Soy Sauce Chicken
Soy Sauce Chicken (豉油雞) is one of those classic Cantonese dish that everyone loves. It is traditionally made with a whole chicken and served by chopping the whole bird into bite-size with the bones. The meat is more tender and the idea is that you keep reusing the soy stock so it becomes more flavorful over time. It is like a baker’s sour dough starter. A Chinese mother would guard her sauce as sacred with a special spot inside the fridge where it rests until the next time she makes the dish again. I love the traditional way too, but I’m not a fan of accidentally swallowing a tiny piece of broken bone and it is way too much work for me on a weeknight. So I came up with this lazy version as a hack so I get to enjoy the same flavors in much less time. Plus, I love a rich gravy to go with my meal so rather than making a huge pot of soy stock and reusing it over time, I create a smaller batch of sauce and use a slurry to make a gravy to serve with the chicken. Win-win.
This dish is part of the Cantonese 4-course Meal online cooking class.
The key to creating this rich color on the chicken is the Dark Soy Sauce!
A few extra tips on the recipe:
When I created the recipe back in 2017, it was designed for a larger in-person class so I had to make it work for 10 chicken legs. Thus in Step 4 below, you’ll see my technique of standing the legs up so they all get equal cooking space in the pot submerged in the sauce and without overlapping. The skin would break or bruise if you overlap the chicken. I now teach the class with half the portion so you can simply lay the chicken legs flat in the pan and flip them over after 15 min of cooking time to cook and color the chicken thoroughly.
Flip over the chicken after 15 min to cook and color thoroughly.
You could use other parts of the chicken for this recipe, e.g. deboned chicken thighs with skin. I would personally not choose chicken breast because it’s less tender but it is possible.
Rock candy is a secret ingredient as it adds a more subtle sweetness to the dish. You could always replace it with brown or regular cane sugar but I would put a little less because it is more intense.
The dipping sauce from this recipe keeps in the fridge for at least up to a week if you don’t contaminate it, i.e. always use a clean spoon with it. You could use it to dress ramen noodle rather than serving it in soup and topped with your favorite toppings like spam, egg, and your favorite vegetable.
Here’s the illustrated recipe that I created back in 2017. Scroll down for a text version of this same recipe. P.S. You may notice a different branding below. It’s named after my orange pom-pom mascot, Kitty!
Soy Sauce Chicken 豉油雞
(Same recipe but in text)
Prep to Serve: 45 min
Cleanup: easy
Freezes well
Serves 4 or 5
Must have ingredients:
Chicken Legs, 3 pounds (~10 legs)
Dark Soy Sauce, 1/2 cup
Light Soy Sauce, 2 TBSP
Rock Candy (Sugar), 2 TBSP (or replace with cane sugar)
Shaohsing Rice Wine, 2 TBSP
Steps:
Measure 1/2 cup dark soy sauce in a 2-cup measuring cup. Add 2 TBSP of light soy, 2 TBSP of wine to cup. Fill the rest of the cup with water. Yield 2 cups in total.
Pour liquid into medium pot with lid. Add another cup of water. Total of 3 cups of liquid. Add rock sugar. Turn heat on to high, cover, and bring to a full boil.
Meanwhile, wash and dry chicken legs. When sauce is boiling, turn to medium heat.
Add chicken legs to pot with the “thick” side down so the meaty part is submerged in the sauce completely. Lid on. Cook for 15 min. Baste top of legs at least once.
When time is up, pot should be steaming but not boiling. Turn heat to low and keep cooking for another 15 min. Baste top of legs one more time.
When time is up, chicken is ready to serve. Optional: mix 1 TBSP of corn starch with cold water to make a slurry. Slowly stir in the slurry to thicken the sauce. Pour over or serve chicken with sauce.
It's okay:
To substitute rock candy/sugar with regular sugar.
To use only 1 cup of the sauce in Step 6 and reuse the rest of the sauce for this recipe again. When you do, skip Step 1 but add more water and adjust flavors as needed.
It's not okay:
To not have the sauce cover at least the meaty part of the legs in Step 4. Add hot water if needed.
To disturb the chicken legs in Steps 4 & 5 except to baste the top of the legs because any movement will bruise the skin.
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