Hello again, this is another recipe from my childhood….my mom’s signature ginger chicken rice. It’s so shockingly easy to make, you wouldn’t believe how delicious and satisfying this dish is.
It’s best to use chicken meat with the bones still attached, parts like drumsticks and chicken thighs are the best. Also, go easy on the fat trimming as you do need a bit of chicken fat to make this dish a true winner :)
You need a rice cooker for this recipe, otherwise it wouldn’t be as convenient or easy a recipe as it should be…
For the chicken marinade:
- 3 chicken thighs, with excess fat trimmed off
- A piece of ginger the size of your thumb
- 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- A dash of pepper
- 1 tablespoon of chinese rice wine
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
For the rice:
- 1 1/4 cup of rice (Kim from 2022: by cup I had meant the vessel you use to scoop your rice grains not the actual 250ml measuring cup)
- A piece of ginger the size of your thumb, sliced
- 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
- A dash of pepper
- 5 cloves of garlic, whole
- A dash of salt
# – To make the chicken marinade, first of all, pound the ginger into a pulp to render out the juice.
# – Then, throw the ginger pulp and juice onto the chicken thighs.
# – Followed by 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce…
# – And a few dashes of pepper…
# – Don’t forget the sesame oil
# – As well as the chinese rice wine.
# – Mix together and set aside in the fridge for minimum of 2 hours.
# – Next, prepare the rice as you normally would with plain rice in the rice cooker. Basically, the amount of water needed to cook rice is the same as the amount of rice PLUS one more cup. Hence, for 1 1/4 cup of rice, you need to cook them with 2 1/4 cup of water. (Kim from year 2022 here: Sorry for the unclear instructions about water amount, now reading it a decade later I have no idea what I was even on haha. So, please don’t be bothered by the water amount – just use the same amount of water you normally do when you cook plain rice. Chicken also releases fluid as they cook so you don’t have to compensate with more water; however don’t over pile bone-in-chicken as this may lead to uncooked meat.)
# – Add 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and a dash of salt (I forgot to take the picture).
# – Throw in a few dashes of white pepper..
# – Mix it up till everything’s combined.
# – Next, lay the garlic cloves all over the surface of the rice.
# – Followed by the ginger slices.
# – Lastly, take out the chicken thighs and lay them over the rice, skin facing upwards.
# – Cook for 25-30 minutes (as how you would normally cook rice).
# – Mom’s all in one pot ginger chicken rice recipe, DONE!
# – Garnish with some chopped spring onions before serving.
# – The chicken is tender and delicious.
This is truly an easy way to cook Asian chicken rice. The chicken meat is tender and silky while the rice is fluffy and full of flavours.
I must say this is perfect for busy folks who have not much time as you can marinade the chicken the night before and then just throw them into the rice cooker the following day. As for me, I just whip it up on a lazy day ;)
oh my goodness that’s so easy! i usually cook chicken rice the normal way- steam chicken, cook rice in chicken stock, etc..shall try this soon~ thanks for the easy recipe! :D
I wish I can say I can cook chicken rice the normal way hahahahah /shy
I love the idea of yat-wok-suk! all in one, hahaha, easy and healthier, i would want skinless chicken meat though..unless its deep fried.
Yeah, can remove the skin for a healthier option hehe
i would like to try this recipe, but i’m a muslim…
would it still taste d same if i didnt include d wine?
Certainly okay to omit the alcohol cause my mom does that too. Cheers :)
1 extra cup of water for every portion of rice? I wonder if this formula scales well. I normally use the +150% rule. If I use 1 cup of rice, I add 1.5 cups of water. Perhaps with the chicken, more water is needed?
it works for me though, the rice turns up fluffy. you don’t need additional water for the chicken as the steam cooks it.
I used an extra cup of water as stated, it was not a good idea. My rice came out all soggy. Will cook next time with the normal amount of water…
I’d stick to your tried and tested method. Rice can vary depending on where it’s from snd whst kind it is.
Ooh! I’ve been looking for an easy recipe for just using a rice cooker. I’m going to try this. It’s so simple and with ingredients I always have in the kitchen. =)
hope it works for you :D
Recipe looks AMAZING and I can’t wait to try it! Thanks very much for sharing it! Quick question – would other types of meat work with this dish as well? I really like fish (salmon), and wonder if that could work in place of chicken in this recipe. Thanks!
honestly, i’ve never tried it with other meats, but i don’t see how fatty fish won’t work in this recipe. good luck!
would love to try this out but don’t have a rice cooker, would the proportions of rice:water be the same if i was just to cook it in a normal pot?
thanks, and keep up the good work! :-)
Hi Nitya, I’d imagine the ratio of water and rice would be the same. However, I’ve always been hopeless with cooking rice in an ordinary pot as I grew up only knowing how to use rice cookers. When I first knew my BF we didn’t have a rice cooker so I had to google the method everytime till we got around to getting one. So don’t take my word for it and I assure you there are plenty of guidelines on water:rice ratio for cooking rice in a normal pot, hahaha.
On the other hand, assuming you already know how to cook rice in a saucepan, you could just cook the rice as how you normally would (with addition of chicken before the rice fluff up). Don’t worry about the chicken as the amount of water doesn’t really matter, it’s cooked by the steam generated from the water cooking rice. Cheers and hope it works out well!
I tried this recipe last night and it turned out great!!! Super easy too.. Thanks so much for sharing.. Share more!!! ;)
yay! sp glad it works for you! :D
I’m studying abroad, over in Egypt, its a hassle to find ginger, but there’s ginger powder though. I blended it with some Garlic then mixed it with the rice.
Here’s the problem ,the rice water ratio, i don’t get it, you’re saying we’re gonna cook it as we did with normal rice,normal measure of water but with an additional cup instead? my rice is a weebit soggy :(
Hi Ahmad, sorry about my instructions being confusing. I meant, cook it as you normally cook rice. Don’t add more water on top of the amount of water you usually use.
The additional cup of water is just my explanation of my normal way of cooking rice which is 1 cup of rice = 1 cup of water + 1 additional cup of water, for people who don’t really know the ratio for cooking rice in a rice cooker. For example, if i needed to cook 3 1/4 cup of rice, it’ll be 3 1/4 cup of water + 1 additional cup of water.
Hope the next round works for you!
Ginger Chicken is one of my fav dishes. Looks different and delicious.
thanks for the recipe. it looks good!!!
I couldn’t wait to try this recipe of yours since 3 weeks ago! Finally did it today. Ooooh…..gorgeous! And….easy peasy! Gave me no excuse to not use my “batu tumbuk”. Was rather nervous with the water to rice part … but end result: Fabulous! (Even though I used 2 cups rice and 4 cups water! I misunderstood you the first time :p I thought it was “add 1 more cup to the normal amount of water (which is 3 cups for 2 cups of rice)”. I used 10 grain rice, so I think a bit more water was fine. Will stick to your measurements in future). Thanks for sharing, I’m so pleased with this find. It will be on the menu for many many more (lazy) times to come! :)
Yay glad you like it!!! :D
Hi,
Your recipe looks so yummy. May I copy it to my blog?
Nouri
This recipe was fantastic; had this with my girlfriend when I travelled to Australia and she loved it! It brought back good memories of my mum’s ginger chicken too. :) thumbs up for me
glad it worked for you peter! :)
is it ok if i substitute the wine with chicken broth instead?
I didn’t read the directions closely and threw all the chicken marinade ingredients in a crockpot – without any marinading time…. also, i didn’t have rice wine, so using rice vinegar. hoping it comes out..
Hi, can I assume this is for 3 servings since you are using 3 chicken thighs? If I double the recipe (6 servings), do I double the cooking time too?
That depends on your rice cooker. Just cook your rice as long as how you normally would. You don’t have to worry about the chickens… They will cook from the steam
I made this today and it was sooooooo good! Thanks for an excellent recipe!
Thanks for the simple but delicious recipe. I ran out of ginger and garlic but it still turn out great!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! :)
My ex-gf (now fiance) is cooking this for me tonight after googling and reached this post, Kim! Hahahaha!
Looks so good! Will this work with chicken breasts instead of thighs?
Great recipe – thanks for sharing! I had to cut the thighs into smaller pieces as it didn’t cook through the first time. I also was more generous with the garlic and ginger ( too much is never enough, in my book!)
Amazingly tasty for something so simple – it’s my boyfriend’s favourite dish now.
Just made a large batch of this tonight (5 thighs and 3 cups of rice), and it was amaaaazing! Never thought to use my rice pot to cook something other than rice! I really thought the chicken wouldn’t cook all the way, but it was cooked perfectly! Thank you!
I’ve tried this recipe for a smaller portion (1 person) with a bit modification of the amount of ingredients used.. it turned out awesome! Will definitely make this one of my favourite lunchbox menu.. thanks!!
Great comfort food , all in one pot! Thankyou
Just found your site while searching for rice cooker recipes. Very thorough photos, plus it looks VERY yummy. Yours must have been quite a delicious childhood!
I tried this recipe today and it is indeed super easy and what’s more important…NICE! Thanks! I cook my rice in the microwave oven. Take a bit longer than usual. But water amount still the same as I normally cook for the same amount of rice.
Cooked this without saying what I was cooking. When my husband tasted it, first thing he said very yummy 😋 chicken rice. Thank you Kimberly for this recipe. Moreover simple/mess free.
I just want to say Thank you for sharing your mom’s recipe. I’ve been making this since 2011, and while sharing it to another person I’ve noticed that you amended to incl the definition of cup n also the water ratio. The rice to water ratio works perfectly fine for me and I still use til today for any kind of rice cooker ‘rice dishes’ like clay pot chicken rice or briyani rice.