Easy Chinese Hunan Chicken Recipe (Takeout Copycat)
Make this hot and spicy takeout copycat Chinese Hunan Chicken at home in under 30 minutes. It’s budget-friendly and loaded with colorful veggies, and the spices can be adjusted to your taste.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken breasts 500 g
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch divided
- 4 tablespoons oil divided
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- ½ cup thinly sliced celery
- 1 red bell pepper cored, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder
- 2 teaspoons red chili paste
Instructions
Preparation
- Pat dry chicken breasts using paper towels and slice them into thin slices. I like to freeze the chicken breasts for 20-30 minutes until they firm up. Then cut them against the grains into thin slices, almost shaved. Freezing makes the slicing easier.
- Gather the ingredients and keep them next to the cooking area. Once we start to stir fry, we need to be quick.
Fry The Chicken
- Add chicken breast (cut into thin slices) to a mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoon cornstarch and toss well to coat the chicken pieces.
- Heat a flat wide pan or a large skillet over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pan and spread them in a single layer. We want the chicken to fry instead of steam, hence it is very important to use a wide pan.
- I used a 12 inch pan for 1 pound of chicken. If you are scaling the recipe, then fry in batches.
- Stir the chicken a few times while cooking and fry until nicely browned from both sides (6-8 minutes). Remove on a plate.
- Do not overcook the chicken otherwise, it will become chewy.
Make The Hunan Sauce
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pan and heat over medium-high heat.
- Once the oil is hot and shimmery, add minced garlic and saute it for 3-4 seconds.
- Add broccoli florets, celery, and red bell pepper and saute for 15-20 seconds.
- Add the fried chicken back to the pan and mix well.
- Stir together 2 tablespoon cornstarch with chicken broth and add the slurry to the pan.
- Add dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper powder, and mix well.
- Be very careful about the extra salt. The sauces already have a lot of salt in them so add little, taste, and add more if required.
- Add red chili paste and mix well again.
- Garnish with scallions and serve hot.
Video
Notes
To make a saucy version of Hunan chicken, increase the quantity of cornstarch added to the chicken broth from 1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons and chicken broth from ½ cup to 1-½ cup. Add the slurry to the pan and cook until the sauce thickens.
You can add nuts like cashew nuts or peanuts for a nice crunch.
Use any vegetables of your choice, like mushrooms, zucchini, water chestnuts, sugar peas, green beans, bamboo shoots, baby corn, etc.
You can make this recipe with other meat like pork or beef, seafood like shrimp or scallops, and fish like salmon and sea bass.
For a more authentic taste, use sesame oil.
Nutrition
Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 73mg | Sodium: 997mg | Potassium: 611mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1160IU | Vitamin C: 62mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1mg
