Stir-Fry Chicken in Rice Wine

 chicken with veggies stir-fry: broccoli, bell pepper, hot red chili, and soya sauce on a black plate with chopsticks on a marble background, top view, close-up

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Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 10 mins
Total: 25 mins
Servings: 6 servings

There's nothing like a tasty stir-fry to anchor your week-night dinner plans. With busy schedules, we all need easy and flavorful recipes that come together in minutes. Our chicken stir-fry with rice wine makes a beautiful and easy dish that's nutritious and filling. Served over white rice to soak up the juices of the preparation, this chicken is also great with mashed potatoes, or any grain of your liking. Although there are many ingredients in it, the dish is very easy to prepare and our instructions are simple. Once you have everything ready and measured, you just need 10 minutes of cooking time in a very hot wok or large pan. This stir-fry feeds 6 and makes great leftovers that you can quickly reheat on the stove or in the microwave. Alternatively, use the succulent leftover chicken to make a quick chicken wrap with vegetables.

Rice wine, one of the main flavoring ingredients in our dish, is an alcoholic beverage made out of fermented glutinous rice, a product that's different from rice wine vinegar, which is a type of, you got it, vinegar. As they sound similar, people think are the same product, but they shouldn't be used interchangeably as they're not the same. Rice wine is widely consumed in most parts of Asia as a cooking ingredient and as an alcoholic drink. Technically not wine, this beverage is sweet in flavor and is often available in its Chinese version, shaoxing, or in its Japanese form as mirin (sweet) or sake (dry). For our recipe, we recommend buying Chinese rice wine, easily available in Asian stores, some upscale grocers, and online. If unavailable, substitute it with pale dry sherry.

Another key ingredient in this flavorful stir-fry is the dark soy sauce, a traditional ingredient in Chinese cuisine. Darker and thicker, with a milder flavor than regular soy sauce, dark soy is aged for longer periods of time, with caramel or molasses added to it, which gives it a lot more body and deeper color. Usually added to other recipes and not eaten uncooked, dark soy sauce can be eaten without heating it up, but its flavor improves when warm. As most soy sauces get fermented with wheat, they all contain gluten. However, there are many dark soy sauces that are wheat-free and certified gluten free, so you can switch up and make this dish using the versions that suit your dietary preferences best.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken, 3 to 4 pounds

  • 1 tablespoon peanut oil, or vegetable oil

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil

  • 1 thumb-size piece fresh ginger, cut into thin slices

  • 3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry

  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce

  • 1 tablespoon black soy sauce

  • 1 teaspoon white peppercorns, coarsely crushed

  • 1 cup hot water, or chicken stock

  • Salt, to taste

For Garnishing:

  • 3 spring onions, or green onions, cut into 2-inch lengths

Steps to Make It

  1. Chop the chicken into bite-size pieces, including the bones.

  2. Heat the wok to medium-high to high heat.

  3. Drizzle in the peanut oil or vegetable oil and the sesame oil.

  4. When the oil is hot, add the sliced ginger. Stir-fry until it is almost brown. Stir in the minced garlic and stir-fry until it is nearly brown.

  5. Add the chicken slices. Let sit and sear briefly, and then stir-fry the meat until it is slightly browned and about 80 percent cooked.

  6. Pour in the rice wine and continue stir-frying.

  7. Add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and crushed white pepper. Continue to stir-fry, making sure the garlic and ginger do not burn.

  8. Pour in the hot water or chicken stock, a little at a time. Continue frying until the stock is reduced by half. Taste and add a bit of salt if desired.

  9. Serve the chicken garnished with the spring onions.

  10. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
785 Calories
46g Fat
2g Carbs
84g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 785
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 46g 59%
Saturated Fat 12g 61%
Cholesterol 266mg 89%
Sodium 933mg 41%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g 2%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 84g
Vitamin C 2mg 10%
Calcium 61mg 5%
Iron 4mg 23%
Potassium 761mg 16%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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