A round white porcelain plate holds chicken strips in a glossy pale sauce with ginger strips, scallion pieces, fresh red chilies, dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the plate.
The regional cooking of Hunan, leaning to sour and hot flavours, skilled with cured meats, simmering and stewing.
Dong’an chicken is a dish of Dong’an County in Yongzhou, Hunan: the chicken is poached until about seven-tenths cooked, torn into strips, and stir-fried with chili, ginger, Sichuan pepper and vinegar, then lightly thickened, for a sour-hot taste. Origin stories include Tang-era vinegar chicken, Tang Shengzhi bringing a cook to banquets in Nanjing and the Qing-era commander Xi Baotian serving vinegar chicken to guests; none has a dated record. A December 2025 report records a Yongzhou team cooking the dish at a rural cuisine competition, and an April 2026 report records chefs’ new Huangjing Dong’an chicken with the same sour-hot flavor.
What
Dong’an chicken is a Hunan dish: the chicken is poached, torn into strips, and quickly stir-fried with chili, ginger, Sichuan pepper and vinegar, then lightly thickened, for a sour-hot taste.1,2,3,6
When
Origin stories include Tang-era vinegar chicken in Dong’an and Tang Shengzhi’s banquet; the latter is cited from the 1995 Dong’an county gazetteer. These stories give no precise year for the events, and the Tang origin remains a legend.1,2,3
Where
The dish comes from Dong’an County in Yongzhou, Hunan, also documented in a December 2025 report.1,4
How
One method poaches a chicken of about 1.25 kg in stock for about 10 minutes, until about seven-tenths cooked, tears it, stir-fries it with chili, ginger, scallion, Sichuan pepper, vinegar and wine, thickens it lightly with a starch slurry and finishes with sesame oil. Another uses a chicken of about 1.6 kg, simmers it about 20 minutes until about seven-tenths cooked, shreds it, adds wine, vinegar, salt and stock, covers and simmers about 5 minutes, then thickens it and adds scallion and sesame oil.3,6
Why
The dish tastes sour and spicy, also documented in December 2025; the available material does not explain the reason for this preparation.4
Impact and influence
A December 2025 report records a Yongzhou team cooking Dong’an chicken at a rural cuisine competition and its inclusion in the state banquet recipe set; an April 2026 report records a team of chefs introducing Huangjing Dong’an chicken with the same sour-hot flavor.4,5
Legend has it that Tang Shengzhi, a native of Dong’an, took a cook from home to Nanjing and had him prepare the chicken at banquets. Guests praised it and the name Dong’an chicken spread. In another telling Tang gave it the name when asked about the dish at a banquet.
Told in: A folk tale told in the Chinese Wikipedia entry on Dong’an chicken, which cites the 1995 county gazetteer without a year, and in a food blog. No original text that records the story was found.
Commander Xi Baotian
Legend has it that Xi Baotian, a Qing-era commander of the Hunan Army from Dong’an, often served vinegar chicken to guests, and people began to call it Dong’an chicken.
Told in: A folk tale told in a food blog, which gives no source for it.
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the Dong’an chicken I make at home. The amounts and the poaching time follow one recipe by a named author, and the conversions from pounds, quarts and cups to grams and milliliters are my own estimates. The second is a blog author’s adaptation of an English-language cookbook, an adaptation and not the book’s own method: it uses a smaller chicken (about 1.25 kg) and poaches it for just about 10 minutes. I use it just in the tips. I use ready-made chicken stock, which is my home simplification.
Ingredients
Chicken 1 chicken, about 1.6 kg
Light chicken stock about 4 liters, for poaching
Ginger two pieces of about 2 cm: one for poaching, one cut into slivers
Scallions 4: 2 for poaching, and the green parts of 2 for the end
Fresh red chilies 3, cut into slivers
Dried chilies 3, cut into slivers
Sichuan peppercorns 1 teaspoon, crushed
Vegetable oil (or lard) 3 tablespoons, about 45 ml
Rice wine (yellow wine) 3 tablespoons, about 45 ml
Clear rice vinegar 3 tablespoons, about 45 ml
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Defatted chicken stock 1/2 cup, about 120 ml
Cornstarch 1/2 tablespoon, stirred into 1 tablespoon water
Toasted sesame oil 1/2 tablespoon
Steps
Put the chicken in the stock with one piece of ginger and 2 scallions and simmer about 20 minutes, until about three-quarters cooked.
Lift it out to cool, tear the meat into strips and return the bones to the stock.
Cut the other piece of ginger and the chilies into slivers and crush the peppercorns.
Mix the 1/2 cup of defatted stock with the wine, vinegar and salt.
Heat the oil in a wok, fry the ginger, chilies and peppercorns about 30 seconds, then add the chicken and toss.
Pour in the mixed stock, cover and simmer about 5 minutes.
Stir in the starch slurry to thicken lightly, then add the scallion greens and sesame oil. Before serving I cut into the thickest piece to make sure there is no pink and it is cooked through.
Serve hot with rice.
Tips
I tear the meat while the chicken is still warm, because it comes apart easily along the grain; this is my own way.
The adaptation of the English-language cookbook uses a smaller chicken, poaches it for just about 10 minutes and uses 4 tablespoons of oil; if you follow it, cut in at the end to check that it is cooked through as well.
