Mom’s Signature Drunken Chicken
Cooked chicken soaked in a secret drunken sauce made with homemade hot chili oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh garlic and brown sugar, this drunken chicken is going to knock your socks off! Pro tip: sprinkle some chopped toasted peanuts on top to add a little nutty crunchiness.
I have a thing about reserve-engineering restaurant recipes. Recipes like this, this and this get requested repeatedly in my family. Guess who does the same thing? My mother.
Inspired by a well-known Szechuan spicy chicken appetizer called Kou Shui Ji (口水鸡), my mom reverse-engineered the sauce and add a little her own twist to it. Ever since then, the drunken chicken recipe has become her signature.
“Got any chicken left? Dip it into this drunken sauce and your leftover chicken will never be boring!”
What I love the most about this recipe is that the sauce is so divine that it’ll turn any cooked chicken or leftover chicken into a mouthwatering dish. And it only calls for 5 ingredients including the hot chili oil that we use in the Mapo Tofu (vegan and non-vegan) and Spicy Chinese Noodles.
Toss some greens in the drunken chicken to make a simple and delicious chicken salad like this.
Without further ado, let’s whip it up and enjoy!
PrintMom’s Signature Drunken Chicken
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main, Appetizer
- Cuisine: Chinese
Description
Cooked chicken soaked in a secret drunken sauce made with homemade hot chili oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh garlic and brown sugar.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon hot chili oil (with some pepper solids if desired)
- 2 pounds cooked chicken (leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken works as well)
- Fresh cilantro and chopped toasted peanut (optional) for garnishing
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Add minced garlic and hot chili oil. Feel free to scoop up some peppers from the bottom if you’d like to add some heat to the sauce. (The oil brings an amazing aroma, it’s not really spicy.) Mix the sauce well.
- In a large plate, arrange chicken pieces. Pour the sauce onto the chicken and garnish with cilantro. Enjoy the drunken chicken!
Notes
Got leftover turkey? You know what to do – drunk it in this drunken sauce. 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 3.4g
- Sodium: 554.8mg
- Fat: 12.4g
- Carbohydrates: 4.8g
- Protein: 38.7g
- Cholesterol: 113.4mg
About the Author
Sharon Chen is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and author of the Complete Sous Vide Cookbook. She believes food not only brings healing but also connection. As the creator of StreetSmart Kitchen, she aims to make meal prep easier than ever and help you find balance, ease, joy, and simplicity in the kitchen as you improve your well-being.
The sauce is the best! It’s so unique and delicious.
No alcohol? How’s it qualify as drunken?
Hi Joyce, if you make the sauce, the chicken could be completely soaked in the sauce. That’s where “drunken” is coming from.
This looks a great way to jazz up leftover turkey at Christmas, sorry no Thanksgiving here in France, Looking forward to seeing you in front of the camera !!
Yas! Turkey is great with the drunken sauce as well. Thanks so much, Tricia!
Great idea, we always have leftover chicken!
This works with leftover turkey as well. 🙂
This looks so tasty! I will certainly Prepare these beautiful and also different holiday baskets I have actually worked together once more with Homesense. Love your digital photography!
This looks so delicious! Love your photography!
Thank you! 🙂
DELICIOUS!! We eat chicken 5 times a week…. so this is perfect!
THEFOREVERTEACHER