How to Cook Chinese Food
I consistently get a lot of questions from people wondering how to cook Chinese food. Regardless of if you are just learning how to cook or have been cooking for awhile you will probably find this article useful. The truth is, cooking Chinese food is not hard at all. In fact, many Chinese dishes are all very similar so once you learn how to cook a few different dishes, you should develop a good understanding of Chinese cooking. In this article I will explain to make a few popular Chinese dishes. These dishes include Sesame-Orange Chicken, General Tso’s Chicken, Cashew Chicken, Black Pepper Chicken, Egg Rolls, and Crab Rangoons. All of these items are fried and most can be found at Chinese restaurants across the United States.
The first thing when preparing to cook Chinese food is to make sure you have a lot of the ingredients on hand. A lot of Chinese dishes all use very similar ingredients. Some ingredients you will want to keep in your pantry are soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, oyster sauce, sugar, and rice wine. Fresh ingredients would include ginger, garlic and green onions. A couple of questions I constantly receive are, “What is the best type of oil for deep frying Chinese cuisine?” and “Are rice wine vinegar and rice wine the same?” The answer to the first question is peanut oil. Peanut oil will brown nicely and give the meat great flavor when used for deep frying. Rice wine vinegar and rice wine are not the same thing. Rice wine is an actual wine, sometimes called Sake or Mirin, while rice wine vinegar is a type of vinegar that is made from fermented rice wine.
Sesame-Orange Chicken-
Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch cubes)
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg (beaten)
½ cup water (or as much as needed to make batter smooth)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Sauce-
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup honey
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
½ cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
the juice of ½ orange
1 teaspoon orange zest
sprinkle of garlic powder
sesame seeds
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Heat oil in a deep fryer to 325 degrees. In large bowl combine all of the batter ingredients and mix thoroughly. The batter should be thick enough to coat the chicken but thin enough to flow around the pieces. Set aside.
Step 2: Dip chicken pieces into the batter to coat evenly (one by one). Deep fry the chicken in batches in your deep fryer for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. (or you can fry in hot oil at about 325 degrees in your wok for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown).
Step 3: In a bowl whisk together ketchup, honey, sugar, water, vinegar, cornstarch, sesame oil, orange juice, orange zest, and sesame seeds. Pour into a wok and cook until the sauce is thickened and bubbly. Mix in a bowl with the fried chicken pieces.
Cashew Chicken-
Ingredients:
2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks)
2 cups flour
5 teaspoons cornstarch (divided)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 eggs (beaten)
oil (for frying)
Sauce-
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
1 large green pepper (sliced)
1 large onion (sliced)
2 cups cashews
1/3 cup green onions (chopped)
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a bowl mix flour, baking soda and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. In another bowl beat the eggs. Dip chicken pieces first then the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture and then again in the flour mixture.
Step 2: Fry in oil in a wok or in a deep fryer at 350 degrees in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Step 3: Heat a tiny bit of oil in the wok and stir fry green pepper and onions for 2-3 minutes. Remove from wok and set aside.
Step 4: To make the sauce- in a bowl mix chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and 4 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Step 5: Pour sauce into wok and cook over medium heat stirring until well blended and sauce thickens. In a bowl pour sauce over chicken pieces, add green peppers and onions. Mix well and garnish with cashews and green onions. Serve with white rice.
Black Pepper Chicken-
Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
6 tablespoons cornstarch (for dusting)
1 white onion (diced)
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
oil (for drying)
Sauce-
¼ cup oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sake or rice wine
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Step 2: Cut chicken into ½“cubes and dust chicken pieces with corn starch until fully coated.
Step 3: Deep fry (or fry in a wok) chicken in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Step 4: Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok and stir fry diced onion for a minute or two. Add celery and stir fry for another couple minutes. Add sauce mixture to the wok and heat until bubbling. Add chicken stirring to fully coat with the sauce. Serve with white rice.
General Tso’s Chicken-
Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into 1” chunks)
5 dried red chili peppers
3 green onions (sliced)
3 eggs (beaten)
½ cup cornstarch
oil (for frying)
Sauce-
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons rice wine
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl combine cornstarch and beaten eggs. Mix well to create a batter. Add chicken bits and coat thoroughly.
Step 2: To make the sauce- in a small bowl combine rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well and set aside.
Step 3: Heat deep fryer or wok to 375 degrees and deep fried chicken bits in batches. Drain on paper towels.
Step 4: Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to your wok. Add dried chili peppers to your wok and stir fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken bits to the wok and stir fry for a couple minutes.
Step 5: Add sauce mixture to the wok and cook stirring until the sauce becomes thickened and bubbly. Garnish with green onions and serve.
Pork Egg Rolls-
Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 package egg roll wraps
1 bag shredded cabbage and carrot mix
1 tablespoon oil
¼ cup sugar
½ cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
1 egg (beaten, for sealing)
Oil (for frying)
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Fry ground pork in a little oil until the pork is completely browned. Drain and set aside.
Step 2: In a large bowl combine cabbage and carrot mixture, cooked ground pork. Season with 1 tablespoon of oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Step 3: Lay out an egg roll wrapper. Place 1-2 tablespoons of filling in the corner of the wrapper, but not so the filling is actually touching the corner. Fold over that corner and roll about half of the way up. Fold over the left and right corners to the middle. Using a brush or the bottom of a spoon, brush the beaten egg on the edges of the wrapper. Finish rolling up tightly and secure to make sure there are no leaks. Repeat until all the egg roll wraps are used.
Step 4: Deep fry egg rolls in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Crab Rangoons-
Ingredients:
12 ounces of cream cheese (at room temperature)
50 wan ton wrappers
1 cup imitation crab meat (or canned)
2 green onions (minced)
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon soy sauce
1 egg (beaten)
oil (for frying)
Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a bowl cream the cream cheese, soy sauce, green onions and garlic powder. Stir in the crab meat (if using imitation crab it should be chopped into pieces).
Step 2: In a separate bowl beat 1 egg. Lay out a wanton wrapper so it forms a diamond shape and place 1 teaspoon of filling just below the center of each wrapper.
Step 3: Brush the opposite corners of the wanton wrapper with the egg mixture. Fold over the edges of the wrapper to form a triangle and seal tightly.
Step 4: Deep fry the rangoons in batches at 375 degrees for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.
So what is the best alternative oil to use for us who cannot use peanut oil to deep-fry in because of peanut allergies??
Bobby, this is an awesome post. Your Chinese recipes is what brought me to your blog a few years ago and I faithfully read your posts (in my email) and love them all. Thank you for having such a great resource out here for all of us!
Tom – I would recommend using canola oil. Peanut oil is actually fairly expensive so a good amount of the time I fry in canola or vegetable oil.
Shelby – Thanks again. Your comments are always appreciated! I will be doing a follow up to this called, “How to Make Stir-Fry” in the near future.
yum, so inspired to cook more. cream cheese wantons are to die for!!! for general tsou’s chicken my mother’s singaporean recipe is using tomato ketchup, adding some oil, sugar and water and sliced pineapples. looks super yum and such amazing photos! i cook with mostly sunflower seed oil or soya bean oil, suppose to be a healthier alternative.
Thank you for these recipes. They all look delicious. I always want to try making Chinese food but I don’t know where to start. These look delicious, not too difficult and they use ingredients I mostly have on hand!
When you say ‘Serve with white rice’, do you mean white rice prepared in chicken stock? as seen in the images above. Thanks for the recipes !
These look so amazing. I have to try them. Thank you soo much! I can’t wait for your next posts especially the Stir Fry one you mentioned! Love your blog!
These recipes look great. I can’t wait to try them. One question, for the Sesame Orange Chicken in step 2 you say remove chichen from marinade…what marinade, there is no step for putting the chicken in a marinade.
Beth- Sorry about that, it was a typo. There is no marinade.
Alex- it is just plain white rice. There is no chicken stock involved.
THANK YOU!!!
I have looked everywhere for these (good)recipes, and these are good ones. Thanks, Lisa
awesome post! I must try these recipes (or at least one of them). They seem so easy to make. Thank you for this post
As always, you have the best looking Chinese recipes.
My boyfriend and I tried the orange chicken recipe last night and loved it! Honestly, I feel so stupid for not thinking of making a wet batter like that, haha. I usually do an egg wash and then dip it into the dry mixture after. This is so much batter – oops, I mean better!
Made the Sesame Orange Chicken tonight, DELISH! Hubby was quiet impressed. Thanks so much for posting.
General Tso’s Chicken is next!!
I love your recipes, they look fantastic and they sound very easy to do. However I was wondering is there an alternative to deep frying the chicken?
Katya- You could add about an inch of oil to a wok or fry pan and do it that way. You could also just stir fry the chicken pieces instead of deep frying.
Kudos on a great series. I too was originally drawn to this blog for its Chinese recipes. Already planning the annual Christmas Eve Chinese food feast.
Could you give a recipe of Garlic chicken (the not spicey kind) My husband will only eat it from one place and its in another town about 30 mins away and we go at lease oncea time a week and its driving me crazy. For 5 years now i have tried a million diffrent recipes and he hasnt likde a single one. Either the texture is not wrong our the sauce is not right its really salty to me the one he likes but a little sweet and the sauce is kinda dark. I you have a recipe that would be absolutly awesome!!!!
CheRee- sure, give this one a try. http://blogchef.net/chicken-in-garlic-sauce-recipe/
I am so excited to see a good recipe for crab rangoons. They are my guilty pleasure! How do yo make the sauce that accompanies them in your photo? My local Chinese restaurant serves them with red sweet and sour sauce, but at “upperclass” Asian restaurants, they serve them with a… what tastes like a….sweet/spicy chili sauce? It looks just like the one in your photo. I would be forever grateful for the recipe!
-Lea
Lea- what you are seeing in the picture is just sweet and sour sauce. I am not sure of the sweet/spicy chili sauce you speak of, but if I come across something like it, I will be sure to post it.
Great recipe’s! What can I use in place of oyster sauce? Same amounts? Thanks!
Dale- I have not found anything to be used in place of oyster sauce. I suppose you could replace with it soy sauce, but it will not taste the same.
my question on the eggrolls is there another meat that can be substituted for the pork i know this is a silly question but some meat may not taste good in a egg roll thank you
melanie- yes, you could use cooked chicken, shrimp, or ground beef instead.
How much celery was used in the black pepper chicken recipe? It’s not listed in the ingredients (only in the procedure).
I have looked all over for a recipe for the yummy red sauce that they serve in Chinese restaurants. It is considered their sweet and sour sauce on buffet bars and is used for the sweet and sour chicken and for dipping sauce for crab ragoon. It is like a closely guarded secret! It seems to be the same recipe regardless of the chinese restaurant you are in anywhere across the country, but no one will tell how it is made! Help! Do you know the secret?
I tried the recipe for General Tso’s Chicken tonight. To say it was dissapointing would be a compliment, with the problem being the sauce. There was way too much soy sauce in the recipe, causing my chicken to turn black when I coated it with the sauce. There was also way too much cornstarch because when I cooked the sauce, it turned into a paste in the pan and I had to add quite a bit of water to get it to a glaze consistency. The flavor did not even resemble General Tso’s Chicken. This recipe is a fail – I will continue to look for good Chinese recipes online that have been tested before posting.
Brittany- You could throw in as much as you want. 1 or 2 stalks should be good.
Melissa- see this recipe: http://blogchef.net/sweet-and-sour-chicken-recipe/
and just make the sweet and sour sauce.
LeAnne- I am sorry you did not like the General’s Tso’s Chicken recipe. This recipe has been tested before posting. You can find the original recipe post here- http://blogchef.net/general-tsos-chicken-recipe/
As you can see, many people were pleased with this recipe.
I have been wanting to make Chinese food for a while now. I am so glad I came across your blog with simple steps and pictures. Thank you! I made the orange chicken tonight but it took me 2-1/2 hours – a long wait for my hungry family, but they all loved it. I imagine I’ll get faster at it next time – maybe use a frying pan instead of a mini deep fryer. This is definitely a recipe we’ll be keeping. Thanks again =)
Do you have a recipe for pepper steak? You other recipes look wonderful…cant wait to try them! Thanks!!!
DeAnn- Yes, it can be found at: http://blogchef.net/chinese-pepper-steak-recipe/
I was wondering what type/brand of fryer you are using in the photos?
I love the simpleness of the ingredients, can’t wait to make!!
Thank you!!
Nadinejune- the brand of fryer is “Presto”.
Bobby, I love the egg roll recipe…sounds a lot like the one my mom uses. Two things: I usually like to bake mine, how do you think that would work? Secondly, It’s just my hubby and myself…is it possible to freeze the eggrolls at all?
Thanks! =)
Krista- Yes, you can bake them. You can also freeze them.
for the dried red chili peppers can I replace it with crushed red pepper? like those little flakes? If so how much do I use??
bristina- I would say 1/4-1/2 of a teaspoon, depending on how hot you like it.
Made the orange sesame chicken tonight and it was fantastic. I almost doubled the amount of chicken, but kept the same amount of the batter & sauce. Very very good, will most def make again.
I made the Orange Chicken, and it was so good. None of our local “fast food” Chinese places offers this and it’s one of my daughter’s favorites. It was easy and fast too! Will be making it again and again!
So I’ve looked over the Black Pepper Chicken recipe a few times and in the ingredients it calls for 1 c. frozen peas and carrots, but I can’t find what it’s used for in the recipe, nor do I see it in the picture.
I plan on making this so I was wondering if it is actually supposed to be in the recipe.
Also, I cannot seem to find sake/rice wine anywhere! (although I have not actually been to an asian food market yet) I’ve been using a bottle of cooking sherry instead, because I once saw a recipe for kung pao sauce which had dry sherry as an ingredient(among about 20 other ingredients), and I was wondering if I could use any other variations of cooking wine in its place until I can manage to find the real thing? White wine perhaps?
Stephen – sorry just stir-fry the peas and carrots seperately. You can also stir-fry celery and onion as shown in the picture. Here is the original recipe on my blog – http://blogchef.net/black-pepper-chicken-recipe/
About the wine, I know rice wine/sake can be hard to find, sometimes I even have trouble finding it around here. You can use either one of the types of wine you mentioned in its place. A lot of times when I make these Chinese dishes I will just use whatever wine I have on hand. I hope this helps.
Bobby hi. Going through your recipe makes it sound so easy and fun. I am looking into starting a chinese fast food restaurant in my country and i need all the help i can get. Do you have a learning school where i can actually see and learn or do you have any in mind if you dont. Thanks a million
Moreeks- I am sorry, I cannot help you with that. You may want to search google for local culinary or hospitality managment schools in your area.
Hi,
Orange chicken looks great. If I need to make it in advance, how do I do the prep? Can I fry the chicken in advance? Or just make the whole thing and it still tastes good the next day?
Anuradha- I would not recommend preparing the orange chicken in adavance. This is something that should be served right away.
Do you have a recipe for sesame chicken? Thank you!
cheryl – yes, http://blogchef.net/sesame-chicken-recipe/
Bobby- I am making the sesme orange chicken tomorrow- can I stir fry the chicken in a pan instead of frying? If so do I still use the same liquid batter? I am out of a fryer and don’t think I’ll be able to grab one by then.. Thanks
Amanda- Stir-frying the sesame-orange chicken I would not recommend because of the batter. You could just stir-fry the chicken without the batter or you could add enough oil to your wok or fry pan to deep fry the chicken in there. If you decide to deep fry in the wok be careful and make sure the oil does not become too hot.
Hi, is there any way to fry the chicken in the batter and then freeze and reheat when ready to make and serve the sauce? I want to make this but have to be able to do it several days on advance and was not sure if the battered chicken is able to be frozen. Thanks!
Jessica- I’m sorry, I do not know. I have never tried frying the chicken, freezing and reheating. If you do decide to try it, please let me know how it turns out.
I have to say,in China we seldom put meat or vegetables driectly on rice.Actually,we put the rice in a bowl ,separately.Anyway, I think they are grate recipes!
What do you ise for a dipping sauce for the wontons? Do you make it or buy it?
Rachelle- I usually buy the dipping sauce. I use sweet and sour sauce.
Do you have a recipe for a dish we recently had in China – it was chicken stir fried in a delicious (red) sauce with dried red chili peppers and lots of peanuts. We also had a plate of stir fried green beans covered in crushed chili peppers but I can’t find a recipe. Thanks for your help!
Heather – Yes, perhaps I have what you are looking for… it could be either:
http://blogchef.net/kung-pao-chicken-recipe/
http://blogchef.net/general-tsos-chicken-recipe/
http://blogchef.net/chinese-green-beans-recipe/
or see here:
http://blogchef.net/foodbuzz-24-24-24-chinese-buffet-at-home/
Thank you Bobby. I think if I combine the Kung Pao and General Tsos recipes it will be very close. The green bean recipe looks very good but the dish we had in China was dry – there wasn’t a sauce. It was like they had coated the beens in corn starch before stir frying in hot oil and dried red chili peppers. Looking forward to trying out these suggestions. Thank you!!!
Do you have a recipe for Chicken & Broccoli?
Teresa – Yes, please see here: http://blogchef.net/chinese-chicken-and-broccoli-recipe/
Do you have a recipe for peanut chicken. A lot of places i have tried don’t make it. I love the peanut butter sauce.
Kristy Smtih- This may not be exactly what you are looking for but you may want to give it a try. It is delicious. http://blogchef.net/thai-peanut-chicken-recipe/
love crab rangoon and yours look so yummy. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for all these recipes they are all my fava!!!!!!!
i like da food so yummy.thank u for all recipes.i like it.i will cook recipe in my house so yum yum yum
Hi! These all look delicious! Thank you so much for posting these recipes! What are you dipping the crab rangoon in? I’ve been looking for something to dip my rangoons in
hello
i have a question about the General Tso’s Chicken-
would it be okay to use rice vinegar instead of rice wine ?
i like ur recipes thank very much
I tried the cashew chicken and it was great. But I wanted to point out a typo. The ingredient list calls for 5 TEASPOONS cornstarch (divided) but Step 4 calls for 4 TABLESPOONS cornstarch. I’m assuming teaspoons are correct? (I made a quarter-recipe but accidentally added the full 4 tbsp to the sauce, so I can’t say if 1 tbsp or 1 tsp would have been better. I had to dilute the sauce, but it was still tasty!)
Is there any recipe for black peppered chicken that does not call for oyster sauce
Becky – Sorry, I do not have a recipe for black pepper chicken on here that does not call for oyster sauce. I do not know of any recipe that does not call for it. You could try leaving it out and see how it turns out. You could try using extra soy sauce in its place. If you do try it, please let everyone know the results. Thanks.
I have tried General Tso and turned out great! This is a very good site and better and simplier process than a lot of cook book having similar recipes but with lots of ingredients and complicated process.
You must have had Cashew Chicken in the Springfield, MO area because that is one of the few places you can find it the way this recipe is made. (I have a friend in the army who has tried to get Cashew Chicken everywhere and can only get it in southwest Missouri) Great recipes!
Made the black pepper chicken and it was delicious. Next time I won’t do the cornstarch dusting since I don’t feel it’s necessary, but this was exactly the recipe I wanted. It will become an easy weekday go-to for me, than,s