A delicious caramel chicken recipe that’s as quick as it is tasty
After the famous quick caramel pork, it’s time to unveil another highly requested Chinese cuisine recipe: caramel chicken
Simple, quick, and effective but above all delicious. There aren’t many dishes that can compete with it on these criteria.
The ingredients for caramel chicken
Dark soy sauce: If you’re not sure what it is, come read my article on the subject. It can be replaced with light soy sauce in this case, but you’ll lose some flavor and especially color
Fish sauce: It’s widely used in Vietnamese or Thai cuisine, also called nuoc mam. I generally recommend Phu Quoc but for this recipe, you don’t necessarily need a high-quality one.
The quality one is rather for recipes like bo bun or nem sauce. Buy it on Amazon.
Tips for successful caramel chicken
Serve over sushi rice: The combo of the caramel sauce with the sticky rice is just divine, trust me!
Wait for it to caramelize properly. The time will depend on your stovetop, but believe me, it’s the only really, really important step for caramel chicken. Caramel chicken without caramel is not caramel chicken. Some thicken it with cornstarch, but remember one thing: thickening is cheating
Add a spicy note by adding Korean gochujang towards the end of cooking.
You can also add some vegetables (onion and garlic) by sautéing them beforehand before melting the sugar, and add them back a few minutes after putting in the meat.
If you don’t want to bother adding vegetables to the recipe, you can make my Cantonese rice, my express Cantonese rice or my fried rice better than at the restaurant.
Don’t want rice? Serve it with my stir-fried noodles with vegetables like at the restaurant
Caramel Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
- 350 g chicken thighs cut into pieces
- 4 tablespoons of sugar
Sauce
- 60 ml water
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine sauce ingredients.60 ml water, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar
- In a wok over medium-high heat, melt the sugar with a little oil4 tablespoons of sugar
- As soon as it has turned yellow (caramelized, that is), add the meat. Sauté for 1-2 minutes350 g chicken thighs
- Add the sauce
- Let it reduce and caramelize, stirring occasionally. Don’t hesitate to increase to high heat to reduce faster
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with rice
Tellement simple et savoureux, j’ai volontairement fait double portion et les restes étaient tout aussi bons le lendemain avec du riz sushi 😋
Même mon conjoint ultra difficile a repris une deuxième portion, j’étais vraiment surprise de voir à quel point la sauce bien caramélisée a tout changé; servi sur du riz collant, c’était un vrai succès 😊
Made this last night and the caramelization tip was spot on; the sauce turned glossy and packed with flavor. Honestly, it’s as good as, if not better than, the caramel chicken from my local Chinese restaurant 😊
Super recette, on ne s’attend pas à un plat aussi léger et pourtant si gourmand avec une sauce aussi parfumée; avec un peu de riz et des légumes, ça fait un repas vraiment équilibré et nourrissant 🙂