Best Poached One Pot Chinatown Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe

A plate of Cantonese soy sauce with white rice and green onions.

5 from 99 votes

Best Poached One Pot Chinatown Soy Sauce Chicken Recipe

This Cantonese classic chicken is an easy-to-recreate-restaurant dish that can be made in 1 pot! It's also the gift that keeps giving as the leftover poaching liquid can be used for so many things (see post above). (Inspired by 4 recipes: Woks Of Life, SCMP, Burning Kitchen and Red House Spice)

Prep Time10

Cook Time2 30

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Cantonese, Chinese

Servings: people

Calories: 1081kcal

Author: Zen

Equipment

Pot with Lid/ Wok with lid Use something that isn't much bigger than your chicken as you want the sauce to cover at least ¾ of the chicken. If your pot is too big, you'll need to make more sauce. Optional: pasta pot if you want to lift the chicken out of the sauce easily
Long chopsticks

Ingredients

Sauce

2 teaspoon neutral vegetable oil
2-3 thumb sized Fresh ginger peeled and bruised with the back of a knife If you like exact measurements, use at least 30g and up to 60g max.
2 Spring Onions/ Scallions knotted and bunched Click here for Green onion substitutes
3 star anise Lightly bruised to release flavor
2-3 dried bay leaves Lightly bruised to release flavor
2 cinnamon/ cassia sticks, 5 cloves Lightly bruised to release flavor Optional: 3 black cardamoms, for those who prefer a slight herbal flavour
¾ Cup Rose wine This gives the chicken a very strong wine taste. You can use less if you want the soy sauce notes to be more dominant. Can be substituted with regular shaoxing rice wine, dry sherry or sake
2⅔ Cup Light soy sauce Use the best quality possible
¼ Cup Dark soy sauce Use the best quality possible
1½ C White granulated sugar Use rock sugar if you can get it- you may need to add a bit more sugar if so as rock sugar is less sweet than white
3 C Water The sauce should reach up to ¾ of the chicken- if not, DO NOT ADD MORE WATER. Instead make more sauce (from light soy, dark soy, rose wine, sugar and water as per this recipe). If you use a pasta pot, the sauce may be insufficient, as there is some empty space below the strainer- make about 1.25-1.5x the quantity of sauce in this recipe.

Chicken

3.09 lbs whole chicken 1.4 kg/ 3 lb. Innards removed, skin intact. Optional: use salt to gently rub the chicken skin (don't tear it) then rinse well. Asians like to wash their meat - we often shop at outdoor markets where the produce might be dirtier- although the USDA recommends not doing so.
5 t neutral vegetable oil For glazing the cooked chicken to make it look more attractive. Can substitute with maltose or sesame oil if you prefer.

Optional Add-ons

3 Hard boiled eggs Don't add too many or it'll clutter the pot and make it difficult to turn the chicken
1 block Firm tofu Cut into ½ inch strips. Don't add too many or it'll clutter the pot and make it difficult to turn the chicken

To serve with

4-6 bowls Cooked white rice depending on how hungry you are. Cook as per normal

Instructions

Making the sauce

Heat your pot or wok on medium. When the oil is hot add the ginger, stir-fry for 30 sec, then add the scallions and stir fry till fragrant (shouldn't take more than a minute).
Add the spices to the pan, stir for 30 sec then add the wine. (It wil sizzle and smell amazing)
Immediately add the light soya, dark soya and sugar, bringing everything to the boil, then lowering the heat and simmering till the sugar is dissolved. (Took me about 5 minutes)

Poaching the chicken

Now it's time to add the chicken, breast-side up! If you're using a pasta pot, place the chicken in the strainer then slowly lower into the pot. If not using, lower the chicken carefully as you don't want the hot sauce to splash onto you. (The liquid should cover at least ¾ the chicken, if not you need to make more sauce)
Bring to the boil. Once boiling, switch off the flame and cover. Start the timer for 15 minutes and go do something else. Make a note of your starting time in case you lose track of which cycle you're on.
When the timer rings after 15 minutes, uncover, baste the chicken, then bring the sauce back to the boil again, switch off, cover and poach for 15 minutes again. Repeat this 4 more times (i.e. you do the boil then steep 15-minute cycle 6 times in total, flipping the chicken carefully after the 3rd cycle.)
After the 6th 15-min cycle, uncover the pot, and leave the chicken in the hot sauce for 1 more hour.
At the end of the hour, remove the chicken from the pot, making sure the liquid in its cavity has drained back into the pot and not onto you, and put it on a plate.

Glazing

Use your fingers or a brush to rub the neutral oil all over the chicken skin.
Serve with white rice, pouring some of the poaching liquid (reheated) around the chicken (or on the side)! The chicken is really tender, so it's super easy to carve up, but you could also use a cleaver to cut into smaller pieces first if you prefer.)

Notes

Cooking time

You need to start cooking about 3hours before you want to each (2.5 hours cooking time, 20 minutes to bring the chicken back to room temperature.)

The poaching time will change depending on the size of the chicken. If it's 1.2 kg/ 2.64 lb, use 2 15-minute and 2 20-minute cycles of boiling then switching off the heat (so 1 hour 10 minutes) before letting the chicken sit in the hot liquid for another hour.

If it's 1.5 kg/ 3,3lb, it may take 7-8 15-minute cycles (so 1 hour 45 min- 2 hours)

Nutrition