Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji)

Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken

Serves 3

I first fell in love with sweet, sticky Three Cup Chicken in China, and surprisingly not in Taiwan. When in Shanghai, we often frequented a local restaurant on Taiwanese street, to savor this beautifully spicy dish in little claypots. This delicious chicken dish owes its origins to JiangXi province in China, where it is prepared in a very simple way with three liquids - light soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil, and therefore the name - “three cup chicken”. The Taiwanese version is also very similar, just more aromatic with the addition of sweet basil in the end. 

I love this dish not just for its simplicity, but also because it contains some of my favorite aromatics - garlic, ginger, dried chilies, and spring onion. No matter what you do, don’t skimp on garlic in this recipe. I have used 15 cloves of garlic for 900g of chicken, which might sound like a lot but trust me, the garlic just melts away in the beautiful sweet and spicy sauce. You can add more garlic, but definitely not less. The dark caramelized garlic in this dish is one of my favorite ingredients to savor with steamed rice.

​Another thing to remember is to try and use chicken with bones in this recipe. If you don’t have the time to chop up a whole chicken, simply use chicken legs and thighs cut into smaller pieces or a combination of wings and drumsticks. The bones impart so much flavor to the sauce and take it to a whole new level.

​I have added only 1-2 tablespoons sesame oil to this sauce, however the original recipe has a lot more. Feel free to add a few more tablespoons of the nutty oil if you’d like to try the more authentic version.

​Traditionally, the chicken is transferred into a clay-pot once you finish adding the sauces (STEP 6) and then slow-cooked until done. However, if you don’t have a clay-pot, simply use a large frying-pan like I did, or a Dutch oven works too. Once done, throw in some fresh Thai basil just before serving it with some steamed Jasmine rice.

​I hope you enjoy this simple yet beautiful Taiwanese dish. As always, leave any questions you may have in comments. Happy cooking!

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Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken Recipe Video

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Ingredients
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900g chicken on bone, chopped into 1-2 inch pieces

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2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil

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15 cloves garlic, halved lengthways

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6 slices peeled ginger

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4 spring onions, cut into 1-inch matchsticks - bulbs and leaves separated

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6-8 hot dried red chilies, cut into 1-2cm pieces

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​3 tablespoons sugar

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3/4 cup Shaoxing rice wine

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5 tablespoons light soy sauce

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1-2 tablespoons sesame oil

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35g dried Shitake mushrooms

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​large handful Thai basil

Recipe
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1 Rinse Shitake mushrooms, then soak in 2-3 cups of water for a few hours. Once soft, cut and discard stems, and squeeze out the water. Thinly slice mushrooms and set aside.

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2 Heat vegetable or coconut oil in a large frying pan. Add garlic, ginger, spring onion bulbs, and dried chilies - sauté for a few minutes until garlic turns slightly brown. Push the aromatics to one side of the pan.

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3 Spread chicken pieces all over the pan, making sure there is some space in between pieces (If the pieces are too close together, the chicken will steam instead of brown). If your pan isn’t large enough, set the aromatics aside in a bowl and pan-fry the chicken in batches, until brown on both sides.

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4 Keep transferring the aromatics on top of the chicken as you go, to prevent them from burning (as shown in the video above). Sear chicken for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

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5 Once the chicken is brown on both sides, push it along the circumference of the pan, emptying the center.

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6 Pour the sugar into the center and reduce heat to low. Let the sugar caramelize for 3-4 minutes until brown, then toss the chicken well with the caramel. At this point, you can either transfer everything into a claypot, Dutch oven or a heavy base wok like I did.

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7 Pour in Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, and sesame oil; then add Shitake mushrooms, and stir. Bring it to the boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

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8 Give it a stir after 15 minutes, ensuring that the sauce coats the chicken evenly; cover and cook for another 15 minutes.

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9 At this point, the sauce should be thick and luscious. If not, turn up the heat and let it reduce further. Stir well.

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10Turn off the heat, and add Thai sweet basil leaves just before serving. Toss well, serve hot with steamed rice.

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