Shaoxing Drunken Chicken

This Shaoxing drunken chicken (绍兴醉鸡) is soaked in a herbal chicken broth with Shaoxing wine. The result is juicy, tender & boneless chicken served in a bowl of chicken wine ‘soup’. Despite appearances, it is an easy and inexpensive dish to make at home. This is also an easier version of the drunken chicken roll because there is no need to wrap.

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To me, the best part of this recipe is the make-the-day-before aspect. The chicken needs to be soaked overnight, hence this dish has to be prepared at least a day in advance. This works out so well on busy weekdays. When you come back from work, all you have to do is to warm up the dish & slice the chicken. Your family will be amazed by how you manage to “cook” this restaurant-quality dish in such a short time ;)

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
The chicken broth (used for soaking the chicken) is wholesome to drink with a herbal wine aroma.

Step-by-Step Photos

Scallion Oil Chicken Recipe
Steam chicken thighs with some ginger and spring onions. Set aside the chicken. Do not discard the steaming liquid which is concentrated chicken broth.

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
Place steamed chicken skin-side down without overlapping each other in a tight-fitting food container (so that you don’t need too much soaking broth). Then run the steaming liquid through a fine sieve onto the chicken. Discard the ginger and spring onions. As shown in the picture above, the liquid almost covers the chicken.

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
Add 3-4 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or more if preferred) followed by fish sauce to taste. As a guide to the amount of fish sauce stated in the printed recipe, the Shaoxing wine I used is unsalted. Use good quality wine without the “siap siap” (sour & acidic) taste, so that the broth is naturally sweet without the need to add sugar. If you’re lucky like me, the resultant broth is just enough to cover the chicken as shown above. If not, just top up with MSG-free chicken stock (such as the Swanson low sodium chicken stock or the Campbell real stock) to cover the chicken fully. Give the broth a good stir and season to taste by adding more wine or more fish sauce (if not salty enough). After that, add wolfberries and dang gui pieces…

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
… I used 1 small piece of dang gui (see the size with respect to the wolfberry) for each chicken thigh. No weight measurement is provided for the dang gui in the recipe as they are too light to measure. If your dang gui comes in bigger pieces, use only one or two pieces. Adding too much dang gui will result in a bitter taste. If this is the first time you are making this dish, go easy on the dang gui, and increase the amount next time.

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
Chill the covered container overnight in the fridge. The soaking broth will solidify as shown above because it contains chicken fats. To serve, warm up (not boil) the contents (some or all of the chicken pieces) on the stove or in the microwave and the solidified broth will turn liquid again.

Shaoxing Wine Drunken Chicken Recipe
De-bone the chicken and cut to serving slices. Serve the cut drunken chicken in the chicken wine broth, wolfberries and garnishes. Enjoy!~

Shaoxing Drunken Chicken Recipe

Use good quality Shaoxing wine (without the acidic tangy bite) for this dish. If this is your first time making this dish, go easy on the dang gui, as adding too much may result in a bitter taste.

Clear rice wine can be used in place of Shaoxing wine. Rice wine is usually salted, so reduce or omit the fish sauce accordingly.

Check out the step-by-step photos and more tips on the previous page.

Ingredients:

  • 4 skin-on & bone-on chicken thigh about 100 grams per thigh
  • 8-10 thinly sliced ginger
  • bottom white portion from 2 scallions (spring onions) cut to sections
  • 3-4 tbsp Shaoxing wine to taste; add more if a stronger wine taste is preferred
  • 4 small pieces of dang gui (当归; Angelicae Sinensis)
  • 1 tbsp wolfberries (枸杞子)
  • 3/4 tsp Chinese fish sauce to taste
  • MSG-free chicken stock only if needed
  • chopped spring onions/coriander to garnish

Marinade for chicken thighs

divide equally among the chicken thighs:

  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine drizzle over chicken
  • 1/2 tsp fine sea salt rub over flesh
  • 3/4 tbsp sesame oil for chicken skin

You also need

  • a tight-fitting & non-reactive food container for soaking the chicken

Directions:

  1. Prep and steam the chicken. Marinade chicken flesh with salt and wine. Rub sesame oil on the skin. Place chicken thighs in a large steaming plate lined with ginger slices and scallion stalks. Bring steamer to a boil, steam chicken at medium heat for 15 minutes. Set aside the chicken to cool. Reserve the steaming juices.
  2. Soak the chicken. Place steamed chicken thighs skin-side down without overlapping each other in a tight-fitting food container. Run the steaming liquids through a fine sieve onto the chicken. Then add wine and fish sauce. If there is insufficient broth to fully submerge the chicken pieces, add chicken stock until the chicken is soaked in the broth. Stir to mix well, season to taste by adding more wine or fish sauce, then add dangui pieces and wolfberries.
  3. Chill the chicken. Cover container with lid and keep chilled in the fridge overnight, or up to 5 days.
  4. When ready to serve, warm up the chicken either on the stove or microwave. De-bone and cut chicken to serving sizes. Arrange cut chicken on serving plate with chicken soaking broth. Garnish with wolfberries and spring onions/coriander. This dish can be served chilled or at room temperature.