Velveting is a critical Chinese cooking technique. Meat or seafood is marinated and pre-cooked in oil (or sometimes poached in boiling water). Then, the cook adds it to a stir-fry with other ingredients. In this post, we will teach you how to velvet chicken to yield the most tender and flavorful results for your favorite stir fries.
Looking to make beef instead? Check out our detailed post on how to prepare beef for stir-frying.
Why Velvet Chicken?
Velveting is an essential step when preparing chicken breast (or even dark meat) for stir-frying.
Have you ever tried stir-frying chicken, only to have it appear (and taste) dry in the finished dish? Have you ever wondered how Chinese restaurants get their chicken to be so tender and moist-looking?
Velveting is the secret! It gives the chicken that silky texture, with retained moisture and flavor from the marinade. It also protects the chicken from the hot wok, yielding juicy chicken.
How to Slice Chicken for Stir-fries
Do you sometimes feel challenged when slicing chicken thinly to make a stir-fry? Trying to slice chicken uniformly when it is soft and slippery can be difficult even with a sharp knife!
I learned the answer the first time I worked in a Chinese restaurant kitchen as a prep guy. I cleaned and sliced vegetables, peeled shrimp, made egg rolls and yes, I sliced up many chicken breasts!
Before slicing them, I put them into the walk-in freezer until they were partially frozen––firm but not solid.
Once they are firm, they are very easy to slice into uniform, perfect slices. How’s that for a chef’s trick?
The Marinade
All restaurants (and most home cooks) velvet their chicken before making stir-fries, fried rice, etc. but they don’t all use the same method.
Baking Soda?
Some restaurants use baking soda as part of their marinade (you can tell by the crunchy or snappy texture of their chicken). In most cases, good quality chicken is already tender, which is why we don’t recommend adding any baking soda.
On rare occasions, you may get a tough chicken breast––a condition called “woody breast,” caused by hardened muscle fibers. Nobody really knows what causes it, but if you’ve ever had a stringy or tough chicken breast, you may have experienced it. That said, if your chicken is a bit more fibrous than usual, take care to cut across the grain, similar to slicing beef.
Egg White?
We’ve seen other sources on the Internet suggest adding egg white to velveting marinades. This is unnecessary. Your return on that investment just isn’t worth the trouble. In my experience, most Chinese cooks do not do this.
So What Do We Recommend?
To marinate chicken for stir fries, we use a simple mixture of water, oil, cornstarch, and a flavor agent like soy sauce or oyster sauce. Other ingredients, like Shaoxing wine or sesame oil, may also be layered in.
So What Is Oil Velveting?
Oil velveting is a common practice Chinese restaurants use as a first cooking step. The equivalent Chinese phrase, zǒu yóu (走油) in Mandarin or jau yau in Cantonese, means “passing through oil.” It essentially refers to deep-frying.
We recommend searing the chicken in a hot wok, as opposed to deep-frying. Not only is it easier, searing really brings out the chicken flavor and creates an ever-so-light crust. This crust eventually melts when your chicken is added back into your sauce, creating extra flavor. The result is a silky mouthfeel and a flavor bomb in each bite!
Can I Blanch the Chicken Instead?
For those of you who want to reduce fat in your diet or simply want that delicate taste of Cantonese cooking, you can blanch your chicken in boiling water.
When blanching chicken, you may want to add a pinch of salt or more soy sauce or oyster sauce to the marinade, since some of that seasoning will be washed away while cooking.
How to Velvet Chicken: Instructions
First, slice your chicken into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces, about ¼ inch thick. Remember to slice across the grain, especially if using chicken breast. The chicken breast in this photo was partially frozen for easy slicing.
Add the water and soy sauce (or oyster sauce) to the chicken in a medium bowl, and mix until the chicken is well-coated.
Set aside for 5-10 minutes. In that time, most of the liquid will be absorbed into the chicken.
Add the cornstarch and vegetable oil and mix again until everything’s incorporated and the chicken is uniformly coated. For the best results, let the chicken sit for 15 to 20 minutes to marinate.
To sear, place your wok over high heat. When it starts to smoke lightly, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil to coat the surface of the wok. Add the chicken in one layer, and allow to sear for 20 seconds.
Stir-fry until the chicken has turned opaque, and remove from the wok.
If you would rather blanch your chicken, add the chicken to a wok filled with boiling water. When it turns opaque, cook for an additional 10 seconds (the chicken will be cooked 80% through). Then, remove from the wok.
Remember, in both scenarios, you will be cooking the chicken again in your stir-fry, so avoid overcooking it during the pre-cook process!
Use This Velveting Technique in these Chicken Recipes:
- Chicken with Black Bean Sauce
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Chicken and Broccoli with Brown Sauce
- Cashew Chicken
- Chicken and Chinese Broccoli Stir Fry
- Moo Goo Gai Pan: Mushroom and Chicken Stir Fry
- Bourbon Chicken
- Spicy Chicken Stir-fry (Firebird Chicken)
How to Velvet Chicken for Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast (or thighs, 340g)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce (or 1 tablespoon oyster sauce)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- First, slice your chicken into 1 ½ to 2 inch pieces, about ¼ inch thick. Remember to slice across the grain, especially if using chicken breast.
- Add the water and soy sauce (or oyster sauce) to the chicken in a medium bowl, and mix until the chicken is well-coated. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. In that time, most of the liquid will be absorbed into the chicken.
- Add the cornstarch and vegetable oil and mix again until everything’s incorporated and the chicken is uniformly coated. For the best results, let the chicken sit for 15 to 20 minutes to marinate.
- To sear, place your wok over high heat. When it starts to smoke lightly, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil to coat the surface of the wok. Add the chicken in one layer, and allow to sear for 20 seconds. Stir-fry until the chicken has turned opaque, and remove from the wok.
- To blanch, add the chicken to a wok filled with boiling water. When it turns opaque, cook for an additional 10 seconds (the chicken will be cooked 80% through). Then, remove from the wok.
- Remember, in both scenarios, you will be cooking the chicken again in your stir-fry, so avoid overcooking it during the pre-cook process!
[email protected] says
Hi Bill! I was reading up on velveting pork and went down a rabbit hole (this often happens on your website!!) I was interested to read that you don’t recommend baking soda for chicken, and that you think it yields a “snappy” texture. I’ve always (always!) used baking soda to tenderise chicken – 3/4 tsp for every 250g/8oz, 20 minutes, rinse (yes, this is the extra annoying step). I’ve never noticed a snappiness or crispiness. Could it perhaps be the quantity of baking soda used?? Do most people use more?? Thank you! – Nagi x
Bill says
Hi Nagi, so happy to see you visiting on our site! Our family loves your recipes and videos :) My opinion is that 3/4 tsp per 8 ounces of chicken is already a pretty good amount, and I see you are rinsing the chicken afterward. Baking soda is powerful, and when left for a longer time – over an hour or in many cases for restaurants, a whole day or even overnight, the baking soda keeps working. Maybe in these cases, the chicken wasn’t rinsed thoroughly or not rinsed at all!
I can tell when I go to a Chinese restaurant when they have over-used baking soda because the texture is snappy or crunchy. In some cases, chicken can also be dry as well, whether baking soda was used or not, so hydrating your chicken with a tablespoon of water or more per 8 ounces is really important.
To answer your last question, yes, adding more baking soda and/or letting it sit overnight will make the texture of chicken snappy or crunchy. Hope we get a chance to meet up here in the Northeast or down under in Australia someday, once these travel restrictions lift and the virus clears! For now, happy cooking!
leidy says
This worked great for my stir-fry, do you think it will work for curries? Like thai curry?. Just drop it in the boiling sauce? Thanks
Bill says
Hi leidy, yes, although the curry sauce keeps the chicken moist, an extra velveting step will make the chicken more luscious and tasty ;-)
AJ says
I used to use another method with baking soda, but I tried this method tonight and whilst it’s a little more effort, goodness it is worth EVERY second. Absolutely divine. The chicken was so, so tender. Now I know how my local takeaway cooks things so fast! It’s all in the prep. I used the blanching method for anyone reading this.
Thank you so much for sharing this technique. I’m sold.
Bill says
Hi AJ, glad you liked this method. Baking soda is optional but it does make the texture of the chicken crunchy, which is why I don’t use it for chicken. Happy cooking!
Phyl Smith says
Haven’t tried this way before so I’m looking forward to doing it. I would rather try the blanching method first though – just sounds like it might be better because as you say, we have to stir fry the chicken again afterwards. Thanks for sharing your tips and recipe.
Bill says
Hi Phyl, Water blanching is definitely preferred and even most restaurants use that method.
Elizabeth says
Thank you for these instructions. May I ask, how long can you leave the chicken in the marinade? Could I toss it together in the morning and leave it in the fridge until I come home from work?
Bill says
Hi Elizabeth, leaving it in the refrigerator for the day or even overnight works fine. Be sure to stir it up and let it come up to room temperature before using.
Cody says
Like many here, your tips on velveting chicken, beef and other ingredients is really some of the best advice I’ve ever come across on or offline. Coming from Texas I’m so surprised these techniques are not more commonly used!
I do have one question… after velveting the chicken last night (and beef for another dish earlier this week) it seemed like the protein was too wet? Is it a good idea to pat the meat dry? or lay it out on a rack? I noticed that the chicken released the cornstarch and it foamed up a little creating to much moisture to create a Maillard reaction.
I’m going to keep working on it and get too the bottom of it!
Bill says
Hi Cody, depending upon whether you wash/rinse your chicken, you may have more water in your chicken and with the added water in the technique, the chicken can be wet. The water can also separate out after sitting overnight in the refrigerator. In most cases, you just mix everything, including any liquid, together before stir-frying. However, if the meat looks too wet, just pour off any standing liquid before remixing. Remember some important tips – let the meat come up to room temp and get your wok screaming hot before you add oil. Be liberal with oil if your chicken is a bit wet. Happy wokking!
John Munna says
Well this is AWESOME… I made Thai basil chicken from the “Thai Food Tonight ” Website…. I always had tough chicken yucky results So I switched to shrimp worked well. Using this technique I am Floored!!! Followed the directions. Used thigh – leg meat sliced across the grain.( Live in the International area of Mesa AZ) Can get anything. seasoned marinade then the cornstarch… I mean this chicken was better than a restaurant. Did the 4 cps water to 1 cup oil. 1-2 minutes. BAM … spread the chicken out on cooling racks between steps to keep it somewhat dry. Well worth the extra steps and time
THANK you for this step by step.
Bill says
Hey John, now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Good work and thanks for sharing your comment.