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    Home » Recipes » Blog

    Delicious & Easy Chinese Drunken Chicken

    May 27, 2016 By Sara McCleary Updated April 16, 2021 - This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe

    Quick and easy Chinese drunken chicken. This dish packs a punch using only five ingredients. A delicious and fragrant mid-week dinner idea that you and your family will love.

    This is my version of a traditional Chinese drunken chicken recipe. Normally whole chicken breasts are marinated overnight. In this case I am using chicken strips, which are perfect for a quick marinade before cooking.

    If making it on a weeknight, get the chicken in the marinade when you walk in the door from work. Then do what you have to, there’s always a long list if you're like me.

    Make sure to leave it in the marinade for a minimum of one hour, better if it is two, but on a weeknight, we rarely have that luxury. One hour will still give you a very tasty result.

    Sara xxx

    mound of chicken in a bowl with steamed rice, topped with slices of green onion and chili
    Easy & Fragrant Drunken Chicken
    What's in this post
    • Ingredients
    • Serving Suggestions
    • Recipe walk through
    • Printable Recipe
    • More mid-week meals

    Ingredients

    • Chicken Breast Strips: Packaged cut strips of chicken breast meat can be found at your local supermarket. Alternatively purchase chicken breast or chicken breast tenders and slice them yourself.
    • Shaoxing Wine: Also knows as Chinese cooking wine or Shaosing Wine. This is the ingredient that makes this dish shine. Easily obtained from most major supermarkets. If you can't find it there try your Asian grocer. Dry sherry can be substituted in a pinch.
    • Ginger: Finely julienned fresh ginger adds a flavour punch. Add a couple of larger slices for visual impact. If you can't find fresh ginger substitute a tablespoon of grated ginger.
    • Soy Sauce: I use a standard soy sauce, it balances the flavour with a salt kick.
    • Sugar: Again for flavour balance. I use caster/superfine sugar as it dissolves easily.
    drunken chicken in a large serving bowl with a spoon
    Chinese Drunken Chicken - perfect as part of a shared meal

    Serving Suggestions

    As a mid-week meal a nice big helping of steamed rice is the perfect accompaniment to drunken chicken. Keeping it simple to let the fragrance and flavour of this dish shine through.

    If serving it as part of a shared meal/Chinese banquet, the following dishes will make my twist on a Chinese classic into a feast.

    • Twice cooked pork belly
    • Garlic soy sauce cucumbers
    • Chilli Mud Crab
    • Siu Mai
    • Mushroom Sang Choy Bow
    • Ham and pineapple fried rice

    Surprisingly this recipe also makes a great sandwich filler. I like buying the crusty bread rolls used for banh mi.

    I load the rolls with drunken chicken, spring onion, coriander (cilantro), chili, and lettuce. Then just add a little drizzle of the drained sauce the chicken was cooked in over the filling. A quick and easy alternative if you don’t feel like rice and want to add a bit more veg to the dish.

    dish on a green plate garnished with slices of shallot and chilli
    Garnishing with chilli and spring onion add extra punch to the dish.

    Recipe walk through

    1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. The longer you can marinate the chicken the better. You can even leave the chicken marinating for up to 24 hours.
    2. When ready to cook, remove chicken from the marinade, draining well, reserving the marinade.
    3. Heat a wok or fry pan with oil. Over medium heat cook the chicken slowly until it is cooked through. Avoid browning the chicken, you want it pale in appearance.
    4. While the chicken is cooking heat the reserved marinade in a small saucepan.
    5. Bring the sauce to a rapid boil then remove from the heat and strain.
    6. Place chicken on a serving dish and cover with the strained sauce. Feel free to garnish with some spring onion (green onion) and finely sliced chilli. Serve immediately with steamed rice.
    Drunken Chicken sitting on steamed rice in a red and white bowl
    Serve with a steaming bowl of rice.

    Printable Recipe

    Drunken Chicken ~ An easy to prepare and quick to cook comforting Chinese dish

    Drunken Chicken

    Recipe Author: Sara McCleary
    Quick and easy Chinese drunken chicken. This dish packs a punch using only five ingredients. A delicious and fragrant mid-week dinner idea that you and your family will love.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save RecipeSaved!
    Prep Time 1 hr
    Cook Time 10 mins
    Total Time 1 hr 10 mins
    Course Main (entree)
    Cuisine Chinese
    Servings 2
    Calories 189 kcal

    Ingredients

    • 300 grams chicken breast strips
    • 125 ml (½ cup) Shaoxing wine | Chinese cooking wine
    • 20 grams piece of fresh ginger | a knob finely julienned
    • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
    • ½ teaspoon caster sugar

    INGREDIENTS: USA Measurements

    • 10.6 oz chicken breast strips
    • 4.2 fl oz (scant ½ cup) Chinese Shaoxing wine | Chinese cooking wine
    • 0.7 oz piece of fresh ginger | a knob finely julienned
    • 4 teaspoons soy sauce
    • ½ teaspoon superfine sugar

    Instructions
     

    • In a medium sized ceramic or plastic bowl place cooking wine, ginger, soy sauce and sugar. Give it a stir and then add the chicken breast strips, coat well.
    • Leave the chicken to marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, the longer the better, it can also be left over night.
    • When ready to cook, strain chicken and ginger from the marinade. Reserve the marinade! Place reserved marinade in a small saucepan.
    • In a wok or pan, place 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Over a low heat cook the chicken until cooked through. You don’t want to brown the chicken, cook slowly to keep it tender. The chicken should look pale in appearance.
    • While cooking the chicken, heat saucepan with the marinade on the stovetop. Bring the sauce to a rapid boil and remove from the heat.
      Strain the sauce.
      The chicken juices, that have leached whilst marinating will coagulate on cooking, and not look very pretty, you want to remove that from your sauce.
    • Place chicken on a serving dish and cover with the strained sauce. Feel free to garnish with some spring onion (green onion) and finely sliced chilli. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

    Notes

    INGREDIENT NOTES
    Chicken Breast Strips: Packaged cut strips of chicken breast meat can be found at your local supermarket. Alternatively purchase chicken breast or chicken breast tenders and slice them yourself.
    Shaoxing Wine: Also knows as Chinese cooking wine or Shaosing Wine. This is the ingredient that makes this dish shine. Easily obtained from most major supermarkets. If you can't find it there try your Asian grocer. Dry sherry can be substituted in a pinch.
     
    GENERAL COOK’S NOTES
    All oven temperatures are fan forced, increase the temperature by 20 Deg C (70 Deg F) for convection ovens.
    All measurements are Australian tablespoons and cups. All measures are level, and cups are lightly packed unless specified;
    • 1 teaspoon equals 5ml
    • 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml (Nth America, NZ & UK use 15ml tablespoons)
    • 1 cup equals 250ml (Nth America use 237ml)
    • 4 teaspoons equal 1 tablespoon
    • I use the below unless specified in my recipes;
    Herbs are fresh | Vegetables are of a medium size | Eggs are roughly 60 grams in weight (large) 
     
    NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION BELOW IS A GUIDE ONLY

    Nutrition

    Calories: 189kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 33gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 678mgPotassium: 616mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 45IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword drunken chicken marinade recipe, drunken chicken using chicken breast, quick chinese stir fry recipe
    Did You Make This Recipe?I do a happy dance when people share how they went. Tag me on Instagram or Twitter @bellyrumbles & #bellyrumbles

    More mid-week meals

    You can find many more mid-week meals in our Recipe Index.

    • Crispy Pork Belly Stir Fry with Long Beans
    • finished dish of chilli mud crab in a white bowl
      Singapore Chilli Mud Crab Recipe
    • Mushroom Sang Choy Bow - Vegetarian for Dinner
    • Siu Mai (Shumai) Recipe
      Siu Mai the Delicious Dim Sum Favourite
    drunken chicken pinterest pin
    « Seared Scallops, Blood Limes & Hazelnut Brown Butter
    Seriously Delicious Hazelnut Sponge with Nutella Cream »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Helen | Grab Your Fork

      June 14, 2016 at 10:26 pm

      I love drunken chicken but tend to use a whole chook. Eating off the bone is so much more satisfying!

      Reply
    2. THE HUNGRY MUM

      June 13, 2016 at 11:13 am

      We eat so much ginger in this house and Misses 8 and 10 are finally beginning to eat chook so will have to try this. Stunning styling, as always x

      Reply
    3. Jean | Holy Smithereens

      June 08, 2016 at 6:01 pm

      Wow I can't believe this recipe only has 5 ingridients! This is my type of recipe - looks "pro" but actually is simple to do 😉

      Reply
    4. John | heneedsfood

      June 08, 2016 at 8:28 am

      It does look tasty, and great idea to do small pieces as opposed to a whole chook and having to portion it up. Beautiful clean flavours.

      Reply
    5. Amanda | Chew Town

      June 02, 2016 at 12:12 pm

      Your drunken chicken looks delicious - and your telling me you don't have to eat it drunk... but can I still do that?! x

      Reply
    6. Rosemarie

      June 01, 2016 at 11:13 am

      A delicious easy recipe for two - looking forward to cooking it

      Reply
    7. Nancy | Plus Ate Six

      May 30, 2016 at 4:55 pm

      This is exactly the sort of dinner I look for midweek - delicious with next to no effort and maximum flavour. And I bet everyone in the house loves it.

      Reply
    8. Annemarie @ justalittlebitofbacon

      May 28, 2016 at 1:15 pm

      Quick and tasty is good for me too! This is definitely a great dish to get together on a Sunday afternoon for an easy dinner.

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:09 pm

        I do love quick and tasty, and who wants to slave away on a Sunday!

        Reply
    9. Immaculate

      May 28, 2016 at 1:03 pm

      What an easy and tasty chicken dinner, great for those days when you do not want to labor in the kitchen. Thanks for sharing!!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:07 pm

        Glad you like it, and the less slaving away in the kitchen the better.

        Reply
    10. Sandi (@fearless_dining)

      May 28, 2016 at 12:28 pm

      Gorgeous soup recipe...I can't believe how few ingredients it has. Can't wait to give it a try.

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:05 pm

        Hope you enjoy it when you try it Sandi

        Reply
    11. Ludmilla

      May 28, 2016 at 12:00 pm

      I love the combination of easy chicken with rice!! Perfect combination!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:03 pm

        Glad you like the recipe Ludmilla, and yep, love easy chicken dishes and do love my rice.

        Reply
    12. Diana

      May 27, 2016 at 11:33 pm

      This chicken dish sounds very easy and delicious! And many ingredients are required which is great!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:02 pm

        I'm a big fan of meals with minimal ingredients, life needs to be easy sometimes.

        Reply
    13. Lauri-Ann

      May 27, 2016 at 11:05 pm

      That looks amazing, Sara. Thanks so much for sharing!!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:02 pm

        Thanks so much for your lovely words Lauri-Ann

        Reply
    14. Swayam

      May 27, 2016 at 10:56 pm

      I love drunk enough chicken! I make mine with Marsala.. Might just have to go look for the Chinese cooking wine. I got hungry just looking at it

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 5:01 pm

        Love using Marsala in cooking, especially veal.

        Reply
    15. Sarah @ Champagne Tastes

      May 27, 2016 at 10:50 pm

      I love how easy and fast this is! Chicken is so delicious when it's marinated overnight!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 4:58 pm

        I agree, if you can plan ahead and marinade over night it is the best.

        Reply
    16. Revathi Palani

      May 27, 2016 at 9:50 pm

      The chicken looks so mouthwatering and delicious. The pics are very gorgeous and love the one right before the recipe 🙂

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 4:57 pm

        Thanks so much Revathi for your lovely words about my photos.

        Reply
    17. Kate @ VeggieDesserts

      May 27, 2016 at 9:41 pm

      I've never heard of drunk chicken before, but I LOVE the idea. I'll have to seek out some Chinese cooking wine!

      Reply
      • Sara

        May 29, 2016 at 4:56 pm

        You can always substitute sherry if you can't find Chinese cooking wine 😉

        Reply

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    photo of Sara McCleary, Founder, Belly Rumbles culinary travel blog

    Well hello there! I’m Sara McCleary a food photographer, creative recipe developer, and avid traveller (when the World isn’t in a pandemic).

    Welcome to Belly Rumbles, my slice of the Internet.

    I share Recipes discovered or inspired by my adventures and family favourites too! Come join me on my culinary adventure.

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