This Taiwanese Fried Chicken in Plum Sauce 梅汁雞柳 is a dinner and lunch favourite in Taiwan. I think it is the meal that Sweet and Sour Chicken SHOULD be! If the extremes of sourness and sweetness of that dish turn you off this more subtle, yet distinctive meal might be perfect for a new taste sensation for your palette. Please try it – you can even easily make your own sour plum sauce if you have these fruit trees in your garden!

Taiwanese Fried Chicken in Plum Sauce
The ingredients for this dish are;

ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced and marinated
- some chopped bell peppers
- 1 spring onion
- half a carrot, sliced
- Garlic, 2 cloves
- Some sliced ginger
- The sauce: Plum sauce – 3tbsp, Soy Sauce – 1tbsp, 1tbsp sugar
- The chicken coating: Sweet potato flour and corn flour (you can use potato flour and or tapioca flour, depend what you can get)
The method;
- Chop up the chicken
- Put the chicken in a bowl with a splash of rice wine, one teaspoon of sugar and two tablespoons of soy sauce in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Chop the vegetables to your favoured sizes
- Put about 1 or 2 cm of oil in the frying pan, get it hot
- Coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture
- Fry the chicken until golden brown
- Take out and drain the chicken of oil
- Re-fry the chicken, when the oil is very hot again
- Take out the chicken and pour the oil into a safe place/container
- Stir fry all the vegetables you have prepared in this lightly oiled hot pan
- Add the chicken back into the pan
- Add the plum sauce, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and about 100ml of water mixed with one tablespoon of corn flour for thickening
- 1 minute later it’s ready, serve with rice and a garnish of chilli/coriander/basil – whatever you prefer
- Or to see how it’s done, watch Joanne’s video below!
Taiwanese Fried Chicken in Plum Sauce cooking video
Stay tuned for more help, advice, cooking and shopping!
19 comments
gun safe reviews says:
Mar 30, 2011
Great post! I just added it to my favorites!
jj.lymm says:
Apr 10, 2011
No problem, glad you like it. Keep watching for more easy cooking!
Freida Haddan says:
Apr 15, 2011
I was looking for this kind of the other day. i don’t commonly post in forums but i wanted to say thank you!
Jen says:
May 26, 2012
I made this last night it was delicious, I highly recommend Chicken in Plum Sauce. I added a few roasted cashews too. Thanks so much for making these recipes and your great videos available to us. Many thanks. Jen
Hendry Flint says:
Nov 4, 2012
If I may know, what is the brand of that soy sauce ?
jj.lymm says:
Nov 4, 2012
Kimlan 金蘭醬油 and 金味王醬油 – both can be found in UK Chinese supermarkets!
Hendry flint says:
Nov 27, 2012
Thank a lot 🙂
I’ll try to use that brand for the next time.
Btw I love u’r videos, it’s very inspiring.
George says:
Nov 27, 2012
Can you re-write the brands name, because i just cannot read it, thx
jj.lymm says:
Nov 27, 2012
Kimlan and Kim Ve Wong soy sauces!
Brad says:
Jan 30, 2014
Hi,
Can you please tell me how to make plum sauce? I don’t want to buy it but would like to make it fresh.
jj.lymm says:
Feb 1, 2014
Hi Brad. The sour plum sauce I used was made by my sister in Taiwan. The sour plums are picked, salted and dried in the sun. Then she adds sugar and bottles them. You need plums from a tree called ‘prunus mume’.
jj.lymm says:
Feb 1, 2014
perhaps you can try and make it with unripe plums from western tree varieties?
Brad says:
Feb 1, 2014
Hi,
I found this recipe for the plum sauce. Do you think it will be appropriate for your recipe? I plan to make the plum sauce and use it for your recipe here.
http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-plum-sauce-203
jj.lymm says:
Feb 2, 2014
That is probably a little more swet than the sauce I used. You could add less sugar to make it and perhaps more vinegar – orjust go with it and see if you like it! Let me know how it works out? Regards, JJ
STEFFEN says:
Jul 28, 2014
Hi Joanne,
today I made your “Taiwanese fried chicken in plum sauce” for lunch. Very very deliciouse !!!! I made it at my Mom’s place for her and a few other people. She has some friends who many years ago lived in Taipei on business basis and know Taiwanese food – everybody liked it a lot.
I must admit, I didn’t have the chance yet to make the plum sauce by myself as you have described the way of your sister’s making it in Taiwan, but I will try.
Instead, I bought plum sauce from the regional Asian supermarket. It is a bit sweet and slightly thick, already. So, if one uses that kind it might be helpful to adjust the other ingredients a bit by maybe adding a splash of fruit vinegar and using a bit more water. But in general, this recipe is very very good – reminded me a bit the sweet and soure chicken on your website, too.
Thanks so much for sharing and best,
Steffen (from Germany)
jj.lymm says:
Jul 31, 2014
That sounds fantastic. I hope you can make your own plum sauce one day.
STEFFEN says:
Oct 22, 2014
Hi Joanne,
meanwhile I made your chicken with plum sauce a couple of times. This time I used some plum sauce I made by myself. For it I used ingredients such as red plums (the big round ones with a rather small seed – not the little blue plums!) and some spices that fit Taiwanese cuisine, such as red chili, ginger, garlic, 5-spice-powder, star anis, light soy sauce, Michiu Taiwanese rice wine, honey, brown sugar and a bit Chinese dark vinegar. Using it the way you prepare this meal I thought it works quite well and does not taste too sweet as one could imagine by the named ingredients. We like it a lot at home.
Other than that, I just figured from your youtube channel that you are leaving your wonderful home to move away to Manchester …. What about your garden with all the vegetables and fruits???!!! Hope you can take it with.
All the very best for some smooth moving and hope to see you back soon on the internet with more great recipes …. maybe with Taiwanese pumpkin recipes, too,
Steffen (from Germany)
Victor says:
Nov 4, 2014
Excuse me, I’m unable to make the plum sauce myself and was wondering what I could look for to buy. I actually am currently in Taiwan and wasn’t sure if I should be looking for 酸梅湯, 梅汁, or 酸梅醬. Thanks for the video 🙂
Victor
jj.lymm says:
Nov 10, 2014
hi victor, it is the 梅汁 . good luck!!