White cut chicken, or Bai Qie Ji (白切鸡), is the epitome of simplicity and elegance in Shanghainese cuisine. With just a few aromatics and some slow poaching, this dish lets the natural flavor of the chicken shine. It’s a dish that’s easy enough to prepare for your weeknight dinner, but elevated enough for festive occasions.
The technique of white cut chicken
A whole chicken is poached gently in a broth with a handful of aromatics until just cooked through, then chilled to firm up the skin and meat. It’s typically served cold or at room temperature, chopped into neat pieces, and paired with a ginger-scallion dipping sauce. The result is tender, juicy meat with silky, almost jelly-like skin—a texture beloved in Chinese cuisine.
Why this recipe
When adapting this traditional dish for a western kitchen, we made a few changes to make it more suitable with the available ingredients.
- Use a gentle simmer for chicken of different sizes – In China, the poaching liquid is brought to a simmer, then you let the chicken sit in the hot broth with the heat off until just cooked through. This technique only works for very small chickens. This recipe uses a very gentle simmer with an incremental timing guide to help you cook larger sized chicken.
- Added brining to make more flavorful chicken – Instead of poaching the chicken directly, we rubbed the chicken with salt and let it dry brine for a couple of hours. This will create an even better result.
- A touch of Shaoxing wine makes a big difference – We added Shaoxing wine on top of aromatics to make the poaching liquid even more aromatic, creating a very fragrant result.
Select a high quality chicken
A small high quality chicken is the most important ingredient in white cut chicken. Since there’s no heavy seasoning here—just salt, a few aromatics like scallions and ginger, and water. A large and fast-grown chicken will end up with a very plain, less flavorful result.
In China, we prefer to use free range, yellow-skinned young chicken for the best texture. In this recipe, I used a young brown chicken (三黄鸡, San Huang Ji) that weighed 2 lb 8 oz. It produces very tender and flavorful meat with a chewy skin.
What do you need for white cut chicken
- Shaoxing wine
- Scallions
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Toasted sesame oil
- Chicken bouillon
- Light soy sauce
- Sugar
- Peanut oil
How to prepare white cut chicken
- Rub the chicken with a generous amount of salt, let dry brine for a couple of hours before cooking. This process is essential, especially if you’re using a slightly larger chicken or a chicken of lesser quality. It’s not a traditional process but it brings more flavor out of the chicken.
- Bring the poaching liquid to a boil, then dip the chicken in it three times before simmering. The dipping process is a technique to make sure the cavity of the chicken is completely filled with water. If you use a headless chicken, you can hold the chicken leg and dip the chicken with the head side down.
- It takes 7 minutes of very low simmer to poach, per every pound of chicken. You want to maintain a very low heat so the water barely bubbles. This ensures incredibly moist meat and smooth skin. If the water doesn’t fully cover the chicken, you’ll want to flip the chicken once in between.
- Once the chicken is just cooked through, transfer the chicken to an ice bath to cool off. The process tightens the chicken skin, resulting in a chewy and almost jelly-like texture. Then drain the chicken and brush with sesame oil before carving.
Do not overcook or undercook the chicken
The chicken should be just cooked through for the juiciest texture. You can use a thermometer to measure the thickest part of the chicken and it should register 165°F (74°C). If you don’t have a thermometer, poke the chicken with a sharp paring knife and the juice should run clear.
In China, the white cut chicken is almost undercooked for the juiciest meat, so the thigh bones will still be pink inside when you chop up the chicken. But since bird flu has been spreading in the US, I make sure to not undercook my chicken. If you use the salt brining in this recipe and the correct poaching method, the chicken will taste moist and juicy, even when completely cooked through.
Prepare the ginger scallion sauce
This ginger scallion dipping sauce is almost as iconic as the chicken itself. You can check my other ginger scallion sauce recipe. Made by combining finely minced ginger and scallions with hot oil and a touch of salt, it’s fragrant, punchy, and the perfect companion to the mild flavors of the chicken.
Or you can use the slightly simplified version of ginger scallion sauce below. This one uses cold oil instead of hot oil, a touch of chicken bouillon, and a splash of light soy sauce to finish up.
Both versions work extremely well with this recipe.
How to serve white cut chicken
In China, white cut chicken is chopped up with bones still attached before serving. If you do not have a cleaver, you can also carve the chicken using the western method by removing the breasts, then taking off the legs and wings.
Serve the chopped white cut chicken with ginger scallion sauce as a main course. I also like to top the chicken on rice with a side of steamed Chinese broccoli, with extra ginger scallion sauce. Leftovers are fantastic in noodle soup or chopped into salads.
For a balanced meal that’s full of color and texture, consider serving it with:
- Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (蚝油芥蓝, Gai Lan)
- Tomato Egg Drop Soup
- Soy Sauce Fried Rice (酱油炒饭)
- Pickled Daikon with Carrot
- Longevity Noodles (Yi Mein, 伊面)
White cut chicken celebrates the simplicity of ingredients. If you enjoy a milder dish that is full of texture and tastes satisfying, you can’t miss this one!
Chinese Cooking Made Easy
Are you new to this website? This free email series is a great place to start. I’ll walk you through a few of my most popular recipes and show you how and why they work. You’ll quickly start to cook better Chinese food in your own kitchen.
White Cut Chicken (白切鸡)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (under 3 lbs) (*Footnote 1)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
- 6 scallions , halved
- 3 ” ginger , sliced
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Ginger Scallion Sauce
- 4 scallions , sliced
- 3 tablespoons minced ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon sugar
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil
Instructions
- Remove any giblets from the chicken cavity. Dry the chicken with paper towels. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the outside and inside of the chicken. Place the salted chicken in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, up to half a day, so the salt penetrates the meat.
- Add 10 cups of water into a large pot that can hold the chicken. Add the Shaoxing wine, scallion, ginger slices, and garlic. Heat over high heat until boiling.
- Holding the chicken by the end of its legs, gently dunk the bird into the hot water three times. This is to ensure water enters the cavity, which allows the chicken to poach evenly.
- Gently drop the chicken into the water, breast side up. Bring the pot to a very low simmer, cover the pot, and cook over low heat. Poach for 7 minutes per pound of meat. Flip the chicken once in the middle. The pot should be kept at a very low simmer, barely bubbling at all. Cook until the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F (74°C). If you don’t have a thermometer, pierce the thickest part of the chicken and the liquid that comes out should be clear. If the chicken is not cooked but the temperature is close, turn off the heat and let the chicken poach, covered for an additional 7 minutes.
- While poaching the chicken, prepare the ginger scallion sauce by mixing the scallion, ginger, chicken bouillon, light soy sauce, sugar and peanut oil. Stir to mix well.
- Prepare a big bowl of ice water. Once the chicken is done, remove the chicken from the pot using a spider strainer, and place it in the bowl of prepared ice water. (*Footnote 2) Once the chicken has cooled off enough to handle, drain the chicken thoroughly.
- Place the chicken on a cutting board. Rub the chicken skin with sesame oil.
- Break the chicken down into bone-in bite-size pieces using a cleaver. If you don’t have a cleaver, you can also cut off the breasts and legs, remove the bones, then slice the chicken. Serve with ginger scallion sauce as a main dish.
Notes
- The chicken I used was a 2 lb 8 oz young brown chicken (三黄鸡). A small high quality chicken is highly recommended and is essential to the dish. If not available, try to purchase the smallest chicken you can find.
- This stops the chicken from cooking in the residual heat, and tightens the skin for a better texture.
- To make the dish gluten-free: Use dry sherry instead of Shaoxing wine, and use tamari to replace light soy sauce.
Nutrition
Have a question or feedback? Add a Comment
Did you make this? I want to see! Tag @OmnivoresCookbook on Instagram, and rate the recipe below.
