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A little bit sweet, a little bit briny, but a whole lot of yummy.
This oyster sauce chicken is an easy one skillet dish that I make often and serve just straight out of the pan. Just chop everything ahead of time, and mix the sauce in a bowl before turning on the stove. It's great over a pile of steaming hot rice drizzled with the sauce. Perfect for weeknight dinners. And the hubby likes it cuz there's less of a mess in the kitchen for him to clean up since everything is cooked and served in the pan. (He's in charge of dishes in our house.)
Here's How to Make It:
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| Chop garlic, ginger, and scallions. Set aside. |
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| Mix ingredients for sauce. Set aside. |
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| My favorite brand of oyster sauce |
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| Brown both sides of chicken under medium heat. Transfer to a plate. Set aside. Remove most of the accumulated oil from the pan. |
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| Add ginger, garlic and sauce. Return chicken to pan. Simmer, flipping chicken half way through to ensure proper sauce coating. |
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| At the end of the cooking process, your chicken should have taken on some of the dark color from the sauce, and the sauce should be slightly thickened, glossy and sticky. Turn off the heat and garnish with green onions. |
Yields 5 servings
Ingredients:
- 8 bone-in chicken thighs (~3 lbs)
- 1 T cooking oil
- 1 T finely chopped ginger
- 6 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- chopped scallions for garnish
Ingredients for sauce:
- 3 T oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand*)
- 1 T cooking rice wine
- 1 T dark soy sauce**
- 1 t sugar
- 1 t cornstarch
- 3/4 c water
Procedures:
1. Prepare the sauce in a bowl by mixing in the oyster sauce, cooking rice wine, dark soy sauce, sugar, and water. Set aside. (* My favorite brand of oyster sauce is Lee Kum Kee. It's a bit pricier than other brands, but I find the oyster flavor more pronounced compared to the other brands. **The dark soy sauce helps to give the chicken a nice brown color. If you don't have dark soy sauce, then just use 1/2 T of regular soy sauce. Your chicken will be slightly less dark in color.)
2. Chop all the garlic, ginger and scallions. Set aside.
3. Heat a pan with 1 T of oil and brown the chicken on both sides under medium high heat. About 3 to 4 minutes each. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.
4. Remove accumulated oil in the pan, saving about 1 t of oil. (This is important as chicken thighs with skin have a lot fat that gets rendered off in the pan. Remove most of the rendered oil, otherwise the sauce ends up being too oily and off-putting.)
5. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and stir fry for about 15 to 30 seconds until fragrant. Then pour in the sauce and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Return chicken to the pan and simmer covered for 25 to 30 minutes. Check on the chicken after 10 minutes, flipping chicken pieces over to ensure both sides have a chance to simmer in the sauce. If there is too much liquid, then leave the lid off in the last 5 minutes to allow some liquid to evaporate. The sauce should be plentiful, but slightly thickened and glossy. And the chicken should have taken on some of the dark brown color of the sauce.
6. Turn off the heat and garnish with chopped scallions. Serve hot over rice with plenty of sauce.