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Hoisin Chicken - Easy chicken stir-fry with vegetables in a savory Hoisin Sauce that takes 20 minutes with easy-to-get store ingredients.
What Is Hoisin Sauce
When it comes to Chinese recipes, soy sauce and oyster sauce are two of the most used sauces. However, there are other sauces that taste great, but are less common, for example: Hoisin sauce.
The complex flavor of Hoisin sauce comes from the fermented soybeans, spices, dried sweet potatoes, salt, sugar and other ingredients. It is usually used as a dipping sauce, for example: Peking duck.
Hoisin sauce, or 海鲜酱 in Chinese, literally means seafood sauce. Ironically, there is no seafood in the sauce. Hoisin sauce is made of sweet potatoes, soybeans and other flavorings.
Hoisin Sauce Stir Fry
The savory, sweet, and umami tasting sauce is actually great for stir-fries, as in this simple Hoisin Chicken. Hoisin sauce brings a new dimension in taste.
I like the slight sweetness that comes with the sauce, and it makes this Hoisin Chicken very appetizing, and especially great with steamed white rice.
For a baked version of this dish, check out my Baked Hoisin Chicken recipe!
Hoisin Sauce Uses
Other than stir fries, Hoisin sauce is great as a dipping sauce and marinade. For examples: lettuce wraps and Peking duck.
The sweet, savory and smoky taste is a perfect dipping sauce for roasted duck, chicken and pork, as well as refreshing lettuce wraps. As a marinade, the sauce lends a rich earthy note to the protein.
Cooking Tips
Anyway, for this Hoisin Chicken recipe, you want to add some vegetables. I used broccoli and carrot but baby bok choy will be a great substitute. You can also add mushrooms such as Shiitake mushroom or white button mushroom.
For the chicken, white meat is the best for Chinese stir fries. Once you velvet the chicken breast with corn starch, the meat will be tender, silky smooth and soft, just like your favorite Chinese takeout restaurants!
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 244 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Hoisin Chicken
This meal is best served with steamed rice. For a wholesome Chinese meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Other Hoisin Recipes You Might Like
Hoisin Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 oz (90g) broccoli florets
- 4 oz (120g) chicken breast meat, sliced into thin pieces
- 4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 small carrot, peeled and sliced
- 1 pinch salt and sugar, to taste
Marinade:
- 1/2 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine , or rice wine
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 dashes white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken in the Marinade for about 10 minutes. In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the Sauce and stir to combine well
- Heat the oil in a wok. Once hot, add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic. Then, add the broccoli and stir-fry for a few moments.
- Add the chicken and continue to stir-fry. Then, add the mushrooms, carrots, and the sauce (stir it before using) and mix well with the other ingredients in the wok.
- When the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through, add a pinch of salt and sugar to taste (optional). Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was very good. How do you get those fancy slices of carrot? Thank you,
Made this today without the wines. It was nice
Thank you.
Awesome thanks for trying my recipe.
Hi , just wondering where the 34g of fat and 24g of sat fat comes from in this recipe? You have deep fried chicken dishes on here with similar ingredients with less fat content ? Are they wrong or is this wrong ?
Hi Tom, I rerun the nutrition calculation and it’s now updated.
We had this for dinner last night. We all enjoyed it, and my husband was very pleased that it will be added to our dinner rotation. Thank you for the recipe!
Hello: Husband mentioned that I haven’t made stir fry in a long time…. so true so I went to your site and found the hoisin chicken recipe. I thought I had all ingredients except rice wine. I really don’t want to leave it out but substitute? White wine? Thanks for any suggestions.
Sure you can have white wine. It will work, or you can skip it. Enjoy this hoisin chicken recipe!
This is my favorite recipe I’ve tried from your site. Every time I make double the recipe, and I’m still sad when I run out of leftovers. So good and very flavorful. Thank you!
That’s great. Make more!
I hope this is not a dumb question but if you cook with Shaoxing wine or rice wine does the alcohol cook out of the food , and if you skip using either shaoxing wine or rice wine will it change the taste.This is my first time trying Asian cooking and my first time cooking with wine of any kind.
The alcohol taste stays but you can skip it if you want.
Hi, may I know what can I subtitue shaoxing wine or rice wine with?
Skip it.
Hello, I tried this on a whole broiled chicken hehe, substituted mirin for Shaoxing wine and put bell pepper and onion leeks as I had no broccoli on hand. Turned out great, thank you for sharing! :-)
Thanks Karen.
I love the homemade version of hoisin sauce, I make mines with spare ribs mostly and everyone loves it.