Why should you make this beer-braised chicken with sriracha, mushrooms, and onions? Because it is awesome, and you will not be disappointed.
I stumbled across this recipe quite a while ago. Like most other things, it was pinned and left to sit on my board until I felt like I wanted to make it.
We finally added this to our menu because I realized how economical it was for a dinner. Chicken legs are anywhere between $3 and $5 a package (usually 5-6 legs) which is more than enough to fill us up. We usually barbecue or bake our chicken legs, so this recipe was a unique touch to an item that frequently sits on our dinner table.
Rahul brought home an imperial stout for the 1/2 cup of beer this recipe calls for. Unlike wine, when a recipe calls for even a drop of beer, I’ll purchase it knowing that I get to drink the rest!
Even though I love beer, I’m not always interested in adding beer to my recipes. Sometimes beer can overpower a recipe to the point where it doesn’t taste right anymore. I was a little nervous about that here, but the sriracha seemed like a great way to balance the flavors – and it totally worked. Between the beer, hoisin and soy sauce, sriracha, sugar, and fat from the chicken, the sauce packed tons of flavor that I couldn’t argue with.
If I had to change one thing, I might make a cornstarch slurry to make the sauce into a gravy, but as Rahul told me, not everything needs to be gravy-field.
Beer-Braised Chicken with Sriracha
Beer-Braised Chicken with Sriracha
Inspired by Appetite from China
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- Chicken legs, drumsticks, even chicken breasts would be appropriate
- Canola oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 small onion
- Handful of mushrooms
- 2 to 3 tsp Sriracha
For the sauce:
- 1/2 dark beer – an imperial stout, porter or brown ale would be a good choice
- 1/4 cup water*
- 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce**
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- Pinch of salt
Direction
- In a large skillet, heat the butter and a few tablespoons of canola oil. Pat the chicken dries with a paper towel and add to the skillet, browning each side for 4-5 minutes.
- While chicken is browning, slice your onions and mushrooms. Saute them in a skillet with one tablespoon of canola oil until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the Sriracha and stir until mixed through – remember, you can always add more hot sauce later but you can’t take it away!
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. When the chicken has browned, add the sauce, mushrooms, and onions. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes or until chicken have been cooked through.
- We ate this alongside yellow rice (and a few more drops of Sriracha). The chicken was so moist and tender that I just can’t wait to make this dish again!
Notes:
*The original recipe called for 1/4 cup of chicken stock, however, I only had bouillon cubes on hand and didn’t want to make a full cup of chicken stock only to use a quarter of it. Feel free to use chicken stock if you have it on hand.
**Hoisin sauce is worth the purchase – so many Asian recipes call for it, so don’t think that you’re buying something for one use only. It is in many stir-fry sauces!






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