This red braised chicken recipe (hóngshāo jī, 红烧鸡) is for our readers who can’t eat pork and haven’t been able to try our popular Hong Shao Rou (Shanghai-style red braised pork belly) recipe!
It’s also a great way to cook chicken if you happen to have some chicken thighs in the freezer. I’ll show you how to braise them to a sticky, dark red perfection, with new additions of ginger and scallion—which are both great flavor companions for chicken.
The best part is, this recipe is actually faster to make than our red braised pork belly, because I used boneless skinless chicken thighs. Whereas pork belly takes quite a while to braise, I wanted this recipe to be quick and easy, while still being packed with flavor!
What Does “Red Braised” Mean?
“Red braising” or “red cooking” refers to the Chinese technique of braising ingredients in a mixture of Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and water. The result is a deep amber-colored (or reddish) sauce.
You don’t necessarily have to red cook meat. You can also make red braised fish or red braised bamboo shoots, for instance.
Tips to Successfully Substitute Chicken for Pork
Many of you have asked how to adapt our braised pork belly recipe to use chicken, so this recipe has been a long time coming.
Chicken cooks differently than pork. It doesn’t have as much fat, so you’ll need to help it stay moist. We do that by marinating it in cornstarch and oil (a simpler version of our velveting technique).
While cooking, be sure not to over-sear the chicken, or it will become tough. (Yes, even though it’s dark meat!)
I opted for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but you could use skin-on chicken thighs to emulate the glistening pork belly skin in a classic hong shao rou. You’ll likely have to buy them on the bone (very few butchers sell boned skin-on chicken thighs), but don’t worry. Sarah has a post on how to de-bone chicken thighs, with a video!
At the end of the cooking time, it is important to reduce the sauce for a more concentrated flavor. Use the highest heat level, and don’t waste the heat that accumulates around the upper half of the wok—stir with a wide range, so the sauce reduces quickly. If you do it right, it shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.
Don’t skip the dark soy sauce!
It’s very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce—light and dark! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year.
Read more about different types of soy sauce, and check out our article specifically about dark soy sauce.
Red Braised Chicken: Recipe Instructions
Cut chicken into large chunks (about 1½ -inch/4cm pieces). Add the cornstarch and water. Mix well until the chicken has absorbed the water and is evenly coated in the mixture. Then mix in 1 tablespoon of oil. This step will keep the chicken silky and moist during cooking.
Preheat the wok until it starts to smoke lightly (this is to prevent sticking). Reduce the heat to low. Wait a minute or so to lower the wok temperature, then add 3 tablespoons of the oil (or three quarters of the total, if you’ve scaled the recipe up/down) to your wok along with the sugar.
Let the sugar melt, stirring with your spatula. The rock sugar takes longer to melt than granulated sugar—take care not to let it burn. As you do so, stir the oil evenly around the wok.
Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the chicken pieces in a single layer.
Don’t stir until the chicken pieces are lightly browned (about 1 minute)—this is so the chicken has a chance to sear, and to prevent sticking. Flip the chicken pieces to lightly brown them on the other side—1 minute.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the ginger, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
If there is still a lot of visible liquid at the end of the cooking time, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the liquid reduces to a rich sauce that coats the chicken.
This may take 1-2 minutes or a few more, depending on how hot your stove gets and how close your wok is to the heat source. Mix in the scallion…
And serve!
Red Braised Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or boneless, skin-on chicken thighs)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
- 25 g rock sugar (or substitute granulated sugar; 25g = 2 tablespoons)
- 3 slices ginger
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 1 cup water
- 2 scallions (cut into 2-inch/5cm pieces)
Instructions
- Cut chicken into large chunks (about 1½ -inch/4cm pieces). Add the cornstarch and water. Mix well until the chicken has absorbed the water and is evenly coated in the mixture. Then mix in 1 tablespoon of oil. This step will keep the chicken silky and moist during cooking.
- Preheat the wok until it starts to smoke lightly (this is to prevent sticking). Reduce the heat to low. Wait a minute or so to lower the wok temperature, then add 3 tablespoons of the oil (or three quarters of the total, if you’ve scaled the recipe up/down) to your wok along with the sugar. Let the sugar melt, stirring with your spatula. The rock sugar takes longer to melt than granulated sugar—take care not to let it burn. As you do so, stir the oil evenly around the wok.
- Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the chicken pieces in a single layer. Don’t stir until the chicken pieces are lightly browned (about 1 minute)—this is so the chicken has a chance to sear, and to prevent sticking. Flip the chicken pieces to lightly brown them on the other side—1 minute.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the ginger, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.
- If there is still a lot of visible liquid at the end of the cooking time, uncover the wok, turn up the heat, and stir continuously until the liquid reduces to a rich sauce that coats the chicken. This may take 1-2 minutes or a few more, depending on how hot your stove gets and how close your wok is to the heat source. Mix in the chopped scallion and serve!
nutrition facts
Dinnerware!
If you like the bowl we used in this post, check out Musubi Kiln, a company that sources traditional handcrafted tableware from Japanese artisans. It’s worth just checking out a photo of the bowl—it’s so pretty we felt bad covering it with the chicken!
For 5% off your purchase, use coupon code: THEWOKSOFLIFE
Absolutely loved this dish!, I wrapped the finished chicken in lettuce leaves as a twist and it was great. As a side, this is best asian food site I have found. I usually cook Chinese at least once a week and this is my go -to site. I love the videos, have upped my game with your technique. I can’t wait for your cookbook!
That’s so awesome, Lynn, keep it up :-)
I added a few aromatics (cinnamon star anise tangerine peel dried chiles and sichuan peppercorns), otherwise followed instructions exactly. It turned out great, as do all your recipes. Thanks!
Thank you so much for your kind words, David :-)
Hi Judy, can I add mushrooms , black fungus or potato to this dish?
Yes, you can, you can also follow this Braised Chicken with mushroom recipe.
Just cooked this – as per the recipe, AWESOME, another one to add to my favourites. And, so easy. Thank You.
Yayy! So happy to hear that.
Every recipe on this site I’ve tried has been wonderful, and this simple braised chicken is a complete hit. It is fast to make with minimal prep time using inexpensive ingredients. And it is utterly fantastic! Thanks for your website and best wishes for your upcoming cooking show!
Thank you so much for your continued love and support, Liz :-)