My Chinese New Year recipes continues today with everyone’s favorite Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油鸡)—a staple chicken dish commonly found at Chinatown BBQ joints here in the United States and around the world—dark and glossy whole chicken dunked in a soy sauce mix with meat so tender, silky, and juicy that they are one of the must-have’s for Cantonese-style BBQ rice plates.
If you have been to a typical Cantonese BBQ restaurant, I am sure you have had soy sauce chicken. I can hardly resist the tempting looking chicken with the perfect sheen, hanging at the display window calling my name! Soy sauce chicken is utterly delicious, especially when you dip it with the ginger and scallion condiment. The thought of it just sets my mouth watering.
Chinese love chicken and there is always a chicken dish on the Chinese New Year menu, so what about serving soy sauce chicken this year?
Soy sauce chicken (豉油鸡) is really not so hard to make, and you don’t have to use a whole chicken. I didn’t because I didn’t have a pot big enough to contain a whole chicken, plus, I must confess that I don’t have great knife skills (I didn’t go to culinary school!) to make perfect chops.
I used chicken leg quarters but you can use cut up whole chicken, too. Of course, if you have all it takes, by all means, use a whole chicken.
Do try out this soy sauce chicken recipe (豉油鸡), it’s pretty darn close to the ones at my favorite BBQ joint here in SoCal.
I saved the soy sauce mix to make various accompanying dishes such as Chinese soy sauce eggs (滷蛋) and soy sauce fried tofu (滷水豆腐). Super yummy!
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
5 Secrets to 20 Min Dinners
Get tricks for quick & easy meals!
Soy Sauce Chicken
Soy Sauce Chicken - dark and glossy whole chicken dunked in a soy sauce mix. Also try dipping it with the ginger and scallion condiment.
Ingredients
- 3 chicken leg quarters, about 2 lbs.
- 2- inch (5 cm) ginger, skin peeled and lightly pounded
- 4 cloves garlic, lightly pounded
- 2 stalks scallions, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick, about 2-inch (5 cm) length
- 1 dried honey dates, optional
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rose wine, preferred or Shaoxing wine
- 3 dashes white pepper powder
- 4 oz. (115 g) rock sugar
- 4 cups water
Ginger and Scallion Dip:
- 1 oz. (28 g) ginger, skin peeled, pounded, and finely chopped
- 1 scallion, cut into thin rounds
- 1/2 heap teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- 1/2 heap teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
Instructions
- To prepare the ginger and scallion dip, place the ginger, scallions, salt, and chicken bouillon powder into a small bowl. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok until it starts to smoke. Pour the oil into the small bowl and blend well. Set aside.
- Add all ingredients except the chicken into a deep pot and bring it to boil on high heat for 15 minutes. Add the chicken quarters into the pot and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let the chicken steeped in the soy sauce mixture for a few hours to soak in the flavor. Dish out the chicken quarters, chop into pieces and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. Soy sauce chicken is usually served cold or at room temperature.
Notes
Some dark soy sauce is darker than others. I used Kimlan dark soy sauce which is not that dark, so I used 1/2 a cup. If you have a very dark soy sauce, you should probably use less. I had the best Dongbo Rou (东波肉) in a Shanghai restaurant and they used dried honey dates (蜜枣) to make their soy sauce mixture. Dried honey dates impart delicate and natural sweet taste to soups and stews and widely used in Cantonese cuisine. It's optional if you don't have them. Save the soy sauce mix. It's great for soy sauce eggs. Add a few hard-boiled eggs into the soy sauce mix and steep them overnight and you have some great tasting Chinese soy sauce eggs (滷蛋). You can also use the soy sauce mixture to make soy sauce tofu (滷水豆腐); deep fry the tofu and soak it with the soy sauce before serving.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1 gramsAmount Per Serving Calories 508Total Fat 27gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 19gCholesterol 288mgSodium 559mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 1gSugar 5gProtein 55g
Sam Roberts
An excellent chicken recipe, thank you very much. My family love chicken so much! I like it.
Rasa Malaysia
Awesome.
culinarylab
An excellent chicken recipe, thank you very much. My family love chicken so much! I like it.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks for trying my soy sauce chicken recipe.
Caryn
I have made this recipe nearly 10 times in the last few years – it has been a hit with my family each time. Thank you so much for this recipe!! I always follow it exactly and it works perfectly.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Caryn, thanks so much for trying my soy sauce chicken recipe, for 10 times!! Thanks for the support. :)
Mu
Amazing recipe – I had a craving for soya chicken and this recipe hit the spot
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Mu, awesome, I am so happy you tried my soy sauce chicken recipe.
Laura
I have been making this recipe for years, since 2012. It has become a go-to for me, and a staple of my household. I LOVE this dish, and what I love just as much as the flavor is (1) how easy it is to prepare, (2) How leftovers marinate and get tastier and tastier over the next few days, (3) how long the shelf life is for many of these ingredients. I only have to buy honey dates once every several years, and the same goes for the star anise, rose wine, dark soy sauce, etc. I always have garlic and ginger stocked, so the fresh dish that I need to get is chicken. I buy legs and thighs in bulk. I can fit a tremendous amount with this recipe. Today I’m trying something new – this dish in a crock pot! So excited for dinner tonight. Thank you for this recipe!
Lenore
Omg. I cant wait to make. It’s so easy and our local takeaways is so expensive.
KTAndersen
Is there an alternative for the rock sugar? Have difficulties finding it in Geneva.
Rasa Malaysia
Just use regular sugar.
Faisal
Hi, any advice on how to make the skin crunchy using this recipe
Should it be boiled and fry just to get the crunchy skin ?
Rasa Malaysia
The skin is not supposed to be crunchy for this recipe.
Steve
Is the skin meant to be eaten?
Rasa Malaysia
Yes, you can eat chicken skin.
thi
perfect recipe. i can’t get enough of the sauce! taste just like an authentic chinese restaurant and i don’t have to travel to a chinatown or monterey park for it!
julie
I just made your soy sauce chicken recipe and it was so delicious! Reminded me a lot of my dad’s version (he always reused the same soy sauce liquid so it was incredibly flavorful). I took your advice and used the leftover mixture to make soy sauce eggs. I hate how over-cooked the yolk can be sometimes, so I made a few amdendments to suit my personal tastes. I boiled the eggs for only 5 minutes (no more no less) and then very gently peeled off the shells. I brought the soy sauce mixture to a near simmer, put in the eggs, and immediately turned off the heat. I put the lid on and let it sit for several hours. When I finally ate them, the yolk and the egg white were so soft and silky and utterly delicious! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks Julie. I like your great suggestion! :)