Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken (aka Sanbeiji) – chicken simmered in a delicious sauce made with soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil, along with ginger and basil.

As some of you might already know, I’m a Taiwanese-American. Growing up around these parts, my mom enrolled me in Chinese School.  It’s not like normal school – all it is is it’s a 2 hour class on Saturday where a teacher taught you Mandarin Chinese and Chinese Literature.  

One of my fondest memories from back then was my mom and I would always grab dinner at the local Taiwanese restaurant and I would always demanded for Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken (aka Sanbeiji or 三杯鷄).

By the way! If you prefer to watch a cooking video – check out my youtube video here: Three Cup Chicken

About the dish

Three Cup Chicken is called ‘Three cup’ because it’s main ingredients are three ‘cups’ of sauces – Soy Sauce, Rice Wine, and Sesame Oil. I want to call out that the ‘cup’ is figurative, so we will not actually add full 3 cups of each of those sauces.

This dish also calls for basil, ginger, and garlic to be cooked in the dish, and the additional aromatic flavors are amazing!

About the ingredients

Here’s more information and tips on some of the ingredients:

Chicken

It’s probably pretty obvious that Chicken is used in this dish as it is called Three Cup Chicken.

But I did want to that traditionally bone-in drumsticks are used, chopped in to smaller chunks.

However, you can switch that up – I did for this recipe! We are using boneless skinless chicken thighs, a lot of places cook it with this cut of chicken now as it is just easier.

The main thing I will call out is that you will want to use dark meat.

Soy Sauce

There are different types of soy sauce:

Light soy sauce (aka 生抽, sheng chou) is the most common type used in Chinese cooking. It’s used to enhance the flavors by adding a salty flavor.

Dark soy sauce (老抽, lao chou) is, well, darker than light soy sauce, and it’s also a bit more thick. However, it’s actually a bit less salty compared to light soy sauce. It’s often used to darken a dish too (ex: Red Braised Pork Belly.)

For this dish, traditionally at my house we use light soy sauce, but dark soy sauce can also be used too, or even a mix of both.

Rice Wine

Michiu is also known as Rice cooking wine. It contains about 20% alcohol, and is very popular in Taiwanese cooking. Many folks get this cooking wine confused with another cooking wine – Shaoxing.

The difference is that Shaoxing is lower in alcohol and darker. Michiu is more dry and has a higher alcohol content.

If you’re hunting down some michiu at your local Asian supermarket, you can sub with shaoxing, or you can also find michiu on amazon.

Sesame Oil

There are also different types of sesame oil:

Light sesame oil (or aka pure sesame oil) can be used as a cooking oil, similar to vegetable oil, except of course it gives off a delicious sesame flavor.

Dark Sesame oil (aka black sesame oil) is actually made from toasted sesame. It has a lower smoke point so it is not recommended for deep frying, or cooking too long. They have a delicious flavor, and also great to be used as a condiment. For example, for making Asian salads such as my Chinese Cucumber Salad!

Traditionally you will want to use dark/black sesame oil for this dish, even though it is cooked. This is why we will add it later on when cooking the dish .

Brown Rock Sugar

Chinese rock sugar are basically sugar that looks like rocks. (That makes sense, right?) They’re refined, crystalized sugar and sometimes they’re in cubes, and sometimes they’re in random lumps. They can be white or yellow in color.

Rock sugar is a less sweet than your normal white sugar. Which is one reason it is used in cooking, so that it doesn’t over power the taste of other things. It is also often added to hot beverages (such as chrysanthemum tea) to add another sweetness.

If you do not have this ingredient, you can substitute with brown sugar, you can also find it brown rock sugar on amazon.

Basil Leaves

The type of basil leaves used in this dish is Thai Basil Leaves. A popular basil substitute for Thai basil is the Italian basil. This will give you the most similar basil flavor.

Three Cup Chicken Recipe

First gather your ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 inch ginger, sliced very thinly
• 8-10 cloves of garlic (whole)
• 1 lb chicken thighs, cut in to small chunks (about 1-1/2 inch)
• 3 tbsp rice wine
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rock sugar (or brown sugar)
• 3 tbsp dark sesame oil (aka black sesame oil)
• Salt, as desired
• 1 cup basil leaves, stems removed

Heat a wok or large cooking pan over medium high heat and add vegetable oil.

Once the oil is hot, add the thinly sliced ginger and spread evenly. Allow it to cook for about a minute, and then flip to the other side. The ends of the ginger should start to brown and curl a little.

Add the cloves of garlic.

Add the chicken, and then stir fry everything together to mix well.

Pour rice wine in to wok or pan, and continue to stir fry until the chicken is almost cooked completely. Then add soy sauce, and stir to mix well.

Add sugar to the wok or pan, and continue to stir fry and allow the sugar to melt completely.

Now we will add the dark or black sesame oil. Stir fry to mix everything together.

Let it cook a couple minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly, stirring occasionally. As you do this, the sauce should start to condense.

Final step, add salt as desired, and then the fresh basil leaves, and stir to combine for only about 20 seconds. This is apparently the perfect amount of time according to my mom.

Remove from heat and serve!

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