Velvet Chicken & Vegetables Stir Fry (Chinese Takeout)

This velvet chicken stir fry is a healthy, balanced, and easy weeknight meal! Chicken breast pieces are tenderized through a simple process using baking soda, which helps them from overcooking. The chicken is stir-fried with broccoli and water chestnuts, then coated in a light Chinese brown sauce. Best when served with a side of jasmine rice.

This recipe is inspired by the velvet chicken from my childhood favorite Chinese restaurant, and it's perfect for home cooks. After you apply the velveting technique, the chicken is stir fried in hot oil over high heat to create tender, juicy chicken pieces. The simple brown sauce is made with oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, chicken broth, corn starch, mirin, and toasted sesame oil.

What is Velvet Chicken?

"Velvet" Chicken is chicken that has gone through a process to tenderize the meat, known as "velveting". This process is a Chinese cooking technique that is very common for stir fries, especially in American Chinese restaurants. It results in the most tender chicken, and prevents you from ending up with dry, rubbery chicken.

There are a few different methods for velveting chicken, the most common method is the cornstarch method (also called oil velveting) which uses a velveting marinade of corn starch, oil, and sometimes egg whites. I prefer the baking soda method instead. Both options will tenderize the chicken, but I've found the baking soda method to be the most consistent. All you have to do is dust the chicken with some baking soda and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Once that's complete, just thoroughly rinse off the baking soda (I do this in a mesh strainer) and pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Then it's ready to be seasoned and used in your stir-fry! You can start this process before you prep the rest of the ingredients, and it shouldn't add too much time to the prep.

How to Make Velvet Chicken with Baking Soda

• Slice the chicken into thin pieces. I like to slice mine at a 45-degree angle to get wider pieces. Try to make uniform pieces, especially for the thickness.
• Dust the chicken with some baking soda and let it sit for about 15 minutes. I use a small mesh strainer to dust the baking soda on (similar to how you might dust powdered sugar), but it can easily be done without one as well.
• Once that’s complete, just thoroughly rinse off the baking soda (I do this in a large mesh strainer) and pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
• Then it’s ready to be seasoned and used in your favorite stir-fry recipes !

FAQ

Can you velvet chicken thighs?

Yes, you can use this velveting technique on dark meat such as chicken thighs as well as chicken breast. This method actually works on beef and pork as well to create super tender meat.

Does velveting help with woody breast meat?

Yes! If you have woody chicken breasts (stringy-texture commercial chicken breast meat) this Chinese technique is a great option to improve the final texture of the cooked chicken!

What does it mean to velvet chicken?

Velveting chicken means to put it through a tenderizing process prior to cooking. This alters the texture of the chicken and results in super succulent chicken. There are a few different ways, this article focuses on the baking soda velveting process.

Is velveting chicken unhealthy?

Not at all! This recipe, which uses the baking soda method, doesn't add any calories to the dish at all. All the baking soda does is help to break down the meat a little bit, so the texture is super tender.

Do you rinse chicken after velveting?

This depends on which method you use. For the baking soda method described here, you should rinse the baking soda off of the chicken. If you use the corn starch method, you do not rinse it off before cooking.

Is it better to velvet chicken with cornstarch or baking soda?

This is personal preference. I've tested both methods and I prefer to use baking soda. Overall, the corn starch method is more popular.

How much baking soda do I use for velveting?

I recommend dusting on just 1 to 2 teaspoons of baking soda per pound of thinly sliced chicken. If you accidentally use more, the results should still be fine, so don't worry about it too much!

Key Tips - Velvet Chicken

Don’t skip the tenderizing process.

• There are a few ways to “velvet” chicken, but this one is quite simple. All you do is lightly dust the chicken in baking soda, let it sit, then rinse it off. This step can be omitted, but it helps keep the chicken tender and will make sure the meat isn’t overcooked, so I highly recommend it.

Buy pre-cut broccoli florets for easy prep.

• Picking up a bag of pre-washed, trimmed broccoli florets will help save some time as opposed to buying a whole head of broccoli. I don’t, however, recommend using frozen broccoli florets.

The sauce can be mixed ahead of time.

• If you’re looking to prep portions of the meal in advance, mixing the sauce ahead of time is an easy way to speed up the process when you go to make the meal. The chicken can also go through its baking soda process and then be returned to the fridge and cooked later in the day.

Dietary Restrictions - Velvet Chicken

This dish is naturally Dairy-Free.

Make it Gluten-Free.

• Most oyster sauce contains gluten. Use gluten-free oyster sauce to make this dish gluten-free. (Both Kikkoman and Lee Kum Kee brands offer a GF oyster sauce)
• Make sure you're using gluten-free soy sauce, such as tamari, if you're preparing this for someone who is highly sensitive to gluten.

Other recipes on the site that call for velveted chicken:

A Note On Serving Sizes

Serving sizes are a very personal thing, making it very difficult for me to select a serving size that suits everyone. While this is listed as 4 servings, most people would prefer to have more than one serving. I typically serve this dish as 2-3 large dinner servings or 4 small lunch servings.

If you like this recipe, you may also like...

Send me pictures of your creations -- it'll make my day! Message @CraftyCookbook on Instagram, email me ([email protected]), or tag me in a post! Please note, tagged posts are only visible to me if your account is public. Did you make any interesting changes or substitutions for this recipe? Tell me about them in the comment section below!