Chinese Chicken Wing Stir Fry Recipe isn't a very common stir fry recipe, but it should be! Chicken wings are commonly deep fried and eaten with your hands at wing night at a pub. Most popped don't associate chicken wings with a stir fry recipe.
This is a recipe that my mum made for us while we were growing up. My parents were born and raised in China, so growing up we ate a lot of delicious Chinese food. I'm not sure it has a Chinese name, as I think she might have made it up. As a kid, I never liked the chicken wings, and always wished there was more meat. As a kid, I especially liked the mushrooms and sauce that I would drown over the rice.
My mom's Chinese Chicken Wing Stir Fry recipe was made using only chicken wings as the meat. I added extra boneless chicken thighs to this recipe. Chicken thighs are so flavorful and make this meal extra meaty!
Prepare Your Chicken Wings
Most chicken wings are sold as the complete wing, all three parts still connect. It's going to take a few minutes to separate the wings into individual pieces. It's super easy. You need a sharp knife, find the middle of the joint, and cut in half. The thin wing tips don't go in this recipe. I freeze them and use them to make an Instant Pot Bone Broth.
Chicken Wing Stir Fry
You want to marinate your chicken wing pieces and the sliced chicken thighs. I love this marinade flavors made with Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce and garlic. It's best to marinate overnight in the fridge, but in a hurry, allow for 2-3 hours.
It's best to cook this in a wok. It can be tricky to cook chicken wings in a wok, because of the bone. It takes longer to cook anything on the bone. It's important to use a lid to cook the wings in the wok, because the bones need the heat to fully cook through. This traps the heat like a dome, ensuring even cooking. When the wings are cooked, I remove the lid and fry them extra on high heat, uncovered, to crisp up the skin.
This dish is not shy for garlic, don't be afraid, add extra garlic! Mum always said that garlic is Russian penicillin (and the Chinese are no strangers to garlic also). As the garlic marinates, then fries out, it's potency is reduced immensely.
I cook the wings and the chicken thighs separately. You don't want to overcook the chicken thighs, or they will be too dry. For this reason, all the ingredients are fried separately and added back together in the end. Everything has different cooking times, and you get better flavor and caramelization when things are cooked by themselves.
Thickening the Stir Fry
Chinese Napa cabbage has a lot of water content, and cooks down very quickly. Initially it looks like a lot, but it its not really. The Napa cabbage is added from flavor, juiciness and texture. But you don't want your stir fry too wet and runny. To thicken it, I use corn starch and water, and allow to cook for a few minutes.
TIP: For extra flavour, when I make the corn flour mixture, I mix it in with half a cup of cold chicken stock instead of plain water.
Chicken Wing Stir fry is a flavorful recipe that's budget friendly and yet still meaty. Served over white rice, packed with flavor, it's definitely worth the effort! Bon Appetit! Приятного аппетита!
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken wings with wingtip removed and cut in half at the joint*
- 500 g boneless skinless chicken thighs - cut into chunky 2" pieces*
- 12 garlic cloves crushed
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce plus extra to taste
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine Chinese cooking wine
- oil for frying
- ¼ of a large Chinese Napa Cabbage shredded
- 500 g small button mushrooms quartered - can be whole if mushrooms are small
- 7 green onions - cut into 3" pieces mum said the length like your finger!
- 1 tablespoon of corn flour
- 1 tablespoon Dark Mushroom Soy optional
Instructions
- Put the chicken wings and chicken thighs in a large bowl and add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, Shoaxing wine, ½ teaspoon salt and 8 cloves of garlic. Mix together until meat is fully coated and marinate for a minimum of 2-3 hours (overnight in fridge is best).
- Heat wok on high and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Brown the chicken wings for about 2 minutes growing both sides. Add 3 tablespoons soy sauce and put a lid over the wings and fry for about 8 minutes. If wings aren't brown and crispy, turn up the heat to high and fry for an extra few minutes to crisp them up. Set aside.
- Keep wok on high and add chicken thighs and cook them until they are cooked and golden brown. Add the cooked chicken wings and 4 cloves of garlic and quickly fry them together for a few minutes until cooked. Set aside. The fresh garlic will boost flavour.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil and fry Chinese Napa cabbage and cook for about 2-3 minutes until it starts to shrivel, juices are released. Set aside with juices.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil and fry the green onions for 2 minutes until softened. Set aside.
- Finally add 1 tablespoon oil and fry mushrooms. Cook until they are soft and have released juices, waiting for the liquid to start to reduce. Salt to taste.
- Return all the cooked ingredients to the wok and mix. Add extra soy sauce to taste. I also added an extra tablespoon of dark mushroom soy, as it gives the dish a nice color and flavor.
- Make a slurry with ½ cup of water and corn starch. Mix it in the stir fry. This will thicken the juices creating a sauce. Continue to cook for 4-5 minutes until it thickens and the starch cooks. Serve with rice.
Notes
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