White Cut Chicken
Gently poached chicken, chilled for a firm, silky texture, served with a ginger-scallion dip.
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Bang Bang Chicken
Poached chicken breast, pounded loose and hand-shredded, mounded and dressed with sesame paste, chilli oil and Sichuan pepper. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 棒棒鸡, report 10.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 棒棒鸡_10.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 30 minutesServings: 1–2Difficulty: EasyRegion: SichuanFlavour: Sesame-mala (sesame and chilli oil)
Why this works
Bang bang chicken is named for the pounding, and the pounding is the point: beating the poached breast until its fibres loosen lets it drink the sauce instead of sitting under it, and hand-shredding along the fibre keeps long, stackable strands that mound into the dish's little hill. The cooking itself is gentle on purpose — brought to a boil, simmered ten minutes, then left to rest five more in the hot water — so the breast stays moist, and a three-minute ice bath then firms it for shredding and locks in the juices. The sauce is a balance act of its own: sesame paste for body, chilli oil for heat, soy for salt, sugar for roundness, and Sichuan pepper for tingle, thinned with a splash of warm water until it flows without lumps. Serve it chilled, as the report directs, for the cleanest contrast between cool chicken and warm spice.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast | 5.3 oz | 150 g | — |
| Scallions, for poaching | ⅓ cup | 10 g | Segments, plus extra chopped scallion to garnish. |
| Ginger slices, for poaching | 0.2 oz | 5 g | — |
| Salt, for poaching | ½ tsp | 2 g | — |
| Sesame paste | 4 tsp | 20 g | Stir well before measuring; it separates in the jar. |
| Homemade or store-bought chilli oil | 2 tbsp | 25 g | With sediment for colour. |
| Sichuan pepper powder | 1 tsp | 3 g | — |
| Light soy sauce | 2 tsp | 10 ml | — |
| Sugar | 1 tsp | 5 g | — |
| Warm water, to thin the sauce | 1 tsp | 5 ml | Add more, a teaspoon at a time, if the sauce is stiff. |
| White sesame seeds, to garnish | To taste | To taste | Report lists sesame as garnish without a quantity — home adaptation. |
Equipment
- Pot for poaching
- Bowl of ice water
- Meat mallet or the back of a knife, for pounding
- Small bowl for the sauce
Steps
- Poach the chicken. Rinse the breast, place in a pot of cold water with the scallion segments, ginger slices and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and rest for 5 minutes more, so the centre reaches at least 75 °C / 167 °F without overcooking.
- Chill in ice water. Lift the chicken out and plunge into ice water for 3 minutes. This firms the flesh and locks in moisture, and makes shredding cleaner.
- Pound and shred. Pound the chicken evenly with a mallet or knife back until it is half its original thickness and the fibres loosen — evenly, so it does not shatter. Then tear by hand along the fibres into shreds about 5–8 cm long.
- Mix the sauce. Stir the sesame paste, soy sauce, sugar, Sichuan pepper powder and chilli oil until completely smooth, adding the warm water a little at a time until the sauce flows without lumps.
- Assemble. Mound the chicken shreds into a small hill, pressing the top lightly flat. Pour the sauce evenly over so every shred is coated. Scatter white sesame and chopped scallion, and serve chilled (at or below 8 °C, as the report directs).
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Technique: pound first, shred second
Shredding unpounded breast gives short, dry fragments; pounding first separates the fibres while keeping them long, so the shreds stay juicy and tangle into a mound that holds sauce. Pound on a board with even, moderate blows and stop at half thickness — harder blows turn the breast to mush, and mush cannot be shredded at all.
Variations
- Thigh version: use boneless thigh, poached the same way, for a richer result (adaptation).
- Peanut version: swap half the sesame paste for smooth peanut butter for a nuttier sauce (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called bang bang chicken?
For the banging: the cooked chicken is traditionally beaten with a stick to loosen its fibres before shredding.
Can I serve it warm?
You can, but the report specifies chilled, and the contrast of cool chicken with the warm-spiced sauce is the point.
My sauce is lumpy — what went wrong?
Sesame paste seizes if water is added too fast. Stir the paste with the soy first, then add water a teaspoon at a time.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten the day it is made, kept chilled. Leftovers keep 1 day refrigerated; keep the sauce and chicken separate if possible and dress just before serving. Do not freeze.
Bang Bang Chicken — Recipe Card
Poached, pounded and shredded chicken in a sesame-chilli sauce, served chilled.
Prep: 15 minutesCook: 15 minutesTotal: 30 minutesServings: 1–2
Ingredients: 150 g chicken breast; 10 g scallion + 5 g ginger + 2 g salt for poaching; 20 g sesame paste; 25 g chilli oil; 3 g Sichuan pepper powder; 10 ml soy sauce; 5 g sugar; 5 ml warm water; sesame and scallion to garnish.
Steps: 1) Poach 10 minutes, rest 5 minutes. 2) Ice bath 3 minutes. 3) Pound to half thickness and hand-shred. 4) Mix sauce. 5) Mound, dress and garnish; serve chilled.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 棒棒鸡 (data/reports/10.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The garnish sesame quantity, not given in the report, is an adaptation and is labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (棒棒鸡_10.jpeg).