DISH RESEARCH · Main dish
Bang bang chicken
Also known as: Bangbang ji, 棒棒鸡
Maggie Zhu’s selected Sichuan-style bang bang chicken steams chicken breast over scallions, then shreds and dresses it with an own sesame-paste, soy, vinegar and chilli-oil sauce. The chicken serves cold with sliced scallions and optional extra chilli oil.
About Bang bang chicken
Research draft based on the references below. These notes describe particular recipes and presentations; ingredient connections are still being reviewed.
Maggie Zhu’s Sichuan-style bang bang chicken pairs tender shredded chicken with a nutty sauce that is savoury, spicy, tangy and lightly sweet. Her selected breast version uses steaming before shredding, rather than the fried chicken pieces she describes in some American adaptations.
Two of the same four scallions form a bed beneath the salted chicken in the steamer. The other two are sliced thinly for the finished plate.
Light soy sauce, Chinese sesame paste, selected Chinkiang vinegar and sugar combine with grated garlic and ginger. Prepared chilli oil and ground Sichuan peppercorns add fragrance, heat and a tingling note to this own sauce.
The cooked chicken cools before shredding into thin pieces with two forks. Pounding it first is optional in Zhu’s method; the shredded meat then receives the mixed sauce.
The remaining sliced scallions garnish the chicken, and extra chilli oil can be drizzled over it. Zhu serves it cold as a starter or main dish, and recalls ordering it in China as something to enjoy before the main courses arrived.
Ingredients in Bang bang chicken
Recorded ingredient connections, rather than a complete recipe. Explore an ingredient for more detail.
- Chickenprotein
- Soy Saucesauce
- Chili Oilsauce
- Sugarseasoning
- Green oniongarnish
- Sichuan pepperseasoning
- Tahinisauce
- Garlicseasoning
- Rice Vinegarsauce
Ingredient connections awaiting review. Versions and preparation vary.
Origins & food traditions
Explore the countries and cooking traditions associated with this dish. These connections do not establish a single birthplace or limit where the dish is eaten today.
Countries
Cuisines & regions
Associations in the cited sources
These describe source-specific cultural or geographic connections. Catalogue links may still need review.
- Countries & places
- China
- Cooking traditions
- Sichuan-style
AI-generated illustration of one possible presentation. Recipes and ingredients vary; the image does not establish allergen content.