Hoisin Chicken with Chicken Fat Pea Shoots

a chicken dinner that tastes like home

Have You Eaten Yet? Here’s a new recipe from my kitchen to yours that I hope you’ll love! For more recipes, you can pre-order my next cookbook, Chinese Enough, or purchase Mooncakes and Milk Bread for all things Chinese Baking!

Chinese Enough was just included in Eater’s 16 Best Cookbooks of the Fall!

Hello hello!

Apologies for the lack of recipe last week. I was busy finalizing details for my book tour (hope to see you while I’m on the road!) and hosting my cousin! But I’m making up for it this week with a cozy chicken dinner recipe and my yearly mooncake package, which will feature 3, maybe even 4, new mooncake recipes to help you celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival!!

I’ve been lucky to have so much family time the last few weeks, with my parents visiting and then my cousin, who spent the week with me while Reuben was on the East Coast. My cousin, Brianna, is about 10 years younger than me and I like to affectionately refer to myself as her elder cousin. She’s more like the little sister I never had but always wanted. Despite the age difference, we share a love for baking, dogs, commenting on satisfying trees, and eating dinner at the coffee table. Whenever we get together we have endless conversations about life, comparing our perspectives about family memories, watch all the YA movies I need a companion for because they are not as silly when you watch them alone, and of course cook a lot… or more accurately, I end up teaching her how to cook so she doesn’t live off rice and Chinese sausage forever (doesn’t sound that bad honestly).

Even though I have about a million things to do to prepare for my book tour and book launch, much of last week became an impromptu summer stay-cation. We did so many of my favorite things: visiting the Alameda Flea, gardening, feasting on dim sum, eating oysters at the beach, grocery shopping at Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market, buying plants from Berkeley Horticulture, watching a movie at the Rialto in Elmwood (DiDi was so good!), and cooking simple meals at home. It was a great girls week 🥰

Time with family has made me extra nostalgic for this hoisin chicken dinner that became a weekly staple at my parent’s house. Hoisin chicken is a recipe I was planning on including in Chinese Enough but in the end I felt like I had too many chicken recipes (not the worst problem to have). But it didn’t get cut because it wasn’t absolutely delicious. I just kept the recipe in my back pocket, waiting for the right time to share it, and the time is now!

Back in the day, my mom would make this hoisin chicken as a fast and comforting weeknight meal. She always used drumsticks though, which you can too if you want. I decided to use thighs because (1) I love them and (2) I wanted the rendered chicken fat to cook my vegetables in. The chicken is slightly braised in this mixture of hoisin sauce that gets thick and glossy when you cook it down with a cornstarch slurry. The sauce is sweet and savory and drapes beautifully over the chicken thighs and rice. It is very much like brown gravy that you would pour over mashed potatoes. When we were kids, my little brother was so obsessed with the gravy that he would request a little bowl of it on the side… to sip on. We all had our quirks.

It might seem counter intuitive to carefully crisp up the chicken skin only for it be later braised and then smothered in sauce, but I’m a believer that chicken skin doesn’t always have to be crispy. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Crisping up the skin gives you the gift of chicken fat and also creates a better overall texture when you coat the chicken in sauce. Unrendered chicken skin can be flabby and not lend itself to the best eating experience.

Pea shoots are one of my favorite vegetables, but the season for them can be fleeting. There was a gorgeous pile of them at the market last week and I had to take advantage of them. Their leaves are tender and wilt down much like spinach but their stems are slightly hardier and maintain a slightly crispness to them. If you can’t find pea shoots, hearty spinach, kale, swiss chard, yu choy, and yam leaves would be great alternatives and delicious cooked in some chicken fat!

I’ve been slowly starting the feel the shift of the seasons and I’m looking forward to cozier meals like this one. Hope you enjoy this chicken dinner and have a great week! Stay tuned for mooncake recipes this Friday!

Hoisin Chicken with Chicken Fat Pea Shoots

serves 4

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4 bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs

1 tsp coarse salt

1 tbsp avocado oil or neutral oil

For the sauce:

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup shaoxing wine

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp dark soy

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

For the pea shoots:

1 shallot, thinly sliced

3/4 lb pea shoots, washed and dried

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp white pepper 

1. Arrange the chicken thighs on a plate or a quarter sheet pan. Pat the skin dry with a paper towel and then sprinkle salt over the skin. Let the chicken sit for 15 to 30 minutes and allow the salt to pull the moisture out of the skin. Pat the chicken skin again and remove excess moisture.

2. Add oil to a large (cold) frying pan and then arrange the chicken thighs in the pan, skin-side down. Turn on the burner to medium heat and allow the chicken fat to gradually render. Continue to cook the chicken until the skin is golden brown, crispy, and naturally releases from the pan (if using stainless steel or enamel coated cast-iron), 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, skin-side up, and pour the chicken fat into a medium bowl.

3. In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, mix to combine water, hoisin, shaoxing wine, honey, dark soy, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper. Pour the mixture into the pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any chicken bits. Add the chicken back into the pan and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer (medium-low) and cook until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

4. In another large pan, heat 3 tbsp of chicken fat over medium high heat. Add the shallots and toss to coat in oil. Stir-fry the shallots until just starting to brown around the edges, about 3. Add the pea shoots and toss to coat in oil. Continue to cook until the pea shoots wilt and are tender but still bright green, tossing occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper and toss to season the pea shoots.

5. In a small bowl, mix to combine 1/4 cup water with 1 tbsp cornstarch. Remove the lid to the pan and pour the cornstarch slurry into the sauce and gently stir until the sauce thickens and looks glossy. Spoon the sauce over the top of the chicken thighs to get a nice coating. Serve with steamed rice or mashed potatoes with a side of pea shoots.