Our Love for Drunken Chicken (Chinese Wine Recipe)

Drunken Chicken, or 醉鸡 is a classic dish that likely has its roots in Shanghai. We say that because it's in every restaurant in Shanghai, and the locals' way to determine whether it's a good restaurant is through this dish. When we came back to Singapore, we very rarely see drunken chicken, maybe because you need good rice wine for this, and perhaps also because the idea of eating cold wine-marinated chicken might not be very familiar. But since we are deprived of it, we decided to use our rice wines and create our own recipe. 

We have the written recipe below, but if you want to see a video, you can check us out the recipe on Instagram here. 

Drunken Chicken Recipe

Recipe Cuisine: Chinese
Recipe Category: Chicken
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Method: Boiling and Chilling
Recipe Yield: 2 people
Suitable for Diet: N/A

Nutrition Information: [approximate per serving]

• Calories: 300 kcal
• Protein: 25g
• Fat: 15g
• Carbohydrates: 10g
• Sodium: 500mg

Ingredients For the Chicken:

• 2 chicken thighs
• [For wrapping] Food grade cling wrap
• [For wrapping] Aluminum foil 

Ingredients For the Marinade:

• 1 cup Hakka Yellow Rice Wine
• 2 Dang Gui
• 10 Goji Berries

Instructions

A. Preparing the Chicken

Step 1: Clean the Chicken

• Clean and rinse the chicken thoroughly under cold water and with salt.

Step 2: Prepare the Chicken

• Roll the chicken thigh into a circular shape
• Wrap it with food grade cling wrap and make sure it is tight
• Wrap aluminium foil around the cling wrap
• Place the chicken on a steaming plate and steam the chicken for 20-25 mins

Step 3: Cool the Chicken

• Transfer the chicken to an ice bath to cool completely.

• Once cooled, chop the chicken into serving pieces and put into a glass container 

B. Marinating the Chicken

Step 1: Prepare the Marinade:

• In a glass container, combine Hakka Yellow Rice Wine, Dang Gui and Goji Berries 

Step 2: Marinate the Chicken:

• Slice your chicken into bite size and add them into your marinade 

• Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, to allow flavours to develop! 

Drunken Chicken is a flavourful, aromatic dish that’s simple to prepare yet impressive enough for any gathering. Whenever I bring this dish to parties, everyone asks me for the recipe, but really, the key is in the rice wine. With its tender, juicy meat and distinctive wine-infused taste, as well as easy to find staples, it’s sure to be a hit for dinner tonight.