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Ginger and scallion chicken (姜葱鸡) is a traditional Chinese recipe.
As simple as the ingredients sound, this is not an easy dish to cook well. This dish needs a lot of wok skills.
Hence, this ginger-and-scallion style of cooking is often my taste test when I go to a new Chinese or Cantonese-style restaurant.
If a chef can make a mighty wok hei-infused ginger-and-scallion dish—be it chicken, beef, ginger and scallion crab, or lobster—it’s a sure fire sign that the food will be great.
At home, I like cooking this dish when I want something quick and simple with my steamed rice (aka 30-minute meal) .
I always marinate the chicken meat with potato flour (生粉) or corn starch. (This is one of the many secrets of Chinese cooking; this process will make the meat extra tender and smooth.)
I once asked a master Chinese chef and he told me that potato flour is preferred as a tenderizing agent due to the gelatinous texture.
He also told me that a wee bit of baking soda will do even more wonders to tenderize the meat, which you can learn all about it on my cashew chicken recipe post.
Ginger and scallion chicken and steamed rice is my ideal and homey meal. Try this ginger and scallion recipe at home and it will become your dinner table staple.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 360 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Ginger and Scallion Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 chicken breast (deboned, skinned and cut into thin pieces)
- 4 stalks scallions (cut into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths)
- 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into pieces
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil (one tablespoon for marinating chicken)
- 1/2 tablespoon potato flour or cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 3 dashes white pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken with potato flour or cornstarch and add one tablespoon of oil to seal in the juice of the chicken. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Heat up your wok and add the remaining cooking oil into the wok. When the wok gets very hot and begins to smoke, add in the ginger and stir for a few seconds, then add the white part of the scallions and stir a few times. Add in the chicken and continue to stir well.
- Just when the chicken starts to cook through, add in the oyster sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, white pepper, sugar, and toss the wok a few times. Add salt to taste, if it's not salty enough. Add in the green part of the scallion, stir quickly and remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed white rice.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
How much is 1 chicken breast is this a large breast or something like 6 oz?
Around 6 oz.
Tasted as good as at the restaurants. Thanks for sharing!! It brings me a taste of home away from home.
Delicious recipe, Bee! Oh, so good! My favorite flavors!
Thank you for a terrific recipe!
😊👍
Tasted as good as at the restaurants. Thanks for sharing!! It brings me a taste of home away from home.
Hi Vanessa, awesome. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Anything I can substitute for the oyster sauce without soy or mushrooms? My Chinese restaurant won’t give me the recipe but said they use ketchup?
No, they don’t use ketchup. You can use Bragg Liquid Aminos if you don’t want to use oyster sauce.
Simple but delicious, even the malay communities appreciate it and made a malay version called ayam masak halia. This dish is all time favorite.
This was a great meal. The chicken was very juicy and the ginger and scallions added so much flavor. I did notice that mine was a lot browner than the one you pictured above. Do oyster sauces have a lot of variety ( in hue and taste )? Thanks for the great recipe. I’ll be visiting your site often.
To be fair, food bloggers are photographing their dishes for maximum impact so there’s likely a little ‘poetic licence’ taken with the pictures (I’ve never had a Big Mac that looked anything like the picture). My version looked a lot more ‘homestyle’ and was darker too, but it tasted amazing.
Hi. i really like to try your mouthwatering recipes – reminiscing my 6 years stay in thailand and malaysia.
For this recipe – Is there any alternative to xiaoxing cooking wine or is it okay without the wine.
Just skip.