Velveting is a Chinese cooking technique commonly used in stir-frying. Meat or seafood are marinated in a mixture of egg white, cornstarch and rice wine, and then briefly blanched in oil or water before finishing off in the stir-fry process with other ingredients. The marinade acts as protective coat which seals moisture and keeps the meat from overcooking, resulting in meat morsels that are silky soft and lusciously tender.
Here are a few recipes I use this method:
- Black Pepper Chicken-chicken pieces are stir-fried with bell peppers and generously seasoned with black pepper
- Beef Broccoli-tender beef slices and verdant broccoli florets marry beautifully in a savory oyster-flavored sauce
- Green Bean Chicken-crisp green beans take center stage in this delicious stir-fry dish!
- Try velveting meat and shrimp for noodle favorites such as Miki Bihon and Pancit Guisado
How to Velvet Meat
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Yield: 2 Cups
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken, beef or pork, cut into ½ thick strips
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt
Velveting in Water
- water
- 1 tablespoon oil
Velveting in Oil
- canola or peanut oil
Instructions
- Wash chicken and drain well.
- In a bowl, combine egg white, Chinese wine, oil, cornstarch and salt. Whisk together until smooth and frothy. Add chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. In a colander, drain chicken.
Velveting in Water
- In a pot over high heat, combine about 2-inch deep of water and 1 tablespoon of oil. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and immediately add chicken, stirring to disperse. Bring water back to a gentle simmer and once it's barely bubbling, continue to cook chicken for about 1 minute, stirring occasionally. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from pot and drain well.
Velveting in Oil
- In a pot over medium heat, heat about 3-inch deep of oil (meat should be fully submerged in oil). Add meat and cook, stirring as needed, for about 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from pot and drain well.
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I hav just tried this for the very first and made some Chinese stir-fry, and it was delicious, it made the chicken taste so lovely and made the chicken so soft. Yum!
Isn’t it amazing how velvety and soft the chicken turns out? I love this cooking technique!
Isn’t leaving the meat in oil for 3 minutes going to cook it through? I thought we still wanted to stir fry it, wouldn’t this make it “deep fried”?
Sorry if this is a silly question. I started velveting my meat after years of horribly chewy and tough stir fries and frankly was amazed at the difference it made. But I want to perfect the method. I water blanche for about 40 seconds, adding to already bubbling water.
I use one egg white, big sprinkle of salt, 3 teaspoons of cornflour, tablespoon of soy sauce, and a tablespoon of wine (have used both red and white wine, don’t have rice wine).
This creates too much marinade for a portion for two but it seems a waste to crack an egg for just half an egg white, and unless I’m making egg fried rice I don’t know what to do with it and it goes in the bin.
I’ll try the quantities in your recipe as I’m cheating with the red/white wine and probably using too much cornflour (?). I’d like to try adding a pinch of baking soda.
When I was in culinary school, our chef taught us how to velvet pork for salt and pepper pork spareribs.
I found it so bizarre when he marinated the spareribs in a mixture of cream and vanilla but it was soooooooooo good!
Cream and vanilla? I am certainly going to try this on my next round of spareribs! Thanks for the tip 🙂
Yes! Weird I know! But it certainly made it taste legit! Just season the ribs with salt and pepper, pour the cream and vanilla and let it sit for about an hour. Dredge the pork in some lightly seasoned flour (I find that a mixture of 1 part all purpose flour and 2 parts cornstarch is best for frying) and velvet pork over low heat till thoroughly cooked and tender. Increase the heat to high and fry until crispy and lightly golden brown. Remove from oil and drain excess oil with paper towels.
In a cold wok, add chopped garlic and a small amount of oil. Turn on heat to medium and fry garlic until light golden brown. Add sliced chilis (optional). Then add the fried pork and season with coarse salt and pepper.
Note: It’s thrice fried pork so you really have to drain the excess oil very well to not end up with an oily mess. Also, be careful in seasoning cos you’re gonna season it before frying, dredge it in seasoned flour and season it while stir frying. 🙂
Tell me how it goes! Enjoy!
Hello Lalaine,
How do you make fried chicken skin crispy like Jolibee Chicken Joy?
The only difference I noticed was that when I ran my finger along a piece of the water-blanched meat, sometimes a little bit of cornstarch and egg-white residue would come off. Water-blanching did produce meat with a slight residue.
Hello Ira
Yes, you get a bit of residue with the water-blanching than when passed in oil. Just make sure to drain the chicken/meat to rid of the cornstarch marinade as much as possible.
after marinating, do you completely rinse off the marinade before continuing on with cooking?
do you completely rinse off the marinade from your meat before continuing with cooking?
No need to rinse, just drain well 🙂
Ahhh not thats how its made, now I know. Thanks for the tips
Give it a try, Raymund, the extra step will make a big difference in your stir-fries 🙂