What Does Szechuan Chicken Taste Like?

With its mixture of cayenne pepper, hot sauce, red chilies, ginger, brown sugar and soy sauce, Szechuan chicken has a savory hot and spicy flavor with a touch of sweetness. People who have a tolerance for dishes spiced with hot peppers tend to enjoy this dish. The dish is prepared by stir-frying boneless chicken pieces along with vegetables in a savory sauce. It is commonly served with white rice.

Szechuan chicken is very easy to prepare at home, and each cook can adjust the level of heat by regulating the quantity of peppers and hot sauce. For example, one can leave out the red chilis and greatly reduce the amount of hot sauce to create a mild version. Ingredients that mark this dish as distinctly Chinese are the addition of soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch and rice wine. Many Chinese stir-fry meals use these same ingredients.

Szechuan chicken is just one of the popular meals that originated in the Szechuan region of China. Foods in this region are famous for being spicy. While there are tasty mild Szechuan dishes, a vast number of meals feature chicken, beef, lamb or pork cooked with peppers, salt and garlic. These dishes sometimes include pickled vegetables. Szechuan cooking methods include stir-frying, roasting and simmering.