Authentic Chinese restaurant-style flavors abound in this three cup chicken recipe that is simple to make with absolutely aromatic results. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Looking for something different when it comes to making chicken for dinner? Then you should definitely make three cup chicken. It’s a famous Taiwanese dish that has a heavenly aroma and an even more mouthwatering flavor.
Traditionally, three cup chicken is made with an entire chicken, carved-up, bone-in, and skin-on. It’s braised in a sweet and savory broth until it gets a nice, sticky glaze. Then, fresh basil is added for the finishing touch. I’ve found a way to preserve this authentic flavor while using a simpler cut of chicken – the wings – to recreate it for any night of the week.
What is three up chicken
Why is it called three cup chicken? That’s because three of the main ingredients were 1-cup in measurement. Traditionally, there was one cup of soy sauce, one cup of Shaoxing wine, and 1 cup of oil all used to braise the three cup chicken. The modern approach uses basil to provide a divine way to elevate the aroma of this dish for a more fragrant experience.
My recipe uses the modern approach. This will taste just like a dish from the best Chinese restaurant around and the aroma will have you swooning as it cooks.
Ingredients
Believe it or not, three cup chicken uses less than ten ingredients, most of which you should have in your pantry already. Your table should look like the picture below when you’re ready to cook.
Cooking process
- Slowly cook the ginger until caramelized
- Cook the garlic and chili peppers
- Brown the chicken
- Add the sauce and braise
- Occasionally turn the chicken to make sure it cooks evenly in the sauce
- Toss in the basil when the sauce is thickened
When the three cup chicken is finished cooking, you will have flavorful chicken with chewy-textured skin and a savory-sweet sticky glaze that will have you licking every last bit off your fingertips.
The active cooking time is really short, too, so you can make this even after a busy day. Would you rather avoid lifting a finger on a weeknight? Prep this a day ahead and you’ll have an amazing meal just waiting to reward you at the end of your day!
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Three Cup Chicken (三杯鸡)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (900 g) chicken wings
- 1/4 cup sesame oil
- 3 ” (8 cm) ginger , thinly sliced
- 16 cloves garlic , lightly smashed
- 6 dried chili peppers
- 1/3 cup Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or regular sugar)
- 1 bunch basil , stems removed (*Footnote 1)
Instructions
- In a 12” heavy-bottomed wide skillet (*Footnote 2) heat the sesame oil over low heat and add the ginger. Slowly fry the ginger until it begins to brown and curl on the edges, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and dried chili peppers. Cook until the garlic turns light golden, another 5 minutes.
- Turn the heat up to a medium-low (be careful not to turn the heat too high or the sesame oil will burn and become bitter). Move all the aromatics to the side of the pan and add the chicken in a single layer. Rearrange the aromatics on top of the chicken to prevent from burning, if needed. If you have trouble fitting all the chicken, you can remove the aromatics and add them back later.
- Cook the chicken, undisturbed, until lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip the chicken and cook until browned on the other side, another 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the Shaoxing wine and use a wooden spatula to scrape any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add back the aromatics if you removed them previously. Gently stir everything together.
- Add the soy sauce and sugar and stir again to coat all the chicken pieces.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to low or medium-low. Simmer covered for 40 minutes. Stir and toss occasionally to coat the chicken and check on the consistency of the sauce.
- After 40 minutes, remove the lid. The sauce should have thickened and coated the chicken very well. If the sauce is still watery, cook uncovered for a few more minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.
- Add the basil. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Once the sauce is thick and glossy, transfer the chicken to a big serving plate.
- Serve hot over steamed rice as a main dish.
Notes
- Thai basil if possible, other basil will work fine.
- You can use a wok or dutch oven to cook this recipe, as well. I prefer to use a large skillet or wok over a dutch oven because it reduces the sauce faster and creates the perfect caramelized result. If you use a dutch oven, you might need to leave the pot uncovered longer at the end of the cooking to reduce the sauce.
Nutrition
If you give this recipe a try, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it (once you’ve tried it), and take a picture and tag it @omnivorescookbook on Instagram! I’d love to see what you come up with.
Other dishes to serve with three cup chicken
- Blistered Shishito Peppers
- 20 Quick and Easy Asian Side Dishes
- Fire Roasted Eggplant with Garlic Vinegar Sauce
- Spicy Rice Noodle Salad
- Choy Sum with Garlic Sauce
Lilja Walter is a part of the Omnivore’s Cookbook team and worked closely with Maggie to develop and test this recipe.
This is a silly question, but this is finger food, tight?
What can I substitute for wine.want to make it halal
I’m afraid there’s no really good substitute in this dish because the Shaoxing wine is a main ingredient. In other recipes (where you use 1 tablespoon wine instead of 1/3 cup), I would say use a chicken broth to replace it. This recipe it’s a bit tricky. I think you can always use a good quality chicken broth with a splash of vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar would be a good choice), but the taste of the dish will change dramatically.
If I *did* happen to have a whole chicken handy, do you think I would be able to follow the recipe as-is (with maybe some minor adjustments to cooking times)? Thank you!
Hi Liz, I’m pretty sure you can use this recipe for the chopped bone-in skin-on chicken. I think as long as you keep the pieces bite-size (similar to the wings), they will cook properly without the needs to adjust seasoning and cooking time.
Thanks Maggie! I made this tonight with a whole chicken and it was fantastic! The chicken was relatively small and I cut it into about 10 pieces (split the breasts, legs, and wings), and I didn’t end up having to change any of the timing. The meat was almost falling off the bones at the end and the sauce was amazing on rice. This went great with a little sesame cucumber salad, and we can’t wait to have the leftovers!
Made these wings tonight. Very delicious. It does take about an hour to cook but well worth it. Not spicy but very savory. Served with Napa cabbage sautéed that I grew in the garden.
Have to try this. Wow! And I’m not wild about chicken. But, wow!
Hello Maggie, I recently discovered your site and I have been cooking your recipes each week. I made this chicken recipe last week and my family loved it so much. Instead of 40 minutes on the stovetop, I cooked the chicken in the Instant Pot for 13 minutes. I will be making it again tomorrow!
Tonight, I made your salt and pepper chicken, and entered the recipe in my “family favorite” list.
Now, if I say a recipe is by you, my husband is excited about the dinner! I am from Beijing China too, and very impressed with what you have created here. The dishes are delicious, authentic and do-able for a week night. Can’t wait to cook more from your site!
This dish is so simple and yet so good. I recommend Thai basil if you can find it (if you can’t, then grow it…it’s worth the effort), and don’t be afraid to double, triple or quadruple the amount of basil.
I’ve been married 24 years and this is the first time I was asked to cook the same dish two nights in row. Last night I made a variant on the dish using a beautiful black cod fillet. Obviously you can’t cook the cod for 40 minutes, but you can reduce the sauce with ginger and garlic first, then sauté the fish and then add the sauce when the fish is at the desired texture. Serve on a bed of Thai basil sprigs. Delicious!
Thank you Maggie!
So happy to hear you like the dish! Wow, it sounds really amazing adding some cod to the sauce at the end. Great idea! 🙂
Recipe looks great. Does this call for sesame oil or toasted sesame oil?
Hi Paul, the recipe calls toasted sesame oil.
Thanks Maggie. I’ll probably make this later in the week. I have so much Thai basil in my garden. Love all your recipes.
I love your recipe. But can I please get an alternative for Shaoxing wine.
I’m afraid there’s no great alternative for Shaoxing wine because this recipe uses it as a main ingredient.
Wow
Super tasty and pretty quick once you get the hang of it! I’ve done it with all cuts of chicken, mostly boneless thighs! Also sometimes I don’t have the Thai basil but still tastes great! A crowd pleaser for sure.
I’m not sure what I did wrong, but the first time I made it and was extremely salty, but still delicious and my fiancé and I finished it in a single meal. The second time I made it, I lower the wine and soy sauce amount to 1/4 and 1/8 respectively and it turned out just right! Thank you for the great recipe!
Fabulous recipe
We loved this! my husband hasn’t stopped saying Mmm since dinner haha. Only complaint is I wish I had doubled the sauce only because it was sooooo good I wanted more!
made this just now!! didn’t expect 6 tiny chilis would be so spicy at all haha. definitely need to halve the dosage next time. also made the beef bulgogi the night before. maggie ur a saving grace.
I cannot get basil leaves.Can it be substituted with leek or scallion
Yes you can! Either will be tasty. If you use leek, make sure to slice them thin and cook a bit longer, so it has enough time to soften.
This was delicious and easy! My daughter in law is from China and she gave it a big thumbs up and told me it tasted authentic. Will definitely make again. Thank you Maggie for providing such reliable and easy to follow recipes.
I made this again tonight. Used sliced chicken breast because they were $1.77 a pound cheaper than wings. It turned out good but would have been better had I not cooked it 40 minutes after combining all ingredients. The breast meat got a bit over done. My error but learned something.
If I ever use breast meat again I’ll reduce the last 40 minutes on low for maybe 15-20
minutes.
Excellent dish though.
Yeah I think 40 minutes is too long for chicken breast. If you use chicken breast again, I would also reduce the by a bit: 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 shaoxing wine, 2 tablespoons sugar. I would also leave the pan uncovered, so the liquid will thicken up properly when you reduce the cooking time.