For some people, chicken feet or chicken claws are deemed as an odd part of animals, which are usually discarded. But for some other people, chicken feet are an important ingredient, which can be made into various delicacies. And for me, I belong to the latter one. My favorite chicken feet dish is dim sum chicken feet, I love that fabulous softness and savory taste. Here is the ultimate guide on how to make dim sum style chicken feet at home.

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Why are so many haters?
Chicken feet also have lovers
What’s the taste of chicken feet
Purchasing tip
How to prepare chicken feet for cooking
How to eat chicken feet
Dim Sum Chicken Feet
Ingredients breakdown
How to reheat dim sum chicken feet
What to serve with
Instructions
An Air-frying method instead of deep-frying.
Other dim sum recipes
Dim Sum Chicken Feet
Other ways of cooking chicken feet

Why are so many haters?

People from the US or Europe don't eat chicken feet because they may think that chicken feet are too dirty to eat. Also, people don’t know how to deal with chicken feet. Usually, you can find that chicken feet are made into dog treats. Another reason may be that chicken feet are not as meaty as other parts of chickens.

Chicken feet also have lovers

However, chicken feet are greatly beloved by people from other parts of the world. The Chinese gourmets even grant an auspicious name to chicken feet, that is “phoenix paws”. And chicken feet are cooked into cold dishes, snacks, soups, and main dishes in China. And in South Korea, people invent Korean-style spicy chicken feet. In other Asian countries, like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, dishes made of chicken feet are also quite common and popular. Even in Mexico, chicken feet are a popular ingredient, and they are mainly made into stews and soups.

What’s the taste of chicken feet

The edible parts of chicken feet consist of the skin and tendons, with little meat. The distinct gelatinous texture of chicken feet provides you with an abundance of collagen. For most dishes, chicken feet are cooked into a soft and tender texture, and absorb the flavors of seasonings or spices. Especially when chicken feet are used for making soup, after being simmered for one or two hours, the chicken feet will almost fall apart when being picked up, and you even don’t need to chew anymore. A mouthful of gelatin will break up in your mouth with the fresh flavor of the soup.

Purchasing tip

When you go to the market to purchase some chicken feet, you may find that the yellowish hard skin of chicken feet is already removed. Fresh chicken feet should have white and glossy skin and also they should be in a thick and elastic texture. If you touch the chicken feet and find that the surface of the chicken feet is a little sticky, it shows that these chicken feet have been stored for too long and are not fresh enough for eating.

How to prepare chicken feet for cooking

Before you cook chicken feet, you should clean them in the following steps:

Remove the yellowish outer skin (ignore this step if the skin is already removed). You can put the chicken feet in boiling water for one or two minutes and then transfer them to ice water. In this way, it will be easier for you to get rid of the tough outer skin.
Use a kitchen scissor to chop off the nails of chicken feet.
Chop chicken feet in half or small pieces as you like if you intend to make pickled chicken feet or cold chicken feet. Just keep them as a whole if you intend to make soup or other dishes

How to eat chicken feet

If you have never eaten chicken feet before, here are some tips for you:

It is hard for you to eat chicken feet with knives and forks. The chopsticks are highly recommended. And if you don’t like using chopsticks, just use your hand with a disposable glove.
You can take your first bite from the toes of chicken feet. Bite one from one and the next step needs the cooperation of your tongue and mouth to separate the little bones and the skin. Spit the bones out and just enjoy the remaining part in your mouth. And I think the most important tip for you is that do not to swallow the little bone of chicken feet.

Dim Sum Chicken Feet

The Chinese name of this dish is tiger skin chicken feet(虎皮凤爪), and there is a similar dish named tiger skin green peppers. Tiger skin is named because of the wrinkles on the surface.

The making process is relatively complex. We need at least four steps: boiling-deep frying- soaking- braising or steaming. No matter how complex the dish is, there is a big group of fans. Of course, they are available at the dim sum restaurant. I have tested the recipe three times but cannot get the texture enough satisfying, but the tastes are really wonderful. So I decided to post it on the blog just for home cooking reference. You can follow this to make super easy dim sum style chicken feet at home. It is such a great success!

Ingredients breakdown

There are some ingredients that need to pay attention to for this dim sum style chicken feet.

Chicken feet - I use around 500g chicken feet, which may range from 12 to 14 ones.
Fermented black beans - also referred to as Chinese fermented black beans are the essential ingredient for this dim sum style chicken feet. It has a complex and unique flavor, salty, and earthy with a strong aroma of fermented products.
Aromatics - ginger and garlic can help to improve the aroma.
Chili peppers- chili peppers are optionally but traditionally a small amount is added to add a hint of hotness to the dish.
Chili paste - I add chili paste to the sauce. Totally optional.

How to reheat dim sum chicken feet

You can use a microwave to reheat it. But the most ideal way is to steam them. Set up a steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Steaming can make the taste even better, so it is 100% ok to make a larger batch.

What to serve with

Eating chicken feet may be quite time-consuming. So you can serve this with tea for more leisure time. Since it is quite savory in taste, you can also serve it with soups, or congee.

Instructions

Prepare the chicken feet

Cut the claws off and any dirty parts on the chicken feet. You can choose to keep them as whole pieces or cut them into smaller ones.

Blanching and dry

Then bring enough water to a boil in a large pot, add scallion, ginger, and cooking wine. Cook the chicken feet for around 2 minutes.

Transfer out, wash carefully.

Pat drying

This is a very important step to avoid the oil splattering out during the cooking process. If time is enough, I will recommend you place the chicken feet for air frying to make sure there is no water on the surface.

Deep-frying

Heat oil in a wok and add the chicken feet into deep fry until it turns dark golden brown. It is extremely important to make sure the water content is removed by the deep-frying process so the tiger skin can be achieved. It may take around 12 to 18 minutes.

Soaking

Transfer the chicken feet into iced water. And soak for around 1 hour.

Boil to strong the tinger skin

I learn this from a Cantonese chef, if you further cook the soaked chicken feet, the tiger skin can be strengthened. So place the soaked chicken feet in boiling water, and continue cooking for 8 to 12 minutes based on how soft you want them to be.

Prepare the sauce and coating

Add dou-chi, garlic, ginger, and chili paste if using a small amount of oil. Fry over a small fire until aromatic.

Pour in starch water. Let it simmer for a while.

Add blanched chicken feet.

Coat well, and serve hot. You can make larger batches and then re-steam them for the next serving.

An Air-frying method instead of deep-frying.

If you don't want to use the deep-frying method, you can use an air-fryer to help. Spread some oil on the drained chicken feet. Put into an air fryer preheated at 375°F. Leave to fry for about 10 to 12 minutes until the skin is completely dried. I have made the test with the air-frying method, it works perfectly.

air fried chicken feet|chinasichuanfood — air-fried chicken feet

Other dim sum recipes

Dim Sum Chicken Feet

Dim Sum style chicken feet - braised version

5 from 14 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: dim sum

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: chicken feet

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 1 25

Servings:

Calories: 284kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

500 g chicken feet , 12 to 15 ones
oil for deep frying
iced water for soaking the chicken feet
1 thumb ginger
2 scallions
1 tbsp. Shaoxing wine

Sauce

2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
1 tbsp. fermented black beans
2 fresh Thai chili pepper , finely chopped(optional)
1 inch root ginger , finely chopped
1 tbsp. soy sauce
½ tsp. sugar
½ tbsp. chili paste or doubanjiang , optionally
½ tsp. dark soy sauce

Starch water

1 cup warm water for braising
½ tbsp. corn starch