lax on the measurements and used canned bamboo shoots, but it was still fragrant and yummy. I’m also a fan of using wood-ear because as a dried mushroom, it keeps forever and reconstitutes super-fast. I wish I could get my hands on one of those big honkin’ fresh bamboos, but you don’t see me leaving anything on my plate as it is :)
Hahahha…love it :-)
This looks a lot different than PORK WITH GARLIC SAUCE – AUTHENTIC YU XIANG ROU SI recipe, where you said to use chicken instead of pork. Which one do you prefer?
Hi Mike, I prefer the pork version ;-)
This was a very tasty dish. A little bit spicy I’m going to try it next time with just maybe one pepper.
Thank you for another restaurant quality recipe! It really did taste just like our favorite takeout. Even better as we could add in our favorite veggies. We substituted shrimp for the chicken and it turned out perfectly. We will certainly make this again!
Hi LisaR, thanks so much for reporting back on your delicious results!
Hi Bill, I would really like to try this recipe, but my husband cannot have ginger. Is there a substitute you might recommend? Thanks bunches.
Hi Margie, I think it would be fine to simply omit the ginger.
Would any modifications be needed if using shrimp instead of chicken?
Hi LisaR, You can follow the same recipe for shrimp ;-)
Thanks for your response! I look forward to giving this a try!