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Easy and healthy chicken stew is a classic Chinese-Cantonese recipe. Brown stew chicken with ginger, scallion and black fungus.
Chicken Stew Recipe
This chicken stew is a classic Chinese-Cantonese recipe that is hearty, delicious and great through the year, especially during winter.
When the temperature dips, chicken stew is my favorite goto food, especially if it’s made in a Chinese claypot.
This easy chicken stew recipe is made with chicken, black fungus in a savory brown sauce.
Black fungus is a popular ingredient in Chinese recipes.
Black fungus are similar to shiitake mushrooms, except that the texture is thinner but every bite is a snappy crunch.
For more easy and delicious chicken dishes, check out my Three Cup Chicken recipe next!
Chicken Stew Ingredients
Stew chicken calls for the following ingredients:
- Chicken
- Ginger
- Oyster sauce
- Chinese cooking wine
- Sesame oil
- Black fungus or shiitake mushrooms
- Scallion
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Stew Chicken
It’s so easy to make chicken stew. The cooking process is effortless.
All you have to do is add all the ingredients in a claypot, add some liquid, cover the lid and let the claypot does its magic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Claypot is a made from clay found only in China. It cooks well with a direct flame or direct contact with an electric burner.
Chicken stew in these pots represent an authentic part of Chinese cuisine. Known as 砂锅，or “sandy pots,” it comes with a sandy exterior.
Claypot produces hearty, easy and delicious meals, and it’s one of the least expensive utensils to invest in any kitchen.
If you don’t have a claypot, you can stew chicken using a Dutch oven, a ceramic pot, a skillet with a lid, a slow cooker or an Instant pot!
This recipe is only 376 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Chinese Chicken Stew
Serve stew chicken with steamed rice. For a wholesome Chinese meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Other Recipes You Might Like
Chinese Chicken Stew
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons oil
- 1 inch (2.5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced into thin pieces
- 8 oz (20cm) chicken thigh, or chicken leg, cut into pieces
- 2-3 pieces dried black fungus , or cloud ear, soaked in warm water and cut into pieces
- 2 stalks scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 3 dashes white pepper
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 tablespoon shaoxing wine, optional
- 5 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix well. Set aside.
- Heat a Chinese clay pot over high heat. (You can also use a skillet or wok.)
- Add the oil to the clay pot. When the oil is heated, add the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic. Then, add the chicken and stir continuously until the meat turns opaque.
- Add the black fungus and stir to combine well. Then, add the sauce and stir to coat the chicken thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. If the sauce thickens, add some water to dilute it. Just before serving, stir in the scallions. Serve warm with steamed rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, I have drumsticks, how would you adjust this recipe?
Hi Karolina, you can use about 3 drumsticks in this recipe. Scale up, if needed, as indicated on the recipe. Make sure to cut slits into the thickest part of the meat, to allow the chicken to be cooked through.
Once again a fabulous recipe from you!! SO simple and really tasty. This will become a go-to. I also soaked some lily flower. I velveted the chicken in some extra cornstarch. For 2 I doubled the sauce ingredients and added a bit more meat.
Nice!??
Is there a substitute for oyster sauce ?
Fish sauce.
Thank you Rasa.We love your recipes.
Your recipes are great my dear. I have stayed in KL for 3 years and enjoyed black fungus in fresh steamed fish.
Awesome thanks Victor.
i did this and it was excellent
Awesome! :)
Where will I find this clay pot.
Buy online.
As we are kosher,oyster sauce is off the menu. Please provide us for a substitute for oyster sauce.PS.Your recipes are phenomenal!
Thanks!
Mushroom sauce with sort of an imitation oyster flavour.
Hi! I love your recipes and emails.
In trying to find black fungus: should I be looking for fresh? Or do you buy it dry and rehydrate it?
Thanks!
Either way is fine.
Would it be ok to make this with white snow fungus too?
Black fungus is nothing like shitake, which is a classic sort of mushroom while black fungus is a shelf type mushroom. The tastes and texture are different, too, but both are absolutely delicious. Black mushrooms, often known as wood ear, tree ear, or cloud ear, don’t really have a ton of taste–what taste there is subtle and very good. They have a marvelous crunchy texture that holds up through cooking. This “stew” is a delicious dish, and we enjoyed it very much, even though we lack a clay pot and I did it in a 3 qt sauce pan.
Thanks for trying.