Steamed Chicken Foil Packet
This is a recipe for Chinese steamed chicken foil packet. It is easy to make and just as easy to clean up. You can serve it as an individual portion (only needing a bowl of rice to go with it) or for sharing as a side dish. If you are not comfortable with aluminium foil, you can use parchment paper like in my fish in a bag recipe.
More foil packet recipes:
The chicken is moist, and the broth naturally rich after steaming.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
Prepare a large sheet of foil. Place aromatics (onion, spring onion, ginger and garlic) in the center.
Place chicken leg on the aromatics, and rub sesame oil on the skin. Scatter bell peppers and shiitake mushrooms around the chicken. Pour soy sauce and rice wine over the contents.
Scatter cubed butter over the contents …
… as well as the hon shimeji mushrooms.
Make the foil packet by folding in the edges lengthwise over the chicken, followed by the two sides.
This is what the foil packet looks like. Place it on a steaming plate and steam at high heat for 30 minutes. After this pic was taken, I covered the steamer with lid. If you make more than one, you can steam them together in a larger steamer, or steam in batches.
When opening the packet, be careful of hot steam. Spoon the soup over the chicken to keep it moist, garnish with spring onions and serve. So good with rice!
First published in Nov 2007, updated in Jan 2019.
Steamed Chicken in Foil Recipe
This recipe makes 1 foil packet. If you have a large steamer, you can steam 2-3 foil packets at a go.
For those not comfortable with using foil, you can wrap the chicken in parchment paper instead.
Ingredients:
Aromatics:
- 20g yellow/white onion cut to chunks
- 3 stalks spring onion (bottom white part) cut to short sections
- 5 thin ginger slices
- 4 garlic cloves peeled & bruised
The rest of the ingredients:
- 1 chicken leg (about 200g)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 bell peppers (capsicum) diced
- 3 fresh shiitake mushroom caps halved
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine or sake
- 25g unsalted butter cubed
- 50g shimeji mushrooms ends trimmed
Garnish
- spring onions chopped or cut to wispy strips
You Also Need:
- one sheet of food-grade aluminium foil measuring 30×35 cm
Directions:
- Prepare foil packet. Lay foil sheet on a flat work surface. Place aromatics (onion, spring onion, ginger and garlic) in the middle of the sheet. Place chicken leg on top of the aromatics. Rub sesame oil on the chicken skin. Scatter the rest of the ingredients evenly over and around the chicken.
- Seal the packet by folding in the foil lengthwise over the chicken, followed by the remaining two sides.
- Steam chicken and serve. Prepare steamer. When the water in the steamer is boiling, steam the chicken foil (placed on a plate) for 30 minutes. When opening the parcel, be careful of hot steam coming out from it. Spoon the soup over the chicken to keep it moist, and garnish with spring onions.