Shredded Lemon Pepper Chicken

Welcome back to my Chinese Home Kitchen. Recently, we have been adding a lot of chicken recipes. Chicken is high in lean protein and chicken breast is not expensive in China, making it very suitable for the dining needs of an ordinary family. Most of the chicken recipes we have released recently are healthy and low-in fat. Have you tried one of them? Today we are making Shredded Lemon Chicken, which is still a chicken breast recipe, but I will make it delicious and distinct for you.

Shredded lemon chicken is a cold chicken salad recipe suitable for hot summer days. This dish does use a small amount of oil for the sauce, so it has a little more fat content than our other recent chicken recipes. This dish is low in carbohydrates with lots of protein, calcium, potassium, and Vitamins C and A.

This recipe is not complicated, but one of the steps is a little time-consuming. You need to tear the cooked chicken breast into shreds by hand. Since it’s served cold, you can do this before bed while you sit and watch your favorite TV movie. Put it In the refrigerator overnight and enjoy it for lunch the next day.

Shredded lemon chicken makes a great snack, cold lunch or as a side dish on the dinner table, as you like.

Tips for making shredded lemon chicken

• How do you tell if the chicken breast is cooked? Use a chopstick to pierce the thickest part of the chicken breast. If the chopstick can easily penetrate the chicken breast and no pink juice flows out after the chopstick is pulled out, then the chicken breast is fully cooked.
• If you do not have fresh Xiǎomǐ lā peppers, you can rehydrate some dried chili peppers by soaking them in hot water for about 30 minutes.
• If you have only one wok, and it is seasoned for stir-fries, we recommend that you use a saucepan for this recipe. Boiling water in a seasoned wok will strip the seasoning, and you’ll have to re-season it before using it to stir-fry.
• Chinese chili powder is made from ground, roasted erjingtiao, xiǎomǐ lā, and chaotianjiao peppers. The flavor is both more distinct and spicier than western chili powders (which are usually made from Mexican guajillo peppers).

Shredded Lemon Pepper Chicken

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Shredded lemon chicken is a cold chicken salad recipe suitable for hot summer days. This recipe is not complicated, but one of the steps is a little time-consuming. You need to tear the cooked chicken breast into shreds by hand. Since it’s served cold, you can do this before bed while you sit and watch your favorite TV movie. Put it In the refrigerator overnight and enjoy it for lunch the next day. Shredded lemon chicken makes a great snack, cold lunch or as a side dish on the dinner table, as you like.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese Home Cooking

Servings 4

Calories 169 kcal

Equipment

• 1 medium saucepan or a non-seasoned wok: see notes
• 1 sharp kitchen knife
• 1 heat proof dish for mixing the oil and chili powder
• 1 mixing bowl

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1 chicken breast
• 5 g ginger (about 5 slices the thickness of a coin)
• 10 ml Shaoxing wine substitute dry sherry
• 1 green onion cut into 5 cm (2-inch) sections

Sauce ingredients:

• 30 ml caiziyou (roasted rapeseed oil) substitute your preferred cooking oil
• 1 green onion chopped
• 3 garlic cloves chopped
• 10 ml Chinese chili powder
• 2 g white sesame seeds

Sauce seasonings:

• 10 ml light soy sauce 
• 7 ml Zhenjiang black vinegar aka Chinkiang vinegar
• 5 ml oyster sauce
• 2 ml sugar
• 1 ml salt
• 2 ml lemon juice

Finishing:

• 8 g cilantro coarsely chopped
• 3 fresh xiaomila chili peppers or rehydrated
• ½ lemon sliced and seeded

Instructions

 

• Gather the ingredients. Remove the roots and any dead leaves from the green onions. Remove the stems from the peppers. (If using dried peppers, see the notes.) Trim any fat or tendons from the chicken. Rinse the greens, garlic, and chicken breast thoroughly.
  
• Slice the ginger. Coarsely chop the chili pepper, garlic, one of the green onions, and the cilantro. Chop the other green onion into 5 cm (2 inch) sections. Slice the lemon and remove the seeds.
  
• Add enough cold water to a saucepan to cover the chicken breast, then add the ginger slices, 10 ml of Shaoxing wine, and 1 green onion into the cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat and then cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat. Let the chicken breast soak in the hot water for 20 minutes. Check to see if the chicken is thoroughly cooked (see notes below). Remove the cooked chicken breast and put it in cold water and set it aside to cool while you mix the sauce. Discard the water and other ingredients. Clean and dry the pan for heating the oil.
  1 chicken breast, 5 g ginger, 10 ml Shaoxing wine, 1 green onion
  
• Put the chopped green onion, garlic, 10ml (2 tsps) chili powder, and 2g (1/2 tsp) white sesame seeds in a heat-proof mixing bowl. Heat 30 ml (2 tbsps) of oil to 130°-150° C (266° – 302° F) in a clean pan, and pour over the ingredients to stimulate the aroma. Stir while the chili powder sizzles. Next, add 10ml light soy sauce, 7 ml (1.5 tsp) Zhenjiang vinegar, 5 ml (1 tsp) oyster sauce, 2 ml (½ tsp) white sugar, and 1 ml (¼ tsp) salt. Squeeze the remaining lemon half to get 2 ml (½ tsp) of juice and add to the sauce. Stir well and set aside.
  30 ml caiziyou (roasted rapeseed oil), 1 green onion, 3 garlic cloves, 10 ml Chinese chili powder, 2 g white sesame seeds, 10 ml light soy sauce , 7 ml Zhenjiang black vinegar, 5 ml oyster sauce, 2 ml sugar, 1 ml salt, 2 ml lemon juice
  
• Tear the chicken breast into shreds along the grain and pile the shreds in a mixing bowl.
  
• Pour the sauce into the shredded chicken and mix well, then add the cilantro and chopped chili peppers and mix well Arrange the lemon slices around the side.
  8 g cilantro, 3 fresh xiaomila chili peppers, 1/2 lemon
  
• Transfer the seasoned chicken to a plate, garnish the top with a few cilantro leaves and pepper slices and serve.
  

Notes

• How to tell if a chicken breast is cooked? Use a chopstick to pierce the thickest part of the chicken breast. If the chopstick can easily penetrate the chicken breast and no pink juice flows out after the chopstick is pulled out, then the chicken breast is fully cooked.
• If you do not have fresh xiaomila peppers, you can rehydrate some dried chili peppers by soaking them in hot water for about 30 minutes.
• If you have only one wok, and it is seasoned for stir-fries, we recommend that you use a saucepan for this recipe. Boiling water in a seasoned wok will strip the seasoning, and you’ll have to re-season it before using it to stir-fry.

Nutrition

Calories: 169kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 14gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.04gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 402mgPotassium: 436mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 1278IUVitamin C: 59mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 1mg

Keyword chicken breast, cilantro, garlic, ginger, lemon, oyster sauce, salt, scallions, shaoxing wine, soy sauce, light, sugar, white, xiao mi la chili peppers, Zhenjiang vinegar

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

You might also enjoy some of our other summer recipes

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