Hunan chicken is a Chinese takeout stir fry dish that is easy to make at home. I love quick stir fry dishes since they tend to be fairly healthy and have a decent amount of veggies. They also have a ton of flavor for not much work.
This dish typically has chicken, broccoli, carrots, onion, bell pepper and celery as well as hot peppers. You can adjust the heat by adding less or no hot peppers. If you don’t have hot peppers, but like it hot you can also add some chili sauce or sriracha instead.
This dish uses Mirin rice wine, oyster sauce, chili bean sauce (toban dian), sesame oil, and a few other staples you already have in your pantry. Mirin, sesame oil, and oyster sauce can usually be found at most grocery stores in the international section. Toban dian you can order from the link above. You don’t want to leave it out as it adds a complexity and depth of flavor to the dish you can’t get without it.
I served this dish with hot rice and some frozen Korean dumplings from Hmart I had in my freezer. You could also serve this over noodles and that would be great too.
Hunan Chicken
Ingredients
For the marinade:
- 1 tbsp cornstartch
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp Mirin rice wine
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup cornstarch added later
- 3 tbsp flour added later
For the sauce:
- 1/3 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp toban dian
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp Mirin
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp cornstarch
For the stir fry:
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
- 3 tbsp oil for frying
- 3 red jalapenos or other hot peppers
- 1 onion cut into thin wedges
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 3 carrots sliced
- 3 stalks celery sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger minced
Instructions
- Add the chicken to the marinade ingredients stir. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes add the ¼ cup cornstarch and 3 tablespoons flour. Toss to evenly coat.
- Whisk together the sauce ingredients.
- Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once very hot, add chicken in a single layer and cook until golden; flip chicken over and cook an additional minute, until browned on all sides (does not need to be cooked through). Remove chicken and drain on paper towels.
- To the now empty skillet add one tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. add the carrots and stir fry for a few minutes. Then add the broccoli and stir fry a few more minutes. Finally add the bell peppers, celery and onions. Stir fry until vegetables are crisp tender, about 2-3 minutes. (Don’t over-cook because they will continue to cook in sauce). Add garlic and ginger to the veggies and stir fry 30 seconds.
- Whisk sauce and add to pan along with chicken. Bring the sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer until sauce has thickened. Serve over rice.