Hunan Chicken vs Szechuan Chicken

Hunan cuisine is famous for its hot and spicy food.

Sometimes kinds of pepper can be used in Hunan chicken, such as powdered anise pepper and cayenne pepper.

Hunan chicken, and more broadly speaking Hunan cuisine, comes from the Xiang River region, Dongting Lake and Western Hunan Province. This region is famous for its hot and tongue-numbing seasoning, through generous amounts of chilli pepper.

Hunan cuisine is renowned for being dry, spicy and hot – or gān là as the Chinese say.

In a word, hot!

If you're one of those people that gets a kick out of hot and spicy food, this is the dish for you! Hunan chicken also has a deep rich flavor, which comes from the spicy chili bean paste and the dark soy sauce.

Finally, unlike Szechuan dishes, Hunan chicken typically contains a lot of vegetables. This gives it a wider range of fresh flavors.

First, the chicken is marinated in salt, white pepper, egg white, cornstarch and oil. This helps to tenderize the meat, but will also mean that when the chicken is fried it will take on a crispier texture.

Oil is heated in a wok – either vegetable oil or sesame oil. The chicken is then fried on a high heat until browned, and then removed from the pan.

Next, the vegetables are stir fried, together with the dark soy sauce, oyster or hoisin sauce, fresh chili peppers and other ingredients. The chicken is returned to the pan and everything is stir fried together until completely cooked.

Rice should be top of your list when it comes to Hunan chicken side dishes. Simple plain steamed rice is perfect. You could also serve with any kind of noodles.

For a drinks pairing, a full bodied or medium red wine like Shiraz or Merlot.

Szechuan chicken is a spicy, sweet and tangy dish with big bold flavors that are characterized by chilies, garlic and ginger. It consists of marinated chicken that's deep fried first, then stir fried with dried chilies, Szechuan peppercorns and rich bean paste.

Szechuan chicken originates from the Szechuan province in the southwest of China. This region has exceptional resources due to its climate. This means you'll typically find lots of interesting fresh ingredients in Szechuan cooking – most notably chili peppers and Szechuan peppercorns.

Sichuan cuisine is made up of seven basic flavor types – sweet, sour, pungent, hot, bitter, aromatic and salty. Authentic Szechuan dishes generally contain most of these flavors.

Szechuan chicken is sweet, tangy and spicy, with flavors that explode in your mouth and dance on your tongue. The combination of the rich soy sauce, deep earthy sweetness of the dried chili peppers, Szechuan peppercporns and chili bean paste, and the crispy tender chicken is just incredible.

The heat of Szechuan dish is adjustable and all depends on how much dried red chili peppers you add to the dish. Generally speaking, it has enough spicy flavor to tingle your tongue, but it's not as spicy as Hunan chicken.

The normal method of preparing Szechuan chicken is to cube chicken breasts. This helps to achieve a crispy texture, as does drying the meat on a kitchen towel. The chicken is then marinated in light soy sauce, rice wine, egg wash and white pepper.

After marinating the chicken, it is then coated in corn starch. This helps to get an extremely tender texture and crispy outer layer to the meat. The cubed chicken is then deep fried until light brown.

Next, garlic, ginger and green onions (or scallion) are fried in a wok. Chili bean paste (or 'Doubanjiang') is added, together with Szechuan peppercorns and dried chilies. The deep fried chicken is returned to the wok and everything is stir fried for a while to infuse the flavors.

Finally, deep fried ground nuts are added and the Szechuan chicken is served with a garnish of green onions. Delicious!

As with Hunan chicken, the best pairing with Szechuan chicken is simple steamed rice. The simplicity of the rice makes a delicious contrast with the richness and spicy flavor of the Szechuan chicken dish.
In terms of a drinks pairing, beer or wine is perfect.

It's all about personal preference. Both are spicy, rich and delicious, but which dish takes your fancy comes down to a few key details.

If you prefer saucier Chinese dishes with less of a kick, you'll most likely prefer Szechuan. However, if you're a fan of bigger, bolder flavors with a substantial chili kick, Hunan Chicken is the dish for you.

While Szechuan chicken is quite hot and spicy, Hunan chicken is on another level. If you're a fan of dry, chili heat, you'll find the tongue-tingling quality of Hunan chicken hard to beat.

It depends on how each dish is cooked, although Hunan chicken is generally served with fresh vegetables, such as broccoli and carrots, which means it often has more nutrients.

Cooking methods vary quite considerably for each. However, Szechuan chicken is generally deep fried, whereas Hunan chicken can sometimes be stir fried without being deep fried.