Chicken with Onions in Oyster SauceFebruary 24, 2025 farcyde
Recipes & Kitchen

Surprisingly, we’ve got a fairly decent chinese food delivery service here where I live, with tasty food and reasonable pricing. While I deem myself an open minded person when it comes to trying new dishes, I often catch myself ordering from a set variety of meals, just for convenience and because I know exactly what I’ll get when I’m not in the mood for experiments.

One of these dishes is “chicken with onions in oyster sauce” and, man, I really like that stuff. Evident that I’ve been pondering on trying my own version for some time now and so I trawled the internet a little for a suitable recipe. The instructions I found don’t vary that much so I ordered the “original” and compared it to two of my (slightly) different findings.

Here’s the one that really nailed it. As usual, I don’t really know how “original” this Formula is at the end of the day, but it sure tastes excellent and it’s not that much of a fuss to prepare.

 

Ingredients (for 2):

400g skinless chicken breats, cut into ~5 mm slices
1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
250g onions, sliced lengthwise
3 slices of ginger
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 stalks scallions, chopped (white and green parts separately)

Marinade:
1 tbsp, Shaoxing cooking wine
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Generous pinch of (preferably white) pepper
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. cooking oil

Sauce:
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. dark soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
Another pinch of white pepper
3 tbsp. water

Method:

In a bowl, combine the chicken with shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, pepper and water and mix thoroughly, add the cornstarch and mix again until everything is evenly coated in a kind of cornstarch slurry. Finally add the cooking oil and mix again. Set aside and let marinate for ~20 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients and set aside too.

Heat cooking oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger slices and the white parts of the scallions. Sauté, stirring, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

Add the marinated chicken slices to the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides. They don’t have to be already fully cooked by now.

Add the garlic and onions to the pan and stir-fry until the onions are translucent, then pour in the prepared sauce mixture. Cover the pan and let cook for 2-3 minutes. The chicken should now be fully cooked.

Lastly, uncover the pan, set the heat to high and cook until the sauce thickens nicely. Stir in the green parts of the scallions and drizzle with a little sesame oil. Serve hot with rice.

Note: Do not skip the marinating (tenderizing) – it literally makes THE difference.