In my home, a poached chook for Sunday supper or a roast hen from the oven nearly by no means will get eaten in a single sitting, and what stays within the fridge is what I plan the remainder of the week round. The trick is to not merely reheat it, however to show it into one thing new so it tastes like a recent meal as a substitute of yesterday’s dinner.
Chinese language dwelling cooks have been stretching one chook into many meals for a very long time. A poached breast could be torn into strips and dressed with a nutty sauce for a chilly plate, and braised or roasted items could be chopped into fried rice or rolled right into a wrapper. Even the bones have work left to do, and I save them for inventory relatively than throwing them out. Complete Win!
I’m sharing this assortment at the moment to provide you 10 Chinese language recipes that use leftover hen nicely, grouped by how the hen exhibits up within the dish. Some use it as a topping, some tuck it right into a filling, and a few make the hen the entire plate. I hope you discover just a few right here that match no matter you have got in your fridge tonight.
Why I Love These Recipes
One chook, many meals:Â I grew up watching my mother cook dinner this manner, the place a single hen fed a desk throughout multiple dinner. My recipes under are for dwelling cooks who need to use each a part of a chook with out consuming the identical factor twice.
Cold and warm dishes each work:Â Leftover hen is welcome in a calming Sichuan appetizer, a heat bowl of noodle soup, and a batch of hand rolled spring rolls. As a busy mother and recipe developer, I like having so many straightforward methods to show the identical hen into utterly totally different meals for my household.
Taste comes from the sauce:Â As soon as the hen is cooked and cooled, the sauce does many of the work of creating the second dish style utterly totally different. Soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar, chili oil, sesame paste, and garlic are pantry staples I all the time hold readily available.
As a Topping
Leftover hen as a topping is the best approach to flip a bowl of noodles or a plate of rice right into a full meal. The hen will not be the bottom, however it’s what provides the protein and elevates the entire dish.
Chinese language Tomato Noodle Soup
My Chinese language tomato noodle soup is the recipe I flip to on chilly winter nights and sick days, and shredded leftover hen slides onto the highest of the bowl the identical means I’d use braised pork or beef. The broth makes use of tomato and ginger as its base, so it has the depth to carry up a topping with no need a lot else.
Diced tomatoes and tomato paste give the broth its superb savory taste. Rooster inventory provides a richer physique so the soup doesn’t skinny out. Udon noodles and child bok choy spherical out the bowl with one thing to chew and one thing inexperienced, and a poached egg on high pulls all of it collectively.
This straightforward recipe comes collectively in half-hour, which is why it’s a quick weeknight dinner in my home. I set the shredded leftover hen on high of the noodles proper earlier than serving so it warms by within the sizzling broth with out drying out. This one is for the nights whenever you need an actual one-bowl meal and the fridge is already midway towards dinner.
Within the Filling
When I’ve leftover hen within the fridge, chopping or shredding it right into a filling is one in all my favourite methods to provide it a second life. I tuck it inside a wrapper, a pancake, or an omelet together with greens and seasoning, and the hen turns into a part of the dish relatively than a slab of meat I’m making an attempt to melt again up.
Rooster Egg Foo Younger
Rooster egg foo younger is a Chinese language takeout favourite that I make at dwelling each time I would like one thing fast and comforting, and chopped leftover hen steps proper in for the bottom hen within the authentic recipe. The omelet nonetheless comes out juicy and satisfying.
Bean sprouts and white onion add crunch and freshness contained in the omelet so the feel stays full of life. Eggs bind all the pieces collectively right into a gentle tender Chinese language-style omelet. A wealthy brown sauce of hen broth, oyster sauce, and Shaoxing wine goes excessive and turns the plate right into a important dish I like.
The complete recipe takes 25 minutes from begin to end. Sure, you learn that proper! With leftover hen already within the fridge, I skip the raw-chicken step and go straight to the filling, then serve the omelet over steamed rice so the brown sauce has one thing beneath to soak into. A small pile of leftover hen turns into a full plate that tastes like a takeout order with out one.
Cantonese Rooster Egg Roll
Cantonese hen egg rolls are one in all my favourite methods to place leftover hen to work in a filling. The chopped hen tucks straight in alongside the mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and carrots, and the crispy wrapper on the skin is what retains my household coming again for an additional one.
I take advantage of key substances to make this; dried shiitake mushrooms add deep umami that offers the filling its Cantonese character. Bamboo shoots and carrots deliver crunch and a recent vegetable taste. I additionally make a savory seasoning of oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, and white pepper ties the filling collectively.
This one takes 1 hour and half-hour, so it’s extra of a weekend mission than a weeknight dinner, however the payoff is a batch of 20 egg rolls that feeds a crowd. I serve them with sriracha or candy chili sauce for dipping. Leftover hen means one large prep step is already executed, and the remainder of the work is wrapping and frying with a pal or member of the family on the counter with you.
Rooster because the PrimaryÂ
The dishes on this part are those I make once I need leftover hen to be the entire plate. I let the sauce or the seasoning do the work of turning cooked hen into a brand new dish, so what I serve doesn’t style like a reheated model of final evening.
Chinese language Bang Bang Rooster
Bang bang hen is a traditional Sichuan chilly appetizer designed for shredded poached hen from the beginning, so leftover hen slots in with none adjustment. It’s the recipe I make forward for a film evening or a sport day gathering, when the plate can sit out at room temperature and nobody must be close to the range.
Chinese language sesame paste and do-it-yourself chili oil are the 2 substances that make the sauce sing, and each keep pantry-ready in my kitchen. Chinkiang vinegar provides a tangy taste that balances the nutty sesame. Floor Sichuan peppercorn and grated garlic give the sauce its Sichuan character with a tingling heat excessive. So good!
The recipe takes me half-hour once I begin with uncooked hen, and the trick is to tear the meat into skinny strips by hand relatively than minimize it, as a result of the shredded floor catches extra of the sauce. I serve it chilled as a starter earlier than the remainder of the meal.
Chinese language Rooster Fried Rice
Rooster fried rice is the place leftover hen meets its pure companion, day-old rice. The 2 collectively are a full meal in about 20 minutes, and it’s one in all my favourite weeknight dinners when the fridge is operating low and I want to wash issues out earlier than the following grocery run.
Chilly day-old rice is what makes this dish, as a result of the grains separate and crisp up within the wok as a substitute of turning gummy. Frozen blended greens add coloration and minimize the prep time all the way down to nothing. A savory sauce of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a pinch of white pepper coats each grain with taste.
That is the quickest dinner in the entire assortment at 20 minutes whole. I cube the leftover hen into small items so it spreads by the rice in each chunk. Two containers from the fridge, a sizzling wok, and dinner is on the desk quicker than any supply order. I extremely advocate it!
Yunnan Lime Rooster Salad
Yunnan lime hen salad is a refreshing, herb-forward Chinese language dish that makes use of shredded hen. It’s the recipe I would like on a sizzling day or after a exercise, when a heavy plate is the very last thing I need to eat.
Contemporary lime juice and a Thai chili pepper give the salad its punchy persona that units it other than different Chinese language hen salads. Chinkiang vinegar and lightweight soy sauce add depth and savory stability so the lime doesn’t run away with the plate. Cilantro and thinly sliced purple onion spherical out the recent greens that outline the herb-forward profile of Yunnan cooking.
Written up with uncooked hen, the recipe takes me solely half-hour, however shredded leftover hen cuts that in half. Tremendous straightforward! I serve it as a lightweight important by itself or as an appetizer earlier than a fuller meal. It exhibits that leftover hen doesn’t have to finish up in a heavy sauce or a sizzling dish to make a correct Chinese language meal.
Chinese language Rooster Noodle Salad
Chinese language hen noodle salad is a traditional summer season dish I grew up consuming, with skinny wheat noodles tossed in a nutty sesame sauce and topped with shredded hen. It’s straightforward to arrange forward for meal prep, and it tastes even higher the following day as soon as the noodles have had time to soak within the sauce.
The sauce is the place this recipe pulls away from bang bang hen, although each use sesame paste. Right here the paste is thinned with extra soy sauce and a full pour of vinegar so it coats each noodle with out weighing them down, and a spoonful of sugar. I thinly slice cucumber on high add the crunch I wish to have on my meals.
My recipe is really easy and takes me 25 minutes to make, and leftover shredded hen takes that all the way down to about 15 because the poaching step is already executed. Sure! I serve it chilly as a important dish for lunch or dinner, particularly in the summertime. Take pleasure in it!
Rooster Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
Rooster spring rolls with peanut sauce flip leftover hen into a lightweight recent meal wrapped in rice paper. The peanut sauce is what pulls the entire roll collectively and offers it the punch that makes it greater than a easy boring wrap.
Rice paper wrappers maintain the filling in a gentle translucent pores and skin that stays recent at room temperature and that’s why I like it. Contemporary greens like carrots, cucumber, and bean sprouts add crunch and coloration inside each roll. A peanut sauce of pure peanut butter, Chinkiang vinegar, and a contact of maple syrup provides the candy, nutty, and tangy taste.
I make these on a summer season night when a sizzling range will not be what I would like. Sliced leftover hen tucks into every roll alongside cooked rice vermicelli and the recent greens, and the entire batch comes collectively on the counter with the household serving to. Every individual can roll their very own with as a lot or as little of every vegetable as they like. Straightforward-peasy!
Mouthwatering Sichuan Rooster in Pink Oil Sauce
Mouthwatering Sichuan hen in pink oil sauce is without doubt one of the most well-known chilly plates in Sichuan cooking, and it pairs completely with leftover hen from a poached or braised chook. The identify in Chinese language, kou shui ji, actually means mouthwatering hen, and the sauce lives as much as the identify.
The place bang bang hen leans nutty and this one leans red-oil-forward, the sauce right here is looser and glossier, with chili oil sitting on high of a savory garlic-and-vinegar base relatively than blended right into a thick paste. A spoonful of the hen cooking juice is stirred in to provide the sauce its superb shiny physique, and chopped roasted peanuts go on high on the finish for crunch.
My recipe takes 45 minutes when the hen is cooked from scratch, and leftover hen cuts that point down significantly and that’s why I included in my assortment at the moment. I serve it chilled as a Chinese language chilly appetizer, and it is without doubt one of the most authentic-tasting Sichuan plates you’ll be able to pull collectively from a container of poached hen within the fridge.
Stress Cooker Bone Broth From Leftover Bones
Stress cooker bone broth is right here as a result of leftover hen is not only in regards to the meat, and the bones are value simply as a lot when you understand how to make use of them. That is the recipe I flip to each time a roast or poached hen leaves a carcass behind.
Leftover bones from hen work nice on this broth, and I save them in a bag within the freezer till I’ve sufficient. Ginger provides heat and a clear aromatic taste that significantly elevates the broth. This can be a should strive!
Complete time in a stress cooker is 1 hour and 35 minutes, and the broth seems wealthy sufficient to gel within the fridge. I take advantage of it as the bottom for noodle soups, congee, and braises throughout the remainder of the week. That is the recipe that closes the loop on an entire chook, and when you make it as soon as, you’ll begin saving each bone that comes by your kitchen.
My Personal Means With Leftovers
Leftover hen is without doubt one of the finest excuses I do know to cook dinner a wider vary of Chinese language dishes at dwelling. One chook can get you thru every week of chilly appetizers, fast weeknight dinners, hand-rolled starters, and a pot of inventory for the next weekend. I hope this assortment offers you just a few new methods to have a look at the hen sitting in your fridge tonight, and I hope you discover a recipe right here that turns your leftovers right into a meal your loved ones enjoys.
