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Red braised whole fish aka Hong Shao Yu, is a very common dish in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine. It is traditionally made by cooking a whole fish with rice wine, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, and the star ingredient of chili bean paste.

Why is it called Red Braised Fish?

This dish is called Red Braised Fish because in Chinese it is called Hong Shao Yu紅燒魚. Hong Shao 紅燒 = Red Cooked. Yu 魚 = Fish!

The mix of chili bean sauce and soy sauce in the cooking process causes the dish to end up with a reddish color.

By the way – if you like red braised fish, you will most likely also enjoy my red braised pork belly, red braised chicken, and red braised beef!

Traditionally this dish is made with a whole fish. However, sometimes we make it with fish filets too! So if that’s what you’re looking for check out my Red Braised Fish Filet recipe here!

Types of Fish to cook whole

Here are some fishes you can use to cook whole, for example, this dish:

• Red Snapper (What we’re using in this recipe today, but we switch around)
• River Trout
• Cod
• Haddock
• Bass / sea bass
• Pollock
• Tilapia

Do you have a preference or a fish not named here? Leave a comment!

We buy our fish from our local Asian supermarket. If you can’t find any good fresh ones locally, you can try online seafood/meat delivery services! Some of them are really good – For example, Crowd Cow – they ship to anywhere in the US other than Alaska and Hawaii sustainable and healthy meats/seafood!

How to cook Red Braised Whole Fish

First gather your ingredients:

• 1 whole fish (1 – 3 lb), descaled and cleaned
• 1 tsp cornstarch (separated in half)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 green onions, cut in to 1-2 inch length
• 1 tbsp ginger, julienned
• 1 tbsp chili bean paste aka doubanjiang
• 3 tbsp rice wine (michiu)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 5 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic (optional)

If you haven’t already, cut scallions in to 1 to 2 inch length, and thinly slice ginger and julienne.

Using paper towels, pat the fish dry if it is wet. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of cornstarch over the fish.

In a cooking pan, add cooking oil and let it heat up on medium high heat.

Once heated, add fish to pan with cornstarch side down.

Let it cook for about 2 minutes, and then sprinkle the other half of tsp of cornstarch over the fish.

Using a spatulate, gently flip to the other side. Allow to cook for another two minutes.

Add the chili bean paste, ginger, rice wine, garlic (optional) and soy sauce, sugar in to the pan and mix well without disturbing the fish. You can do this by adding it in an area and then pan and if needed, use a spatula and swirl everything to mix well. If it gets a little dry, add a little water in to the pan.

Allow to cook another 2 minutes. Then give it a flip. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, and then add the scallions and let it cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and serve!

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