Three Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji) is a popular Taiwanese dish of chicken braised in a sweet-savoury soy sauce with lots of garlic and ginger. It’s a great quick recipe that takes 10 minutes to cook, and it’s got the sort of flavours that’s a guaranteed hit with everyone – kids, grown ups, fussy eaters!
This is a mid-week dinner that ticks all the right boxes – quick, pantry staples, universally loved flavours – but is something a bit different. Bite-size pieces of chicken are simmered in a garlic-ginger forward soy-based sauce so every piece absorbs all the flavour as it reduces into a glossy syrup. It takes just 10 minutes on the stove and is made for serving over plenty of rice.
Three Cup Chicken originates from the Chinese mainland, but over time also became very popular in Taiwan. Today it’s identified more with Taiwan than its mainland China origins. The name is said to have come from the sauce made with 1 cup each of soy sauce, sesame oil, and cooking wine. The recipe doesn’t use that much, but the ingredient ratios are not that far off, so there may well be some truth to the tale.
Ingredients in Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken
Here’s what you need to make this. Short ingredient list and basic ingredients! If you’ve already spied Thai Basil and are thinking that isn’t exactly basic — regular basil or even green onion works really well too.
The Chicken and Aromatics
-
Chicken – Thigh is strongly recommended over breast because it holds up better to braising and stays juicier. Bone-in pieces of bite-size meat are traditionally used, which you can absolutely opt for if you prefer. Boneless thigh is used here for convenience – faster to cook, and no picking bones out as you eat.
-
Garlic and ginger (lots!) – This dish gets a huge amount of flavour from plenty of garlic and ginger. You’ll need 6 slices of ginger and 1½ tablespoons finely minced garlic (about 5 to 6 cloves). The ginger is traditionally sliced rather than minced so it gently perfumes the sauce as it braises, rather than ending up mixed through it. Just pick the slices out as you eat, or mince the ginger if you prefer.
-
Thai Basil – Taiwanese food uses Thai Basil a lot. It tastes like Italian basil except it has a slight aniseed flavour. If you don’t have it or can’t find it, regular basil works in a pinch, or even green onion cut into batons. It won’t strictly be Three Cup Chicken, but it’s still a very tasty chicken dish.
-
Dried chilli – Kept whole rather than chopped, so it adds a faint, barely noticeable spiciness. If you don’t have whole chillies, use chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) instead. For no spiciness at all, simply omit it.
Three Cup Chicken Sauce
-
Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) – Taiwanese cooking wine (mijiu) would be the traditional choice if you can find it. Cooking wine brings extra depth of flavour and salt to the sauce. If you’ve ever made a simple stir fry and thought the sauce tasted a little flat or was missing “something,” a splash of cooking wine is usually the answer.
-
Light and dark soy sauce – Light soy brings salt, while dark soy adds colour and richer soy flavour. Dark soy is what gives the chicken that lovely golden colour. Regular soy can replace light soy. You can also replace dark soy with light or regular soy, though the chicken and sauce will be paler and milder. Don’t replace light soy with dark – it’s far too intense.
-
Sugar – Three Cup Chicken sauce is a little bit sweet. Some restaurants make it sweeter than others. 1 tablespoon is used here, which gives a noticeable but restrained sweetness rather than making the sauce overtly sweet.
-
Sesame oil – A distinct yet subtle flavour in this dish. Stir it in at the end because sesame oil loses its aroma when cooked. Be sure to use toasted sesame oil (brown), which has a much stronger flavour than untoasted sesame oil (yellow), the type mostly sold in health food stores.
How to Make Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken
The speed at which this cooks will surprise you – it should not take more than 10 minutes from start to finish. If it does, the chicken has been on the stove longer than necessary and will not be as succulent as it could be.
-
Mix sauce – Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix.
-
Flavour the oil – Heat the oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan. Toast the ginger and chillies for 30 seconds to flavour the oil. Don’t let the ginger go too golden at this stage, or it will burn when searing the chicken.
-
Seal chicken – Turn the heat up to high, add the chicken, and toss for 2 to 3 minutes to seal the surface while keeping the inside raw. Once the outside of all the chicken pieces is sealed, add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
-
Braise – Pour in the sauce and toss to coat the chicken. Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces to a glossy syrup that clings to the chicken – this takes just a few minutes. Stir in the sesame oil and basil, toss once more, and serve immediately over steamed rice.
This dish is best eaten straight from the pan while the sauce is still glossy and the basil is fresh. Leftovers keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat easily in a pan with a small splash of water.
