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Red Braised Chicken (Hongshao Ji)

Name: Red Braised Chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs ((or boneless, skin-on chicken thighs)); 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 2 tablespoons water ((plus 1 cup, divided)); 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; 2 scallions ((cut into 2-inch/5cm pieces))

by:

Judy

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Posted: 1/10/2022

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 2 tablespoons of 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 the remaining 1 cup of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes.

chicken pieces in wok with braising ingredients

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.

reducing hongshao chicken sauce over high heat

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!

Chinese Hongshao Chicken — This chicken is best with steamed rice!

Picking up a scoop of Chinese red braised chicken

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

About

Judy

Judy Leung is the matriarch of The Woks of Life family, working on the blog alongside husband Bill and daughters Sarah and Kaitlin. Born in Shanghai, China, she immigrated to the United States at sixteen. Fluent in both English and three Chinese dialects, she also plays the important role of researcher and menu translator! Drawing from over four decades of cooking experience and travel, Judy aims to bring Chinese culinary traditions to readers and preserve recipes that might otherwise be lost to time. Her expertise spans from Shanghainese cooking and everyday homestyle dishes to a variety of regional foodways, showcasing the depth and breadth of Chinese cuisine for a global audience. Over the last decade, she’s helped transform The Woks of Life into what Saveur Magazine has deemed “the internet’s most popular Chinese cooking blog,” co-written a New York Times bestselling cookbook, and become convinced that we will never run out of recipes to share!