The Secret Behind Tender Chicken at Chinese Restaurants

Chinese restaurants are famous for their incredibly tender and juicy chicken dishes like kung pao chicken cashew chicken, and chicken stir fry. So how do they make their chicken so tender when chicken breast tends to be lean and can easily dry out? After some research I discovered the secret technique that Chinese restaurants have been using for years – velveting chicken.

What is Velveting Chicken?

Velveting chicken is a simple but highly effective technique to tenderize chicken breast to make it super tender and juicy. It involves tossing sliced chicken breast with some baking soda, letting it sit for about 20-30 minutes, then rinsing thoroughly before cooking as desired.

The baking soda breaks down the muscle fibers in the chicken to make it soft and tender, almost giving it a “velvety” texture, hence the name velveting But it doesn’t affect the chicken flavor at all The chicken just becomes incredibly soft and juicy after velveting.

Why Velvet Chicken?

Chicken breast is notoriously tricky to cook to keep it moist and tender It’s very lean so it can easily dry out and turn rubbery during cooking. Velveting chicken breast before stir frying or other high heat methods helps ensure it stays tender and juicy

While dark meat like chicken thighs are naturally more moist and tender, breast meat is lower in fat and calories. Velveting lets you achieve the tenderness of dark meat with the leanness of white breast meat. It’s really the best of both worlds!

How Chinese Restaurants Velvet Their Chicken

From my research, most Chinese restaurants use one of three methods to tenderize their chicken:

• Baking soda velveting – This is the quick and easy technique I described earlier. Toss sliced chicken with baking soda, rest, then rinse.

• Cornstarch slurry – Coating chicken pieces in a starchy cornstarch slurry dips also helps tenderize. The chicken can then be blanched or deep fried.

• Meat tenderizer – Commercial meat tenderizing powder contains enzymes that also help break down chicken muscle fiber.

The baking soda technique is by far the simplest velveting method for home cooks to use. I was able to achieve restaurant quality tender chicken without the mess or fuss of the cornstarch slurry method.

How to Velvet Chicken at Home

Velveting chicken at home is so easy:

• Cut chicken breast into thin slices or bite size pieces. It’s important not to use whole breasts or they’ll end up unevenly tenderized.

• Toss the chicken with baking soda – about 3/4 tsp for every 250g / 8oz chicken. Massage to evenly coat.

• Rest for 20-30 minutes for the baking soda to work its magic.

• Rinse well then pat dry with paper towels.

• Cook as desired – stir fry, pan fry, simmer in broth, etc.

And that’s it! I like to stir fry my velveted chicken in a flavorful homemade stir fry sauce for quick, restaurant quality meals.

Velveting Times for Chicken

• Thin slices – velvet for 20 minutes

• Bite sized pieces – velvet for 30 minutes

You don’t want to overdo the velveting or the chicken will become mushy. For whole chicken breasts, it’s better to use a wet brine or marinade to tenderize instead.

How to Tell if Chicken is Properly Velveted

After rinsing and patting the chicken dry, you should notice:

• Chicken feels very soft and silky smooth
• Surface looks somewhat puffy
• Meat seems to indent easily when pressed gently

This shows the velveting process has successfully tenderized the chicken. When cooked, it will be incredibly tender, moist and juicy.

Recipes to Use Velveted Chicken

Velveted chicken is ideal for any Chinese chicken stir fry recipes:

• Cashew Chicken
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Chicken Chow Mein
• Chicken Lo Mein
• Sweet & Sour Chicken
• General Tso’s Chicken
• Chicken Stir Fry

You can also use tenderized chicken in:

• Soups – Hot & Sour Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup
• Curries – Thai Red Curry, Coconut Curry Chicken
• Fried Rice
• Meal Salads – Chinese Chicken Salad

Any recipe calling for quick cooking sliced or diced chicken breast can benefit from velveting. Just avoid prolonged cooking methods like roasting or grilling whole breasts.

Is Velveting Chicken Safe?

Some people may be hesitant to use baking soda on raw chicken. Rest assured that as long as the chicken is rinsed thoroughly after velveting, it is completely safe. The USDA confirms that baking soda is an approved method of tenderizing meats.

Any lingering baking soda gets rinsed away, leaving tenderized chicken that is perfectly safe to eat. Make sure to pat it dry before cooking too.

Velveting Other Meats

While designed for chicken breast, you can also use this velveting technique to tenderize other lean meats like pork and beef. It works great on pork tenderloin and flank steak sliced for stir fries.

Adjust the velveting time based on thickness. Thin slices only need 20 minutes while thicker cuts may need up to an hour. Rinse then dry well before cooking as desired.

Get Restaurant Tender Chicken at Home!

Now that you know how simple it is to velvet chicken at home, you can skip takeout and start enjoying restaurant quality chicken dishes in your own kitchen. Velveting makes chicken breast unbelievably tender and juicy, while still keeping it lean and healthy.

Chinese restaurants primarily use chicken breast for dishes like chicken and broccoli, often tenderizing it through a process called “velveting” to achieve a silky, smooth texture.

Chinese restaurants achieve exceptionally tender chicken through a process called velveting. This technique involves marinating the chicken in a mixture of cornstarch, egg whites, and other ingredients, followed by a brief cooking process in oil or hot water, often called blanching or flash-frying.

Chicken from Chinese restaurants often has a distinctive, tender, and silky texture due to a marination process called velveting.