Soy Sauce Chicken

Soy Sauce Chicken

Soy Sauce Chicken

Soy sauce chicken is a classic Cantonese dim sum that is typically served cold. That’s not to say that you can’t eat it hot. This is a lot more than just chicken marinated in soy sauce. There’s actually 14 ingredients to the marinade: lots of aromatics and the whole spices that make up 5 spice powder. You can use either a whole chicken, no more than 4lbs, or 4lbs worth of whole chicken legs. To achieve the quality restaurant flavor, it is very necessary to marinate the chicken for 24 hours.
To cook the chicken, place the chicken and all of it’s marinade in a large pot. Pour enough water over the chicken until it is 75% submerged. Cover the chicken and simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes. Do not open the lid. Turn off the heat. Let the chicken steam in the pot covered for 30 minutes. Once cooked through, you can either eat it hot with some steamed rice as a main course or completely chill it and eat is as a dim sum appetizer.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time55 minutes
Marinating Time1 day
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: appetizer, Chicken, Chinese, East Asian, main course
Author: Alex Gorgos

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken or 4 whole chicken legs
  • 2 cups light soy sauce
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup shaoxing cooking wine
  • 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp ginger grated
  • 8 garlic cloves minced
  • 5 green onions chopped
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 star anise pod
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds

Instructions

  • Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
    Chinese, main course, appetizer, chicken
  • Place the chicken along with the marinade in a gallon sized storage bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Marinate for 24 hours.
    Chinese, appetizer, main course, chicken
  • Place the chicken and all of it’s marinade in a large pot. Pour enough water over the chicken until it is 75% submerged. Cover the chicken and simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes. Do not open the lid.
    Chinese, appetizer, main course, chicken
  • Turn off the heat. Let the chicken steam in the pot covered for 30 minutes.
    Chinese, appetizer, main course, chicken
Chinese, appetizer, main course, chicken
Let chill completely and serve as a dim sum appetizer.
Chinese, appetizer, main course, chicken
Or serve hot with steamed rice as a main course.