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Chinese Chicken with Pickled Mustard Greens (aka Suan Cai) 酸菜雞丁 is often cooked at my house – it is one of my mom’s favorites to cook, which is great, because it is one of my favorites to eat!

What is Pickled Mustard Greens

Pickled mustard greens is called suan cai 酸菜 in Mandarin Chinese, which directly translates to ‘sour vegetable’. It is sometimes referred to as Chinese sauerkraut. It is a type of pao cai – which are fermented vegetables.

There are actually two types of suan cai, one is the fermented Chinese mustard greens from the southern and western Chinese region, but in the northern region, napa cabbage is often used.

Often Chinese mustard greens can be used as a topping for noodle soups, cooked in stir fries, used in dumplings fillings, used in soup or hot pots, and more!

You can find these usually in Asian super markets or grocery stores, and they also actually sell them online too such as on Amazon.

Now if you can’t find this you can actually make it at home – here’s a recipe for how to make Chinese pickled mustard greens.

They are usually sealed in its bag, and you can keep it for months and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Once opened you will need to refrigerate it.

Chili Bean Paste / Doubanjiang

One of the ingredients used is Chili bean paste.

Chilli Bean Paste aka Doubanjiang 豆瓣酱, is a chunky sauce you can buy at the store that is spicy and savory. It’s traditionally made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt and flour. There are also different ones you can find, for example some will add spicy chili oil in it already.

Chili Bean Paste is often used in Sichuan food (ex: mapo tofu), which might explain why I love it because I love Sichuan food (and my grandma was from there!). I use it in my Szechuan Chicken, Twice Cooked Pork and Jalapeno Chicken.

You can buy it at your local Asian super market or even on Amazon such as this one: Lee Kum Kee LKK Chili Bean Sauce (Toban Djan).

How to cook Chinese Chicken with Pickled Mustard Greens (Suan Cai)

Fist gather your ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless chicken thigh, cut bite sized
• Marinade:
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp cooking oil of choice
• 1/2 cup pickled mustard greens (suan cai), cleaned and chopped
• 1/2 cup peppers, chopped
• 2 tbsp chili bean paste
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt, to taste
• Optional, red chili peppers

First, diced your chicken in to cubes. In a zip lock bag or mixing bowl, mix chicken, cornstarch, soy sauce, rice cooking wine, and vegetable oil. Allow this to marinade for the very least 15 mins (or up to overnight – but put it in fridge if you’re marinating for over half hour).

Cut your peppers in to bite sized pieces. I do this but remove the stem, and then slice it from the side and then removing the seed in the middle.

Clean pickled mustard greens by rinsing it in the water, and then using a knife cut it in to 1/2-1 inch pieces.

Optional but this will enhance the flavor: Heat up a cooking pan and add pickled mustard greens. Stir fry it for about 2-3 minutes or until the liquids mostly evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat cooking oil of choice on high heat in a wok or cooking pan. Add garlic and diced chicken and stir-fry for about 3 minutes or until lightly browned.

Add the pickled mustard greens and stir fry for a minute, and then add the peppers. Continue to cook for 2 minutes or until peppers soften. Stir in the chili bean paste, sugar, salt, and sprinkle in the red chili peppers (optional). Stir fry until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Remove from heat and serve hot!

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