Make juicy chicken with rich savory black bean sauce just like you’d get from a Chinese restaurant! This recipe shows you how to make a fragrant sauce and super flavorful and tender chicken without using a wok. {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Today I want to introduce a Chinese takeout classic – chicken with black bean sauce. It features tender juicy chicken bites stir fried with crisp veggies and finished up with a rich and savory sauce. I want to show you how to make a super fragrant dish in your own kitchen, so you can easily recreate the experience of the restaurant takeout version.
Chicken with black bean sauce ingredients
What is black bean sauce
Black bean sauce is one of the most popular and basic Chinese sauces. It is made from fermented black beans (Dou Chi), which are cooked black soybeans fermented in heavily salinated water. These fermented black beans are further cooked with aromatics and other ingredients to create black bean sauce.
If you have extra time on hand and want to create the best result, definitely check out my homemade black bean sauce recipe. It uses a lot more fresh aromatics than the store-bought bottles, and it always lends a better flavor no matter whether you’re making a stir fry or steamed dish with it.
Alternatively, you can use a bottled sauce such as the LKK black bean sauce to make this dish.
How to directly use fermented black beans in this recipe
If you already have fermented black beans, you can use them to replace the black bean sauce. In this case, I highly recommend doubling the aromatics (white onion, ginger and garlic), to make sure the final dish is fragrant enough.
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Black bean sauce
- Chopped aromatics (white onion, ginger, garlic)
- Chopped pepper
- Marinated chicken pieces
How to make chicken with black bean sauce
Cooking chicken with black bean sauce is super easy:
- Sear the chicken
- Transfer the chicken to a plate when it’s just cooked through
- Cook the aromatics
- Stir fry the pepper
- Cook the sauce briefly
- Add the chicken back for a final mix
How to keep the chicken juicy and tender
It’s very important to not overcook the chicken, so it remains juicy and tender. The best way to accomplish this is to cook the chicken until just done, and take it out while you cook the rest of the ingredients. Especially if you use chicken breast instead of thigh, since breast is prone to overcooking and can become dry and chewy. When you add the cooked chicken back, the sauce and the steam from the hot pan will continue to cook the chicken. That’s why I always make sure to add the chicken back at the very end of the cooking. I also make sure to transfer everything to a serving plate as soon as I’m done stir frying, so the residual heat of the pan does not continue to cook the veggies and the chicken.
Best skillet for stir fries
In my previous post Wok vs. Stir Fry Pan, I thoroughly explained why I recommend making stir fries in a regular skillet for many home cooks based in the US. Long story short, if you’re not super experienced with Chinese stir fry, if you have an electric stove, or you do not have great ventilation in your kitchen, making stir fries in a skillet is much easier and will give you a better result.
For a large nonstick frying pan, the OXO 12” Nonstick Frying Pan and OXO 12” Pro Nonstick Frying Pan (for induction stove) are great options. If you’re very serious about cooking and are more experienced, I highly recommend the Debuyer 12” Carbon Steel Frying Pan.
If you prefer wok cooking and have the proper kitchen setup (powerful gas stove and a proper vent hood), the Debuyer 9” Flat Bottom Wok and Debuyer 12.5” Flat Bottom Wok are great options. I prefer the 9” because it’s lighter and easier to handle. However, if you want to cook a large batch of food (e.g. double this recipe), you will need the 12.5” wok.
How to serve chicken with black bean sauce
I love to serve chicken with black bean sauce over steamed rice as a one-bowl meal. You can also complete your dinner by serving a simple soup and a quick vegetable side / appetizer. For example, egg drop soup, 4-ingredient baby bok choy stir fry, and quick pickled cabbages are great accompaniments.
Other delicious Chinese takeout at home
- Chinese Lemon Chicken
- Chicken Lo Mein (Restaurant Style Without A Wok)
- Easy Egg Fried Rice (蛋炒饭)
- Beef with Snow Peas
- Crispy Peanut Butter Chicken
Chicken with Black Bean Sauce (豉汁爆鸡球)
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 (10 oz / 280 g) boneless chicken breast (or boneless chicken leg) , diced to 2/3” (1.5 cm) cubes
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons black bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce (Optional, see footnote 1)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Stir-fry
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1/4 white onion , diced (or 1 big shallot)
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 cloves garlic , sliced
- 1 bell pepper , diced
Instructions
- Combine chicken breast, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Spread chicken in the skillet without overlapping. Let cook for 30 seconds without stirring. Use a pair of chopsticks (or tongs) to separate the chicken. Cook until the bottom side turns slightly golden. Flip and stir chicken to cook other sides, until the surface is cooked. Immediately transfer to a plate.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet and turn to medium heat. Add the onion, ginger, and garlic. Cook until the onion begins to turn soft, 30 seconds. Add the bell pepper and stir a few times. Add sauce. Give it a quick stir. Add the chicken back into the skillet. Stir and cook until the sauce thickens, 1 minute. Taste the chicken and adjust the seasoning by adding a pinch of salt, if needed. Immediately transfer everything to a plate. Serve hot as a main dish.
Notes
- Dark soy sauce adds a hint of caramel flavor and an appetizer dark brown color to the dish. You could replace it with regular soy sauce, or skip it all together.
Hi Maggie. It’s the guy who asks all the questions again. Black bean sauce is one of my favorites but I can’t find a brand without wheat (gluten free). Do you know of any? BTW, I went to the very large Asian market we have in town and finally found Shaoxing wine! My friend went to ask a cashier who was definitely not Chinese and asked her where it was. They came back with something called Shao Hsing wine and I said that wasn’t it. We were checking out and I could tell that the cashier was Chinese so I gave it another shot. As soon as the words came out of my mouth, her face lit up and she said, “That’s the best. I cook with it all the time!” She ran and got a bottle and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks again for all your help
Hi David, I don’t know any gluten free black bean sauce, but I think it’s possible to make them at home. The main ingredients of black bean sauce include fermented black bean (gluten free) and soy sauce (not gluten free). If you replace soy sauce with tamari, then the sauce will be gluten free. I’ll look into this and try to figure out the recipe.
And I’m so glad you found Shaoxing wine! I think it has a few name (with similar pronunciations) and it’s quite confusing. It’s great that you managed to locate it 🙂 Happy cooking and have a great week ahead!
I became addicted to your blog after the meat pie recipe, which btw is almost identical to the Nigerian meat pie… I love your review and your photos. You’ve inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and try something new (something like this). Sake might be hard to find in Nigeria though (which is where I am currently)… Would you know of any replacements?
Cheers.
Hi Chichi, it’s very interesting to know that Nigerian meat pie is similar to the Chinese one! I’d love to try it out!
If you cannot find sake (or Shaoxing wine), you can try other hard liquor such as vodka. In this recipe, use 1 teaspoon vodka as an alternative to 1 tablespoon sake. Sake adds a subtle umani flavor that is slightly sweet, while vodka might be edgy and tastes different, but the dish should turn out great. I tried using vodka to make teriyaki sauce and it was tasty. If you don’t like the idea, you can skip sake and replace with water instead. I won’t suggest you to use white wine in this recipe, it’s too fruity.
Hope the cooking goes well and let me know how the dish turns out 🙂
Wow – this looks incredible! So many wonderful flavors going on here…
I read through your description and instructions and can’t wait to try it. I think I already have everything too. I really like the way you explain every step as I’m not great with making sauces. Thank you!
Hi Sherry, thanks for taking time and leaving a comment! I’m so glad to hear you like the recipe and found the information helpful. Making the right amount of sauce and thicken it without overcooking the ingredients can be tricky. I always find preparing a small bowl of potato starch slurry (or other types of starch) while cooking can be helpful. It thickens the sauce within a few seconds.
Hope the cooking goes well and let me know how it turns out 🙂
Hi Maggie, OMGoodness! This dish turned out so well! I had extra chicken so I doubled the ingredients and it was perfect! My husband kept sniffing around as I was cooking and had to shoo him away so I could get it done. I also made a side of stir fry gai lan. Thanks again for this this recipe and all the details you included. It makes me more confident with the sauces!! Can’t wait to try more! Sherry
I’m so glad you tried out the recipe and liked it Sherry! 🙂 Yep, all the herbs and the sauce will make your room smell so delicious. The stir fried gai lan sounds great. I can only get it at Asian market so we don’t have it so often. Will definitely grab some to cook next week.
Thanks for taking time to leave a comment. You just made my day 🙂
You know, I have always been a bit weary of using black bean sauce. I am not sure why but I always steered clear of it…I may be changing my tune 🙂
Is it possible to substitute something else for the potato starch? I’d like to cook this for a family member who has Nightshade allergies.
Hi David, I’m not very familiar with Nightshade allergies. Can you use cornstarch or tapioca starch? We use the starch to coat the meat before stir fry, so they can stay tender without being over cooked. If you cannot use any of the starch, try use boneless thigh without coating with starch. The thighs are not like chicken breast. They can still stay tender even without the starch coating.
Looks really good! I love making this kind of dinner at home!
One of my favorite dishes. Love black bean sauce. So tasty!
Hi Maggie, your recipe for Chicken with Black Bean Sauce hit the spot! I’m Chinese-American, and I’ve been on a quest to find the perfect version–with a good balance of salty, savory and a touch of sweet. Your recipe rocks! I substituted a few ingredients: 2 tablespoons of fermented black beans (instead of black bean sauce), added 1/2 an onion (thinly sliced), 1 bell pepper (chopped) and lots of garlic (I didn’t have ginger or shallots), cornstarch (instead of potato flour) and Shaoxing wine (instead of sake). It was soooo good! Thank you for sharing your recipe, and I look forward to exploring and trying out your other recipes!
I’m so glad to hear the recipe works for you Angela! Yes, it’s totally OK to replace the black bean sauce with fermented black beans. And adding bell pepper sounds so delicious too!
Hope you’ll find out a few more recipes to try. Happy cooking and have a great weekend 🙂
It is a bit too salty for my liking. Maybe I will add an extra tablespoon of water or cut back on the ratio of the other sauces. Nevertheless, this is definitely a delicious meal worth repeating!
Hi Chin, next time you could try use a pinch of salt to marinate the chicken instead of 1/4 teaspoon. It should help.
Glad to hear you like the dish despite the fact that the sauce is too salty for your taste! Hope it will turn out even better next time 🙂
This was great! Used corn starch and dry sherry substitutions and cut an onion in large dice. Had your black bean sauce in the refrigerator. Not much prep which is a big plus for me.
Can i just say how much I love your blog and your posts! I stumbled upon this recipe and thought hmm lets give it a go. Boy Im glad I did coz this dish was AMAZING !!!!! SO FREAKING GOOD. I served it with brown rice, my baked tofu and garlic-ginger broccoli. I’m now going through your recipe list deciding what to cook next!
Love from Melborne
Hi Emilia, thanks so much for taking time to leave a review, and I’m so happy to hear the recipe worked for you! Sounds like you had a very healthy and delicious meal. Happy cooking and can’t wait to see what you will cook the next 🙂
Love the taste, love the ease and how quickly this comes together. I added some barely steamed bok choy and will make this more often now that I have tried it.
Thank you for your great recipes and the way you write about food. I always look forward to your new posts and recipes. Keep up the fantastic work you do educating us on Asian foods.
Hi Marijke, thank you for the kind words! I will pass them along to Maggie.
As Maggie’s husband, I’m constantly learning new things about Asian foods, as well, and I love it when she introduces me to dishes like this, which was new to me and I used to live in China!
Good day.
If I don’t have oyster sauce what can I use?
Also I want to use mince chicken will I have to reduce the cooking time ( for the same amount of grams)?
Hi Jade, I would replace it with 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
Re cooking time – I won’t worry too much since minced chicken won’t turn super tough even if you overcook it for a bit. I recommend observe it while cooking. The chicken will taste juicy if you stop cooking as soon as it’s cooked through.
Don’t use sake. Sake is Japanese, not Chinese! Use Shao Xing.
Oh my gosh, this was deeeeeelicious! Will be making this more often, for sure. Even my husband, who was a little skeptical when he saw the ingredients, liked it. Thank you.
This recipe is the bomb!!! The taste is exceptional. It taste just as good as the chicken with blackbean sauce at the Chinese restaurant close to our house. I was shopping at the store and bumped into black bean sauce on the shelf and thought, why don’t I try to make my own chicken with black bean sauce. I searched online for different recipes and bumped into this recipe. I felt that this recipe was easy to follow and legit. The only minor changes I made was I tripled the recipe & used chicken thighs with the skin, add lots of garlic between 12 to 16 cloves, added red and green bell peppers, I used white wine instead of sake( that’s all I had) and omitted the potato starch. I felt that the sauce did not need to be thickened, it was fine as is. I was very impressed with this recipe and my husband raved on and on about it. Thank you for this post & will be looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
A good example of a simple recipe that creates a very tasty, full flavoured meal. I do use the velvet chicken method before cooking the chicken however, and substitute the saké with Shoahsing rice wine https://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/225503/files/193399754/image.jpg
Regards,
Ricahrd
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Maggie,
I was searching for a new chicken in black bean sauce stirfry to make for dinner tomorrow. Your nartre ative and ingredients Iist caught my attention. I am excited be giving this a trial tomorrow night!
We followed the recipe precisely. What a reward! Truly authentic, Chinese restaurant style flavor. The chicken/sauce balance was perfect. And so tender. Thank you, Maggie!
Love this dish! Another spicy and flavorful concoction. Thank you for the recipe.