Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers

We have posted a lot of childhood dishes here on The Woks of Life, but this Chinese Steamed Chicken recipe with mushrooms & dried lily flowers is one of the most memorable dishes my mother used to make for my sisters and me growing up.

As I wrote this post, I was thinking about why I don’t make this steamed chicken dish more often. Then I realized…as a food blogger, there just aren’t enough meals in the day!

Note:

This recipe was originally published on April 21, 2016. We have since updated it with higher resolution photos, metric measurements, and nutrition information. The recipe remains the same. Enjoy!

Childhood Memories

My mother called this dish “jing waat gai” or “steamed slippery chicken,” which is a word-for-word translation from Cantonese.

The word “waat” basically means “slippery” or “silky.” And it’s true—the chicken is marinated in cornstarch to give it a silky, luxurious texture after steaming.

My two older sisters and I always had smiles on our faces when we saw her at the kitchen counter, preparing it for dinner. It was one of those meals you anticipated eagerly—not just the chicken itself, but the flavorful juices you could scoop onto your rice.

Marinating the chicken with cornstarch prior to steaming is basically velveting the chickenwhich is a method we use for preparing proteins for searing, stir-frying, blanching, or steaming. Steaming, however, does result in the silkiest texture.

We also use this technique in our Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice recipeand Sarah’s Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausage (which she based on this recipe), as well as Judy’s Steamed Chicken with Black Beans.

Steamed Chicken with Lap Cheong — Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers 39

Scoop of steamed chicken thighs with fermented black bean and garlic — Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers 39

Steaming is actually one of our favorite ways to cook chicken. Try this recipe, or any of the recipes I mentioned above, and you’ll see why!

The dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and dried lily flowers yield an earthy flavor to complement the chicken. And that sauce I was talking about? It’s a broth-like mixture of juices that get released from the chicken, mushrooms, and marinade that is heavenly over rice.

Judy has been reminding me that I should post this recipe for everyone to enjoy, so here it finally is!

Scooping steamed chicken with lily flowers and dried mushrooms with a spoon

What Cut of Chicken to Use

One small adjustment I made is to use boneless chicken thighs instead of chicken on the bone like my mother used to make. The Chinese love using chicken on the bone, because it yields tastier results.

However, chopping the chicken into small pieces can create little fragments of bone that—admittedly—can cause a slightly unpleasant dining experience.

I ended up buying chicken thighs and deboning them myself so I could leave the skin on. That said, you can buy boneless skinless chicken thighs if you don’t want to do all that work! Just cut them into bite-size piecesand you’re set.

The Chinese generally prefer chicken on the bone with the skin. In some cases, like our Cantonese Poached Chicken – Bai Qie Jithe chicken skin is an added feature of the dish!

To maximize flavor, I left the skin on for this steamed chicken recipe, but again, feel free to use boneless skinless chicken if you want an easier, lower fat dish.

boneless chicken thighs with skin on cut into bite size pieces

Ultimately, this dish is quite easy to make, but there are a few tricks to making it great. So read on and get cooking!

Steamed Chicken Recipe Instructions

Prepare the dish

Take the dried wood ear mushrooms, dried lily flowersand dried shiitake mushroomsand rinse them all separately under running water to make sure any dirt or dust particles are rinsed away.

Cut off the mushroom stems as well, which can be tough. This will also speed up the soaking process. (Note: depending on the type and brand of dried mushrooms you have on hand, soaking times may vary. We have more tips in the mushroom section of our Chinese Dry and Preserved Ingredients Page.)

Transfer the wood ears, lily flowers, and mushrooms to three separate bowls. Fill with hot water, and soak for 2 hours. Use a plate to cover, and press each of the dried ingredients down to ensure they get fully rehydrated.

Once reconstituted, roughly chop the wood ears. Squeeze some of the excess water from the mushrooms, and slice each one into quarter-inch thick slices. Squeeze the lily flowers dry, trim away the tough bottom portion.

reconstituted mushroom, wood ear, and lily flower

Marinate:

Place the chicken, wood ears, mushrooms, lily flowers, water or chicken stockvegetable oil, sesame oil, rice wine (if using), oyster saucesugar, salt, freshly ground white peppergrated gingerand the white portions of the scallions into a bowl. (Set the green portions of the scallions aside.)

chicken pieces and marinade ingredients — Steamed Chicken with Mushrooms & Dried Lily Flowers 42

Mix until the chicken absorbs most of the liquid. You’ll be surprised at how much liquid it will absorb, and how juicy the chicken will be as a result!

Cover the chicken, and marinate for a minimum of 2 hours on the counter, or in the refrigerator overnight.

marinated chicken with shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ear

Cook:

When you’re ready to cook the dish, let the chicken mixture come up to room temperature (around 1-2 hours). Mix in the cornstarch until it is uniformly incorporated.

At this point, all of the liquid should be absorbed into the chicken, and there should be little or no standing liquid.

Transfer the mixture to a deep heatproof plate (a pie plate works well), making sure that the chicken is in a single layer (any thicker, and it will affect the steaming time). Sprinkle half of the green portion of the scallions over the top.

marinated chicken thighs with wood ear, mushroom, and lily flower on white dish

Place in a covered pre-heated steamer with boiling water, and steam over medium high heat for 10 minutes.

Shut off the heat, and leave the chicken in the steamer for another 2 minutes.

Not sure how to Steam your food or set up a steamer?

See our post on how to set up a steamer if you’re not familiar with steaming foods in Chinese cooking! You may have everything you need in your kitchen already (basically a covered wok or pot that can accommodate the steaming dish, and a rack or empty tuna can!)

Carefully remove the cover from the steamertaking care not to drip any water from the cover onto your steamed chicken dish. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions over the top.

Serve this steamed chicken with mushrooms and lily flowers with plenty of steamed rice!

(If you’re trying to eat less white rice for health reasons, this is one of those times when eating it would be considered “worth it,” folks. Alternatively, you can also try Kaitlin’s Quinoa Rice as a healthier option!)