Ginger Chicken
Tender pieces of chicken thighs coated in a savory Asian sauce. The spicy ginger is balanced with brown sugar, making the sauce sweet, spicy, and perfectly caramelized. The cherry on the top is the Chinese five spice that round up all the flavors making this Ginger Chicken a quick delicious weeknight dinner.
This Ginger Chicken is just not like any other stir fry. The warmth of ginger and Chinese five spice powder and umami from soy sauce makes the sauce unique and delicious. Each piece of chicken is coated with a sweet, spicy glossy sauce. There are wedges of onion for crunch and green onion for a pop of color in the sauce.
In stir-fries, I love how well sacue clings to deep-fried chicken pieces. In this case, though the chicken is not deep-fried, thanks to the brown sugar, it forms a sticky sauce once reduced and glazes each chicken piece well.
Ingredients You Need
While the list of ingredients looks long, most of them are Asian pantry staples and easy to gather.
- Chicken thigh – Cut boneless chicken thighs into thin slices or cubes. If using frozen chicken, then bring it to room temperature.
- Ginger- It all about the ginger flavor and there is a good dose of it. Fresh mature ginger has a more intense flavor. Cut into thin round slices, it doesn’t break into the sauce.
- Garlic – Just a little bit of fresh minced garlic.
- Onion – Cut into wedges. gives a little crunch.
- Spring Onion–
For Chicken Marinade
- Oyster sauce
- Soy – Preferably low sodium sauce
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Brown sugar – To balance all the salty sauces, You could use regular white sugar or honey.
- Chinese Five Spice – Spicy, sweet, and aromatic, it complements the ginger. Made with cinnamon, fennel, schezwan pepper, cloves, and star anise. It is available in Asian stores or you could make your own by following this recipe.
- White pepper
For Sauce
- Oyster sacue
- Soy sauce
- Chinese cooking wine/ cooking sherry
- Cornstarch – To thicken the sauce.
- Water
To Make Ginger Chicken
A quick prep work and keeping the workstation ready before you start with the cooking will quicken
Prepare aromatics and sauce
Begin by chopping onions into quarters(like wedges), cutting ginger into slices, and gently smashing each slice with the back of a knife. Chop scallions, keep green and white parts separate.
Marinate chicken and make sauce
A quick 15-minute chicken marination will season and tenderize the chicken. Longer marination is really not necessary. Mix all the sauce ingredients for the stir fry.
Sear chicken
If you own a wok, use it or a wide skillet will also work. If using a steel pan, heat it really well and it behaves as any nonstick pan. Saute ginger for 15 seconds.
Arrange marinated chicken in a single layer and sear undisturbed for 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook again for 2-3 minutes. Tip- To get the perfect sear, cook it on medium-high heat undisturbed for an initial 3 minutes. Once the chicken is seared, towards the end add minced garlic. Adding garlic towards the end prevents it from burning.
Finally-make the sauce
I love a little crunch from the onions, hence add them towards the end. Lower heat. Stir in the sauce and Deglaze the pan. Let it simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened and it sticks to the chicken. Finish it off by adding green onions.
Ginger Chicken- Recipe Tips
- Keep everything measured and ready before you begin the cooking.
- Use a wide skillet or wok, to get that perfect sear. Layer chicken in a single layer so that you will get restaurant-style charred chicken. In a small crowded pan, the chicken will stew and not brown well.
- To make it saucier, increase the water in sauce to 1/2 cup and add a total 1.5 tablespoons of cornstarch.
- You can use chicken breast. Chicken breasts tend to cook quicker than thighs. So take care of cooking time.
- Add veggies like pepper, broccoli, and mushrooms as variations.
Serving
Just a bowl of hot rice- I can’t think of any other way to serve Ginger Chicken. It does pair well with noodles. On the side serve some veggies such as Air fryer Roasted broccoli, Asian green beans with caramelized onion or Spicy Cucumber Salad.
Sometimes I serve it as an appetizer. To serve as an appetizer, skip the water and cornstarch in the sauce.
Storage
Stores well for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, making it a perfect candidate for meal prepping. Though I have not frozen ginger chicken, I don’t see any issue in the same. You can easily freeze it for upto 3 months.
Other Quick Asian Recipes
Ginger Chicken
Ingredients
- 500 grams Chicken thighs (1 pound) slice or cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1.5 inch Ginger
- ½ tablespoon Garlic
- 1 medium Onion
- 3-4 spring onions Green and white part separate
Chicken Marinade
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Oysters sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame Oil
- 1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice
- 1.5 tbsp brown sugar
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
- 3 tablespoon cooking wine
- ¼ cup water
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Marinate Chicken thighs with Soy sauce, Oyster sauce, sesame oil, Chinese Five Spice, and brown sugar.
- Slice ginger into 1/4th-inch thin slices. Cut scalion, seprate green and the white part.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients.
- Heat oil a wok or a large skillet. Add ginger slices and cook it for 30 seconds, followed by garlic. Saute garlic for another 30 seconds.
- Increase heat to high. Add marinated chicken to the skillet and spread it. Cook undisturbed on high for 3-4 minutes. Flip chicken, add onion quarters and sear for another 3-4 minutes. By now chicken should be seared and have brown spots and almost cooked through.
- Reduce heat and add prepared sauce. Simmer for about 2 minutes for the sauce to thicken a bit.
- Finish it off with green onion at the end.
Notes
- To get a perfect sear on chicken, while adding chicken to the skillet, increase the heat to high. If using a skillet, spread chicken in a single layer and cook undisturbed for an initial 3 minutes.
Nutrition
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Could the honey be omitted?
Honey is required for balance. You can use 2 tbsp maple syrup or 1 tbsp sugar instead.
Fish sauce can be replaced by which ingredient or can we just omit it
you can skip the fish sauce.
you can skip.
We love stir fry and is on the menu almost every week.