One of the most famous Szechuan style chicken dishes–poached chicken in chili sauce
The Chinese name is “口水鸡” (Kou Shui Ji), so it is sometimes translated into Saliva chicken directly. This name may sound quite weird or uncomfortable. Mouthwatering chicken is a better one. Whenever you get a chance to visit an authentic Szechuan restaurant, order it!!!
The short poaching cooking skill will make the chicken meat super tender and it is also used in Cantonese white cut chicken. After cooking, soak the chicken in iced water can tighten the skin. There are several important tips to make perfect Saliva chicken at home with tender texture and excellent Szechuan style mala flavor.
About the chicken
I would recommend using whole chicken (younger ones around 2 pounds) for this recipe as a whole chicken offers maximum Chicken skin (the best part of this dish).
Clean the chicken and remove feet and head. In a large pot, add chicken, green onion and 3-4 slices of ginger and cooking wine. Then pour enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the content to a boiling with medium fire and continue cooking for around 8 minutes (for longer ones, you may need 10-15 minutes). Turn off the fire, cover the lid and let the chicken stay for around 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken out and soak it with iced water. Turn over several times during the process until the chicken is completely cooled down. Cut chicken into chunks when it is completely cooled down to get smooth edges.
About the chili oil
Szechuan style chili oil is the soul of this dish. Store-bought ones are good enough!! Additionally, chili oil should be prepared firstly because the color of the red oil will become brighter after hours of resting. I list the ingredient for around 1 cup of oil. However we only need around 4 to 6 tablespoons in this recipe. You can use this chili oil in many other Szechuan style dishes like bon bon chicken, or Szechuan style chicken noodle salad.
If you want to get an authentic Sichuan style chili oil from whole peppers, check this.
If you love spicy chicken, check my favorite Chongqing Mala Chicken.
- 1 chicken , around 2 pound
- 4 ginger slices
- 2 green onions
- 1 tablespoon cooking wine
- Peanuts , toasted and crushed
- White sesame seeds , toasted
- 2 slices of ginger
- 2 star anise
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons chili flakes
- 1.5 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn , or powder
- 1.5 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 4-6 tablespoons Szechuan style chili oil
- 2 tablespoons black vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon cooking wine
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 garlic cloves , smashed
- 1/2 tablespoon minced green onion
- Minced coriander
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In a small bowl, mix chili powder, Sichuan peppercorn, five spice powder and sesame seeds.
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In a pan, add bay leaves, cumin, ginger slices and star anise, pour in around 1 cup of oil and heat until hot over slowest fire (if the spices are overheated, they become bitter). Discard all the spices and leave the oil only.
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Pour the hot oil directly to the powder mixture in the small bowl. You will smell the strong aroma during the process. Set the Szechuan combined chili oil aside. I highly recommend you making the chili oil in the previous day so there are sometime for the spices mix together. Or if you do not have pepper flakes, check this post introducing how to make chili oil from whole chili peppers.
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Clean the chicken and remove feet and head. In a large pot, add chicken, green onion and 3-4 slices of ginger and cooking wine. Then pour enough water to cover the chicken. Bring the content to a boiling with medium fire and continue cooking for around 8 minutes (see note 1 for the adjusting of the time needed). Turn off the fire, cover the lid and let the chicken stay for around 20 minutes.
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In a large bowl, prepare enough iced water. Transfer the chicken out and soak it with iced water. Turn over several times during the process until the chicken is completely cooled down. Cut into chunks and lay in the serving bowl.
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Mix around 4 to 6 tablespoons of chili oil with other ingredients to prepare the sauce.
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Toast peanuts and white sesame in pan until aroma and then crush with a rolling pin or crusher.
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Pour the sauce over the chicken, garnish with toasted peanuts and white sesame seeds and enjoy!
For larger chicken, lengthen the poach time but no longer than 15 minutes.
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Saliva Chicken 口水鸡 kǒu-shuǐ-jī kǒushuǐ means saliva
Hi Elaine how are you today? You must be sleeping by now but I’m still reading your site.
After I read your chicken recipe I remembered seeing a lot of chicken dishes on the menu or even cook books so I’m wondering what are the differences between all these dishes? So next time when I dine I could have more choices to order. 口水雞 、 紅油口水雞 、棒棒雞皮、紅油芝麻雞、芝麻仔雞、 山城面醬蒸雞
Thank you 🙂
Hi Lin Wen,
In fact, 口水雞 is 紅油口水雞 since red chili oil is used and the former one is just a short name.
棒棒雞 is another dish using a sticker to pat the chicken meat and then hand shreded. However the sauce is similar.
芝麻雞 means sesame oil chicken and 芝麻仔雞 is sesame oil young chicken(usually the whole chicken).THey are not featured Sichuan Dish. Are you talking about 麻油雞 which means chicken salad with sichuan peppercorn oil. Sichuan peppercorn oil is “麻油” in sichuan cuisine.
As for 山城面醬蒸雞, I do not think we have this name in the 山城 of chongqing but I guess is sspicy teamed chicken with rice powder. I hope this can help.
Hi Elaine,
first of all I like to thank you for this great Homepage. I tried already the Sichuan Style fish, the kung pao chicken and the BBQ pork dumplings. All delicious.
One question regarding the saliva chicken: Is this served hot or cold?
Best regards from Bavaria / Germany,
Erik
Hi Erik,
Saliva chicken is a cold dish. The chicken should be soaked in cold water before serving so the skin will be super smooth.
Thank you I’ve learnt something from you again. As for 棒棒雞 you meant using paper towel to pat dry the chicken and using hand pull method to shred the meat?
The name of 紅油芝麻雞, 芝麻仔雞 and 山城面醬蒸雞 I copy from the cook book called 川湘菜聖經. I’m at the beginner stage of learning Sichuan cuisine so please don’t be annoyed with me if I have so many questions to ask.
Hi Lin Wen,
I usually use a rolling pin to pat or beat the chicken meat in order to break the meat fiber. At this time, the meat is half-shredded. Then sperate the meat shreds with hands.
It’s ok. After I write this blog, I know that some terms are really puzzling. And that’s why I am here.
I want to make this dish for my children who don’t eat chilli or spicy food. Please let me know if you have any ideas how to substitute the spices for something less hot. I love your recipes, thank you.
Hi Eileen,
In fact, we get another famous non-spicy Chinese poached chicken. You can boil the chicken as recommended in the recipe and then serve with a non-spicy dip for example light soy sauce+ sesame oil+mashed garlic+ chopped green onion and coriander.
Hi Elain! hope all is well
just another correction on the tittle, the “Salvia” should be saliva as mouthwatering
CMIIW
Thanks William so much for the correction.
Hi Elaine, I just found your website and I think it’s great! I just moved to Yongchuan in Chongqing and I am looking for Sichuanese recipes to cook. I think I will try this 口水鸡 next. Do you know a place where I can take cooking classes? I don’t have much experience with Chinese cooking yet and would like to learn. Thank you!
Hi Reid,
Welcome to my hometown. I was born in Chongqing and you are really a lucky foodie as there are so many yummy dishes. I do not know about the cooking classes. Can you speak Chinese? If yes, you may attend 新东方烹饪. But I really cooking classes is needed for most of the Chinese dishes. Try to learn from people around you especially the older generations. They are talented!
Hi Elaine, under “Other Ingredients for the Sauce,” you list 4-6 tablespoons of Szechuan style chili oil. Is that something I have to buy, or can I make it myself? Can I alter the ingredients for the main sauce to eliminate the need for this additional Szechuan chili oil? Thank you.
Hi Kitri,
In the recipe ingredients section, just above the other ingredients for the sauce, there is a lists of chili oil. That’s the Szechuan style chili oil used in this recipe. Usually we make the Szechuan chili oil for Saliva chicken.
You can change the sauce based on your own preference. The chicken meat should be great with other sauces.
An example will be the oyster sauce used in this recipe. https://chinasichuanfood.com/chinese-steamed-chicken-recipe/
Szechuan chili oil is the essential ingredient for Szechuan Saliva Chicken.
I tried the recipe, and the sauce definitely needed more salt. I mixed the chili oils – one that I made myself (it didn’t have time to get spicy) and one from the grocery store, but I still couldn’t get the spiciness I wanted. We had Szechuan fish at a restaurant one night, and the sauce just bites you. What is the trick with the chili oil? I noticed next morning the sauce was even less spicy than the night before.
Hi Olga,
I list pinch of salt in the ingredient list, as light soy sauce also contains salt itself. But it is ok to increase some salt based on personal taste. There are also group of people on low salt diet.
The reason why I recommend making the chili oil in the previous day is because the haematochrome in the red pepper need time to release. For a much hotter taste, you can increase the amount of chili powder or change the brand. For example, Korean chili powder is much softer than real Szechuan chili powder. The quality of Szechuan peppercorn is very important too. Long stored Sichuan peppercorn usually lost the aroma and strong taste.
Szechuan fish is a completely different dish, using different sauce with saliva chicken. I suggest you trying this one with more chili peppers
https://chinasichuanfood.com/boiled-fish-sichuan/
Hi Elaine,
Have a quick question about the “combined chili oil” recipe – in the instructions you have sichuan peppercorns in both the dry mix bowl and in the pan you heat with the oil- do we split the peppercorns between the two?
Thanks
Yes Ian, I usually add some in the mixing bowl and just several ones in oil.
HI Elaine, I make my own regular chili oil with dried Thai peppers, no other ingredients. I assume this will not be the proper oil to use for this dish? Instead I should make the Szechuan style oil, per your recipe?
I have not used your recipes yet, but will be now that I have found your excellent site!
Joe
Hi Joe,
You can use your own chili oil for this dish but the taste should be influenced slightly because lots of spices are added in Szechuan style oil.
Hello!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes with us. I’ve been a visitor for a few years now! This recipe was delicious, but it definitely took way more than 35 mins to complete. Perhaps closer to 1-1.5 hours and I had help too. In total I spent 3 hours, also because I had to make hainan chicken rice with that chicken water!!
Just out of curiosity for portion sizing, how many servings will this recipe have? Thanks!
Hi Jeff,
It is really quite hard for me to give an accurate serving size. Because we usually have a large round table with several dishes serve together. But I think it should be quite good for two people.
This recipe is confusingly written.
I bought Sichuan chili oil and also the rest of the ingredients to make the oil. And now it is clear from the comments that that was redundant. The combined chili oil says to add one cup of oil but it doesn’t specify what type of oil. You should clarify this.
Hi Swanson,
Any vegetable oil can be used to make a Sichuan chili oil include peanut oil, canola oil. We need to make the chili oil firstly before making a saliva chicken.
Hi Elaine
I am a novice cook, trying to learn how to cook. I notice the ingredients for chili oil has cumin but in the instruction you did not state where to put the cumin. Please help. Thank you
Hi Kim,
Cumin should be added along with the pepper flakes.
Thank you for your response 🙂
There is no salt in the recipe
None added while poaching the chicken
Or any apart from a pinch in the sauce
Are we supposed to add based on our own judgement ?
Or there is no salt in the recipe
Is that an error
I listed a pinch of salt in the sauce, which means you need to slightly adjust the salt accordingly based on your own preference. Since there are soy sauce contained, salt amount can be quite different based on the saltiness of soy sauce. But I would love to recommend starting from 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Even if you feel the final dish is not salty enough, you can re-load the dish with extra salt. Just remember to mix well before serving.
Hi Elaine,
I made this today, and it was one of the nicest things I’ve ever cooked. The sauce is really delicious, and the poached chicken was lovely and tender. I can’t wait to try more recipes from your website (I’ve also made the spicy peanuts, which were great too).
谢谢
Nathan
Good job! Nathan. You made the perfect saliva chicken. All of my spicy recipes are from my hometown. I am familiar with them from childhood. So there are the 100% reliable ones.
Thanks for the comment and happy cooking!
Can I use Mala Pot Sauce to use in place of your recipe for sauce?
No, they are different things.
Love, love, love your Sichian recipes. I had tried several. Saliva Chicken, Pork Stir-fry with Green Chilli, Potato Salad, Chilli Oil and they all turned out as good as the ones I had at Sichuan restaurant.
Sukhipanna,
Thanks for this lovely comment. It really make me a nice beginning in the day. Happy cooking!
Hi,
I’ve tried this a couple of times and the key step that I’m not sure I’m getting right is how long I should heat the oil up for. You say not to overheat as it will cause the spices to go bitter. The first time I did the recipe I think I was over-cautious and when I poured the “hot” oil into powder mixture, nothing happened – no sizzle, no “reaction”, just like pouring cold oil in. The second time I did it, I waiting until the ingredients in the pot were sizzling for a while and then poured into the powder mixture – that time it did sizzle and react, but then I thought the taste seemed a little burnt.
So do you have any tips as to when its the right time to take the oil off the heat? Thanks for a great recipe otherwise!
KL,
That’a s really good question. I did not notice that one because I just test a very small amount of oil at the beginning (by adding only around 1 or 2 teaspoon of oil). If no sizzling happens, continue heating the oil for couple of minutes. If it is too hot and the pepper turns too dark, wait for around 1 or 2 minutes.
Another tip is to heat the oil until almost smoky and then wait for 2 minutes at room temperature. But I believe the first tip might be more helpful since it is more flexible.
Hi Elaine,
Yesterday I tried the 口水鸡 for the first time – after eating it for many many years: ) – and it worked out perfectly! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Just one point: your description of how to make the oil is a little bit confusing. I put all oil ingredients together and then realized that only some of them should be heated in the pan. So I poured the cold oil in the ingredients, mixed it well and afterward heated it up. It did work out too though. After reading the comments section it became more clear. Next time I will do it as you described it. Thanks again!
Thanks Florian for your feedback. I have re-edited the post and introduced a more authentic way of making chili oil.