Chicken in black bean sauce is a salty and savoury Chinese stir-fry dish with fermented black beans. Chinese fermented black beans are soy black beans that have been fermented and salted. Therefore, meat is deeply savoury and acts as a flavour enhancer when cooked with meat.
It's a tasty dish we loved eating at Mum's old Chinese restaurant, with special fried rice and egg drop soup.
We've modified our mum's restaurant recipe to make it slightly healthier and easier to approach at home. Learn how to cook chicken in black bean sauce and get your dinner guests talking.
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Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make Chinese chicken in black bean sauce.
Chicken marinade
- 600 g chicken breasts
- 4 tsps light soy sauce
- 3 tbsps water
- 3 tsps cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon neutral vegetable oil
Homemade black bean sauce
- 3 tbsps fermented black beans
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ¼ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 4 tbsps water
To stir fry
- ½ inch ginger, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 tbsps neutral vegetable oil
- 3 scallions, chopped (green part only, for garnishing)
Chicken in black bean sauce tastes rich and savoury. The sauce is robust, and its saltiness can entice or turn people off. However, once you take a bite, you can taste the sharp and spicy undernotes as you chew into the moist meat that has soaked up all the flavour.
Fermented black beans
For our recipe, we use store-bought fermented black soybeans. However, you can either ferment your own black soybeans following our method below or use a black bean sauce.
For most people, ready-made black bean sauce from most Asian supermarkets will be the easiest to find. If you’re using this, make sure to remove the ingredients required under our homemade black bean sauce.
While it is convenient, you can’t customise the sauce as much.
If you can find ready-made fermented black beans, we recommend buying this instead to follow our recipe better. It's more convenient to buy salted black beans from the store and use them as is. In addition, the fermentation process of black beans can be difficult if you live in hotter climates. Therefore, in this case, store-bought can be a better choice for you.
Chicken
For our recipe, we use chicken breast because it has a stringier, firmer texture when cooked and a nice bite. However, we alternate between chicken thighs and chicken breast.
They have the same amount of nutrition and only differ in fat content. Chicken thighs are higher in fat and taste tender and moist when cooked. Cooking black bean sauce with chicken thighs will taste juicier than using the breast. So it depends on your preferences for your chicken in black bean sauce.
Chicken in Black Bean Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Chicken marinade
- 600 g chicken breast or chicken thigh
- 3 teaspoon cornstarch
- 4 teaspoon light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Fermented black bean sauce
- 3 tablespoon fermented black beans
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- ¼ teaspoon salt to taste
- 4 tablespoon water
To stir fry
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- ½ inch ginger sliced
- 1 cut green bell pepper chopped
- 1 cut red bell pepper chopped
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 scallions chopped green part only, for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the chicken breasts (cut into 1-inch square pieces) and marinade ingredients. Mix until all the liquid is absorbed. Allow marinating for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat your pan or wok over medium heat. Add half of the oil and allow it to heat up. Once the oil is hot enough, Add the meat and spread the pieces into a single layer. Allow it to fry for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the bottom side becomes golden brown.
- Then flip and cook the other side for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Switch off the heat, transfer the chicken to a dish, and set it aside.
- Add the remaining half of the oil to the pan or work, and heat the oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot enough, add the sliced ginger, chopped garlic, and fermented black beans. Stir-fry for about 1 minute or until they become fragrant.
- Then, add the green and red peppers and toss your ingredients around. Mix the sugar, salt, Shaoxing wine, and water in a separate bowl. Then, add the sauce mixture over the vegetables in the pan or wok. Stir-fry for about 1 minute or until the vegetables are cooked before adding the meat. Coat all the ingredients in the gravy evenly, and stir fry for a final round until everything is well incorporated.
Notes
- When stir-frying, the black beans may likely be crushed into small bits. Don't worry about it, as you will still get the flavour of the black bean when all the ingredients are well combined with one another.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
Stir Fry Cooking Tips
Stir-frying your chicken in black bean sauce is an important step. It is best to stir-fry expertly to blend the ingredients perfectly, so we have some tips to help you out.
Bite-size pieces
Whether you're using chicken breasts or thighs, cut them into bite-sized pieces. We recommend cutting them into about 1-inch squares when raw, as they will shrink slightly when they are cooked.
Next, marinate your meat for at least 30 minutes. Once ready, pat it dry before you fry it in cooking oil. Keep the meat as dry as possible to reduce splattering when adding it to the hot oil.
Oil temperature
When frying them, only add them to the pan or wok once the oil and pan are hot. When you do add them, spread them to one layer on the pan or wok and allow them to fry for 1 to 2 minutes under medium-high heat. We want the underside of the chicken pieces to get golden brown before you flip and toss them. Once they get golden brown on the bottom side, toss the chicken around to cook the other sides for another 1 to 2 minutes.
We recommend using a neutral-tasting vegetable oil like sunflower or canola oil. To know whether the oil is hot enough, see if it swirls easily in the pan or wok. If it swirls easily, then the oil is hot enough.
Flip and Toss
As you stir-fry this Chinese meal, you must be in constant motion. Lift, stir, and toss. Push the ingredients to the side when you want to add new elements to the middle.
Heat too high
If the pan or wok starts to smoke, then it is too hot. If you haven't started stir-frying, then turn off the heat and allow it to cool down. If you've already started stir-frying, lift and remove the pan or wok from the stove while continuing to toss around the ingredients. When it's stopped smoking, then you can return it to the stove, but make sure to reduce the heat first.
Watch your heat and be careful not to overcook your food. You can cook for a short amount of time over high heat. Once you've lowered your heat, add your liquid for more gravy and let it simmer as the mix slowly cools.
Additions
While the chicken in black bean sauce is already a heart-healthy dish, you might want to make it more well-rounded by adding vegetables.
Green and red bell peppers are the most common vegetables added to chicken in black bean sauce. They not only look nice but also add contrasting flavours to the chicken.
When cutting the peppers, make sure to remove the seeds, cut out the white fibrous part of the pepper and cut them into about 1 inch-length pieces to match the chicken pieces.
If you prefer something spicier, add red or green chillies peppers. The vegetables will add a raw freshness that balances out the intense saltiness of the gravy.
The fermented black bean already has a potent flavour, so we don't recommend adding any further spices as it may complicate the dish's flavours. But if you like the taste of Chinese five spice, then feel free to add some to this dish, too.
Chinese five spice is the main flavouring inside salt and pepper chicken that intensifies the umami flavour in food. It is the secret ingredient for many Chinese stir-fries, making the food taste better.
Fermenting black beans
As mentioned, we don't recommend fermenting black beans in hot or cold climates. However, if you want to make your own fermented beans, here's a recipe you can follow.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon of black beans
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2tbsp salt
- 2 tablespoon rice wine
Wash and soak the black beans in cold water for 12 hours or until they're soft. Discard the water and pat dry. Leave to dry in the sun for 2 days. This is an important steps to remove the water moisture. Add your black beans layered with sugar, salt and rice wine to an airtight container. Allow to ferment in a cool dry place for 1 month. We highly recommend checking on the mixture every week. The fermentation process is sensitive to temperature and moisture in the air which is why we don’t recommend making the salted black beans from scratch.
It's a little sweet, a little spicy, and very tasty. Most people like to mix the sauce into rice to give it more flavour. Chinese cooks commonly use it as a seasoning, either as a paste or sauce. For this dish, you will be using it in sauce form.
Chicken In Black Bean Sauce Noodles
One of the best ways to have this takeaway dish is with yellow noodles. Yellow noodles, or Chinese egg noodles, are made from wheat flour, water, and egg. The strands can be thick or thin and have a chewy texture. A perfect pairing with the rich gravy, chicken in black bean sauce with noodles makes a good supper.
First, follow the instructions on the packet to cook your noodles. Drain your noodles once they are done cooking. Next, heat your oil in a wok, stir-frying your chicken, and set aside. Then, add your seasoning, vegetables, and finally, your noodles. Add more gravy to your liking and toss it before serving it.
Chicken With Black Bean Sauce Calories
Each serving of our chicken in black bean sauce has about 320 calories. If you use less protein in the gravy, your dish will have fewer calories. Chicken in black bean sauce can be healthy if you don't add too much seasoning or use too much oil.
Now that you've already got your chicken in black bean sauce, you can tuck right in or serve it to your guests. But, of course, they will never know that you made it all by yourself using our recipe.
Share your successful fakeaway on social media, and tag our Instagram page @honestfoodtalks, so your friends know where to find the next best recipe to try.
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