Hunan Chicken is one of the famous Hunan cuisines with a strong local flavor. It is tender and delicious.

What is Hunan Chicken?

Hunan chicken is a healthy Chinese chicken recipe. It was founded in the Tongzhi Period of the Qing Dynasty and was invented by the Yuloudong Restaurant, a century-old shop in Changsha, Hunan province, China. It incorporates the Hunan sauce, chili, and lots of vegetables which makes it, well, distinctively Asian.

Tips for making Hunan Chicken

Freeze the chicken for around 50 minutes so that you can cut the chicken very thin and easy.

And it is known for its quick frying and crispness. To make the chicken taste better, you need to add a lot of oil and make it under the high fire. Only such a stir can keep the chicken tender. It has a distinctive sweet and spicy taste.

Hunan Sauce: A combination of cornstarch, sugar, red chili pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce, chicken stock, and rice wine vinegar.

Hunan chicken vs Szechuan chicken

1. Hunan chicken is spicy. It is a stir-fried dish that is just coated in a dusting of cornstarch with a mixture of vegetables.

Szechuan chicken is sweet, spicy and sour. It is generally battered and fried before being added to a pan of stir-fried vegetables. And it coated in a much sweeter sauce than Hunan chicken.

2. Hunan chicken uses fresh ingredients. The fresh ingredients used for its preparation change with the seasons.

Szechuan chicken relies dried, pickled and salt-cured on ingredients. It is never littered with the seasons.

3. Hunan chicken it contains lots of vegetables and assumes a crunchy texture.

Szechuan has a few vegetables and it contains sesame seeds, cashew nuts, and peanuts, which result in a little bit of crunchiness.

How to make Hunan Chicken

Easy Hunan Chicken Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 chicken

• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Hunan Sauce

• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

• 5 red chili pepper, minced

• 3 drained chili pepper

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon oyster sauce

• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons chicken stock

• 1/2 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, black seeds removed then ground(option)

• 1 anise(option)

• 1/3 cinnamon(option)

• 1 fragrant leaf (option)

• 1 teaspoon cumin (option)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine cornstarch, light soy sauce, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, and chicken pieces and marinate for 15 minutes. Mix all the Hunan Sauce ingredients in another bowl.

2. Heat oil in a pan until it’s close to smoking. Add chicken and stir-fry until both sides become golden.

3. Add the Hunan sauce in the pan. Cook it for 1 minute.

4. Pour 1 cup of water and cook until the sauce has thickened. Transfer on a plate. Serve.