Ingredients
Chicken & Marinade Ingredients
- 3 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
- 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine (14g)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (14g)
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 inch knob ginger minced
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (75g)
- 1/2 cup cornstarch (60g)
- Oil for frying
Wok Sauce Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine (14g)
- 1/2 cup chicken stock, with a little bit of shirodashi mixed in) (120 ml)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce (50g)
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar (45g)
- 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 Tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp red pepper chili flakes
Slurry Ingredients
- 1.5 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch
Garnish Ingredients
- 5 dried red chili peppers (chiles de arbol or Korean chili peppers) optional
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Thinly sliced green onion
Instructions
- Preheat sous vide water bath to 155F.
- Place thighs into three vacuum seal bags and seal each bag. Once sous vide has reached 155F, place bags in, ensuring they are fully submerged.
- Let chicken cook in sous vide for 2.5 hours.
- While chicken is cooking, make the marinade. Combine 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, pinch of salt, 2 minced garlic cloves, and a minced knob of ginger. Set aside.
- Next, make the wok sauce that you’ll use at the end. Place 1 Tbsp shaoxing wine, 1/2 c chicken stock, 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 3 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp garlic, 1 Tbsp ginger and 1 tsp red pepper flakes into a small saucepan and set burner to medium-low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. If the sauce begins to bubble or boil, your heat is too high.
- When there are 20 minutes left on the sous vide, prepare your ice bath, which is a large pot/bowl filled with equal amounts of water and ice cubes.
- After 2.5 hours, remove bags from sous vide with tongs and place immediately into ice bath to stop the cooking. After 30 minutes in the ice bath, place two of the bags in the freezer for another day. In the future, thaw frozen bag(s) the day before you cook, and proceed with the rest of the recipe.
- Once the remaining bag of chicken is fully cooled, place in a container with the prepared marinade. Mix together so that all pieces are completely covered. Cover container with lid or plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least one hour, preferably overnight.
- Heat oil in large 4-5 quart Dutch Oven to 400 degrees using a high heat oil thermometer. Fill the pot with oil until it reaches about 3 inches deep. I don’t recommend shallow frying in a skillet.
- While oil is heating up, mix together 1/2 c flour and 1/2 c cornstarch in a medium bowl. Dredge chicken in flour mixture.
- Once the oil reaches 400 degrees, drop chicken into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pot. Less is more. If you put too many pieces of chicken in the oil at one time, they will not achieve optimal crispy crunchy state. Fry the chicken in the oil for 3 minutes, turning a few times with tongs or a spider to ensure even browning.
- After 3 minutes, transfer the chicken to a clean wire rack set on a baking sheet for the oil to drain off. This is preferred to drying on paper towels to prevent soggy chicken. And no one likes soggy chicken, especially after all of this effort.
- Serve chicken with rice and vegetables of your choice. Top with wok sauce, chiles, toasted sesame seeds, and sliced green onions for garnish.
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