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!
For the chicken:
- 10 oz. chicken breast, 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 minced ginger
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 small winter bamboo shoot, outer husk peeled, thinly sliced, and then julienned
- 1 cup soaked 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
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.
We served our chicken with garlic sauce with some jasmine rice mixed with millet, a healthy and tasty combination.
- 10 oz. chicken breast, thinly sliced
- A pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¾ cup chicken broth (or water)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 12 dried red chilies
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 small winter bamboo shoot, outer husk peeled, thinly sliced, and then julienned
- 1 cup soaked wood-ear mushrooms, julienned
- ½ 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
- 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.
Jerry Hegwood says
I had to use bean sprouts, baby corn, and water chestnuts for the vegetables and New Mexican chili’s along with some red pepper flakes. I used those vegetables because I had cans already open in the refrigerator. I also tripled the garlic because well we love garlic!
Judy says
Why not, more garlic please :-)
Steven says
I’ve never had this before so I don’t have a point of reference for comparison. This was the first recipe I’ve made from this site that just seemed ok. I made it exactly according to the instruction, but without the chilies and chili oil since I can’t handle spiciness. I didn’t notice much garlic flavor. It was very mild, almost like moo goo gai pan. Did I miss something or does the dish really need whatever the chilies would add?
Judy says
Hi Steven, most of the taste of this dish comes from the combination of vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce, plus ginger and garlic. Eliminating chilies should not change the taste that much.
Laura says
Chicken w/Garlic Sauce is my favorite food on the planet – and this recipe was perfect. I had no idea it was so easy. My son loved the chicken (he likes his veggies raw) and I loaded lots of extra vegetables into it including broccoli. Thank you so much for this!
Judy says
Hi Laura, I know. Like many things that are first considered difficult, they can become easy once you know how. The difficult part is to take the time and find a good set of instructions. So glad your family enjoyed it.
Jamie says
Amazing & delicious! Utterly fab. Thank you!
Judy says
Thank you for your lovely comment, Jamie!
Davidianapplesauce says
Awesome. Adding fresh chopped basil at the end w the scallions is good touch.
Judy says
Sounds lovely!
Caroline says
Had a chance to try this out tonight. I only had chicken drumsticks on hand so I cut the meat off the bone. Would have been easier if I didn’t have to do this. On the other hand, I find the recipe flexible enough to adjust to what I currently had. I really appreciate the recipe specifying 10oz of meat because it turned out to be in perfect proportion to the veggies and sauce. The tang from the rice vinegar in the sauce rounded out the taste. We really enjoyed out dinner!
Judy says
Yeaahhhh, a winner! Thank you for leaving us a comment!
Lucinda says
This looks fabulous — however, I think I’ll make it with skinless boneless chicken thighs because we prefer dark meat over white; what do you think? — I’ve made a note that it’s traditionally made with pork — you wrote shredded pork; would sliced pork loin be an adequate substitute?
Judy says
Lucinda, both skinless boneless chicken thighs and pork loin work, both should be julienned. I myself prefer dark meat, it’s definitely more flavorful.
Lucinda says
Thanks for your reply! Therefore shredded, in this case, means julienned. I’m looking forward to making it!
Jerry Hegwood says
This was absolutely delicious! Being I live in a small city in south Mississippi and New Orleans is an hour away, with the nearest Asian store, I had substitute some ingredients. I used canned bamboo shoots and baby portobello mushrooms. I also added thinly sliced carrots because my family loves vegetables. I’m glad this is a Sichuan inspired dish because when I get the opportunity to travel internationally, Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou are my first places to visit! Thanks again for another great dinner!!!
Judy says
Jerry, we are so glad to hear about our readers like yourself making and loving our recipes, can’t tell you how rewarding it is to us! Thank you so much.
Celina says
I’ve read articles about how amazing fresh bamboo shoots are but I’ve only used the canned ones, but even those I am strangely addicted to. So I’m thankful, and excited, to hear that they are in season. What a great excuse to swing by T & T Market and suss some out. And wood-ear mushrooms, which I think is similar to cloud ear fungus of which I am a big fan. I will have to try this this week. Thank you for the recipe!
Judy says
Celina, you are in for a real treat. I know you will love this dish.
Heather says
This looks great! The rice you serve with it looks like it might have egg in it. Is that right? There used to be a Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood that served their rice with eggs and peas in it, and I loved it so much. None of the other Chinese restaurants in my area have it! So if that’s what’s in the picture above, how do you make it? Thanks!
Judy says
Hi Heather, I figured people might be curious so it’s mentioned in the post: it’s white rice with millet, I try to add other grains to the white rice. Sometimes I add brown rice to the white rice.
Heather says
Oops, guess I should read more closely. Thanks!