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Chicken Chahan Recipe
A protein-packed Japanese fried rice with barely any rice at all, built on a homemade sweet soy yakitori marinade.
Prep
Cook
Serve
Kcal
- 180ml sake (or dry sherry)
- 340ml light soy sauce, for the yakitori sauce
- 180ml mirin (or dry sherry with a pinch of extra sugar)
- 30g caster sugar
- 400g boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into thin diagonal slices
- 4 tablespoons yakitori sauce, for the marinade
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 16 cooked, peeled king prawns (shrimp)
- 4 tablespoons tinned sweetcorn, well drained
- 4 tablespoons mangetout (or sugar snap peas), finely sliced
- 8 button mushrooms, finely sliced
- 4 spring onions, trimmed and cut into 2.5cm lengths
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 700g cooked Thai fragrant rice (jasmine rice), cooled
- salt, to taste
- 4 tablespoons light soy sauce, for seasoning the rice
Step 1
Pour the sake, 340ml light soy sauce, mirin and caster sugar into a small pan and warm gently over a low heat, stirring, for about 3 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved and the sauce looks glossy rather than gritty. Take it off the heat and let it cool; it will keep in a sealed jar in the fridge for weeks, so don't worry about making more than you need today.Step 2
Put the sliced chicken thigh into a bowl with 4 tablespoons of the cooled yakitori sauce. Massage the sauce into the meat with your fingers for a minute or two, then cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, up to 1 hour. Don't leave raw chicken marinating on the counter, even briefly, once it's warmed past fridge temperature it's time to cook it.Step 3
If you don't have leftover cooked rice to hand, simmer the jasmine rice in plenty of boiling water for 10-12 minutes until just tender, then drain well. Spread it out on a tray in a thin layer so it cools quickly, within an hour, before you need it. Rice that's still warm and clumped together will turn gluey in the wok, so cold, separate grains are what you're after.Step 4
While the chicken marinates, drain the sweetcorn well, finely slice the mangetout and mushrooms, and cut the spring onions into short 2.5cm lengths. Keep everything close to the hob in separate little piles; once the wok is hot this dish moves fast and there's no time for chopping mid-stir.Step 5
Lift the chicken out of its marinade with a fork, letting the excess drip back into the bowl, and set the reserved marinade aside. If your chicken isn't already in thin diagonal slices, cut it now; thinner slices cook through faster and more evenly in the short stir-fry time ahead.Step 6
Set an empty wok or large frying pan over a medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes until it's properly hot; you'll know it's ready when a drop of water flicked into it sizzles and vanishes instantly. Add the vegetable oil and swirl it round until it shimmers but isn't smoking.Step 7
Add the chicken, prawns, sweetcorn, mangetout, mushrooms and spring onions all at once and stir-fry over a medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, keeping everything moving. You're looking for the vegetables to just start to wilt and turn glossy, and for the chicken to be cooked all the way through with no pink left and juices running clear.Step 8
Pour the beaten eggs straight into the wok over the chicken and vegetables. Stir-fry briskly for 1-2 minutes, breaking the egg up as it hits the hot metal, until it's just set into soft curds rather than a solid sheet; overcooking it here makes the finished dish dry and rubbery.Step 9
Tip in the cooled cooked rice, a pinch of salt and the 4 tablespoons of light soy sauce for seasoning. Stir-fry everything together for 2-3 minutes, tossing constantly, until the rice is heated all the way through, piping hot, and evenly coated in a light golden-brown sheen from the soy.Step 10
Divide the chahan between warm bowls straight away while the wok heat is still keeping everything glossy and hot. It's happiest eaten immediately rather than left to sit, when the rice can start to clump as it cools.
Can I use frozen prawns instead of fresh?
Yes, just defrost them fully and pat them dry before they go in the wok, otherwise the extra water will cool the pan down and steam the rice instead of frying it.
How long will leftovers keep in the fridge?
Cool it within an hour of cooking, store in a sealed container, and eat within 2 days, reheating only once until it's completely steaming hot throughout.
Why did my rice turn out mushy and clumped?
The rice was probably still warm or freshly cooked. Chahan needs cold, dried-out grains, ideally cooked the day before and chilled, so they fry rather than steam.
Can I make this without chicken and prawns?
Swap them for cubed firm tofu marinated the same way in the yakitori sauce, and use a vegetarian oyster-style sauce if you want to keep that same glossy, savoury finish.
I don't have a wok, can I still make this?
A large, wide non-stick or stainless frying pan works fine, just make sure it gets properly hot before anything goes in so the ingredients sear rather than sit and steam.
What can I use instead of sake and mirin?
Dry sherry is the closest swap for sake, and for mirin you can use a little extra sherry or wine with a touch more sugar stirred in.
What it actually is
Chahan is the Japanese take on Chinese-style fried rice, and this version leans hard on protein rather than bulk. Rather than a big pile of rice studded with a few scraps of meat, it flips the ratio: a generous amount of marinated chicken and prawns with just enough rice to bind everything into a coherent, satisfying bowl. The sweet, salty yakitori marinade is what ties the chicken, the vegetables and the rice together into one flavour rather than several separate ones sitting on the same plate.
Getting the rice right
Cold, dry, separate grains are non-negotiable here. Freshly boiled rice is full of surface moisture and clings to itself, so as soon as it hits a hot wok it steams rather than fries and turns into a sticky mass. Spreading cooked rice out on a tray to cool quickly, ideally made the day before and kept in the fridge, lets that surface moisture evaporate so the grains stay firm and separate when they finally meet the heat and soy sauce.
Make ahead and reheating
The yakitori sauce is the part worth batch-cooking; it keeps for weeks in a sealed jar in the fridge, so making a full batch now saves time on future stir-fries, not just this one. The chicken can be sliced and marinating in the fridge a day ahead too. Leftover chahan itself should be cooled within an hour, kept in the fridge, and reheated only once in a hot wok or microwave until it's steaming hot all the way through before eating.
Troubleshooting
If the finished rice tastes flat, it's almost always because the wok wasn't hot enough at the stir-fry stage, gentle heat stews the ingredients instead of searing them. If it turns out gluey, warm or wet rice is the usual culprit, so cool it properly first next time. And if the egg goes rubbery, it went in too early or stayed in the pan too long; it should be added last and pulled off the heat the moment it's just set.