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Hunan chicken is a healthy Chinese chicken recipe with broccoli, carrots, peppers and mushrooms in a spicy Hunan sauce. This is an authentic and easy Hunan Chicken recipe that is better than takeout.
Hunan Chicken was my favorite Chinese takeout back in the early 2000’s when I was working in San Francisco. I would always order the tender chicken, stir-fried with carrot, broccoli, black fungus in a mouthwatering spicy Hunan sauce.
The chicken breast pieces were always silky, tender, velvety, and the sauce was absolutely addictive and delicious with steamed white rice.
Fast forward many years later, I constantly miss the dish so I decided to develop a homemade Hunan Chicken recipe.
Tips On How To Make Hunan Chicken
- To make sure that every single bite of the chicken is tender and soft, slice the chicken breasts into pieces and marinate the chicken with egg white and corn starch. This process is called velveting in Chinese cooking, which ensures that the chicken is tender just like Chinese restaurants.
- Cut the vegetables in the recipe into uniform-sized pieces. This will ensure they cook evenly during stir-frying.
- Mix the Hunan sauce.
Hunan Sauce
Hunan sauce consists of the following key ingredients with the secret ingredient being chili bean sauce or “Douban Jiang” (豆瓣酱), which is made from chili peppers and fermented soy bean paste.
- Bottled chili bean sauce or douban jiang
- Chicken broth
- Soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Ketchup
- Vinegar
The sauce should be savory with a nice heat from the chili bean sauce. It’s also slightly sour from the ketchup and vinegar. You can mix and make the Hunan sauce in advance as you can freeze it in the refrigerator and use it whenever you want to make this recipe.
Hunan Chicken Vs Szechuan Chicken
Many people are confused with the difference between Hunan Chicken and Szechuan (the correct spelling is “Sichuan”) chicken. Both dishes are completely different. Hunan and Sichuan are two different provinces in China. Hunan cuisine is vastly different from Sichuan food even though both are spicy.
The spiciness of Hunan food stems from the used of the spicy douban jiang or the chili bean sauce. Sichuan food uses a lot of dried red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns.
This is a healthy dish as there are a variety of vegetables.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is 499 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Hunan Chicken
For a wholesome Chinese dinner, make the following dishes.
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Hunan Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz (230g) chicken breast, cut into about 1/4 inch (5mm) slices
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups broccoli florets, sliced carrot, sliced mushroom and red bell pepper
- 2 oz (60g) dry black fungus, optional, soaked in water and drained
- 5 tablespoons Hunan Sauce
- Salt and sugar, to taste
Marinade:
- 1 egg white, beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3 dashes ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Hunan Sauce (yields 2/3 cup):
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 3 tablespoons bottled Chili Bean Sauce, or Spicy Douban Jiang or Spicy Fermented Soybean Sauce, for example: Lee Kum Kee brand
- 2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese rice vinegar , or apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 dashes white pepper
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients in the Marinade and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Mix all the Hunan Sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Add the oil to a heated wok, then gently drop in the marinated chicken slices. Stir-fry the chicken until the surface turns opaque. Dish out and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil into the wok and stir-fry the minced garlic until fragrant. Toss in the mixed vegetables and black fungus, then continue to stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Toss in the chicken and add 5 tablespoons of Hunan Sauce. Stir to combine well, cooking until the chicken is completely cooked. Add extra Hunan Sauce, if desired, and season with salt and sugar to taste. Dish out and serve with steamed rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this Hunan Chicken dish and loved it!!
Thank you for your kind comment and feedback, Diane. Yours looks absolutely lovely!
Can I use Fermented Bean Sauce and add spice to it to replace the chili bean sauce?
Yes, you can.
I’ve been looking for a Hunan sauce a while now with disappointing results, till this one. BOOM ! This is the perfect one for me, some heat, some sweet, both balanced with salt. ( Used molasses instead of sugar) changed up the veggies to match the fridge contents and added a few dried chilies. Fantastic, better than the local dragon take out. Thanks for this recipe.
Hi Ivan, thanks for your comment. You won’t find better Chinese recipes elsewhere! :)
I cannot see the icon to pin your recipes, only to follow you on Pinterest. Am I not seeing it?
Hi Lor, yes, you can pin the recipe. Just mouse over the center of the image and the P icon will show up.
is this very spicy or just mild
Just mild.
I’ve tried a few Hunan recipes and this one is he closet to the restaurant. AWESOME!! Thanks for posting. I’ll be trying your other recipes too!!!
I made the Hunan Chicken.
The taste was OK but the vegetables did not get tender.
It seems 2 minutes is not sufficient time to cook carrots.
Are the vegetables meant to be undercooked?
Did you slice the carrots? They are meant to have a crunch. If you want to make them tender, please cook longer.
I can’t wait to try this! I bought your cookbook: First one I ever purchased instead of just downloading recipes online!
Hi Cass, thanks for your support. Please do try this Hunan chicken recipe.
I didn’t know that Douban Jiang was also called Hunan Sauce and that Lee Kum Lee makes it, too. You made my day! When I encountered Douban Jiang in other recipes I thought I had to search for something esoteric and not easy to find. Thank you for making this easy.
Hi DB, thanks for your comment, and yes you can use the bottled sauce to make the Hunan chicken.