Baked Portuguese Coconut Chicken 焗葡國雞 (Cantonese: goke po gwok gai) is an extremely popular dish originating from Macau. It's found in almost all Hong Kong style cafes around the world. This is one of the earliest Asian fusion dishes. However, this dish doesn’t have that much to do with Portugal!
One of the stories is that when the early Portuguese migrants were en route to Macau, their new colony, they stopped in Malaysia. During their excursion in Malaysia, they picked up various food items including coconuts and spices. One of the dishes the chefs on the ship made was curry chicken. But the curry was too spicy for the Portuguese migrants, so most of the curry spices were substituted by turmeric. Adding coconut milk and evaporated milk also made it milder.
Upon arriving in Macau, the chefs called this recipe Portuguese chicken. It became a hit with the locals in Macau.During the Japanese invasion, a lot of people from Macau moved to Hong Kong. So, Baked Portuguese Coconut Chicken 焗葡國雞 also found their way onto the menus in Hong Kong.
You can use Portuguese coconut sauce, on vegetables, seafood and fried rice. When we order king crab at a Chinese restaurant, the third course would be seafood fried rice on the shell with Portuguese coconut sauce baked on top. This is so delicious!
My Baked Portuguese Coconut Chicken 焗葡國雞 recipe is easy to follow and I’m sure you’ll get excellent results. The chicken is tender and moist and smothered in creamy coconut sauce. Serve this dish with rice or pasta. I’ll also show you how to make it into a rice casserole dish, just like the Hong Kong cafes, but better!
For the full Hong Kong café experience, how about adding a Hong Kong Lemon Tea 港式檸檬茶? Looking for more recipes? Check out my Hong Kong café recipe section.
Baked Portuguese Coconut Chicken 焗葡國雞
Ingredients
- 900 g Boneless chicken (approx. 4 large chicken leg with thigh)
- 500 g Potatoes
- 250 g Carrots
- 2 Medium onions
- 1 Large shallot
- 4 cloves Garlic , chopped
- 40 g Butter (approx. 3 tbsp)
- 4 tbsp Flour
- 1 ½ c Chicken broth
- 1 tsp Salt (adjust salt to accommodate for various salt levels in broth and curry sauce)
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Turmeric for chicken
- 1 tsp Turmeric for sauce
- 2 tsp Curry powder or paste
- 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
- 4 tbsp Coconut flakes for sauce
- 2 tbsp Coconut flakes for sprinkling on top
- 250 ml Coconut milk
- 4 tbsp Evaporated milk
- 5 tbsp Oil
Ingredients for chicken marinade:
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Corn starch
Instructions
- Cut chicken to approx. 3 cm pieces
You can also use bone-in chicken 
- Cut and peel potatoes, carrots and onions into wedges approx. 3 cm in size
- Slice shallots and chop garlic
- Marinate chicken with 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp cornstarch. Marinate for 15 minutes
- In a braising pot or pan, melt 40 g of butter on medium-low heat to make roux
- Add 3 tbsp of flour into the melted butter, and stir until butter and flour have mixed evenly
- Add 1 ½ cup of chicken broth to the roux. Stir until smooth and evenly blended. Turn off heat
- Heat wok to medium-high and add 5 tbsp of oil
- Add carrots to the oil and fry for 1 minute then add it to the braising pot using a wire strainer, leaving the oil in the wok. Alternatively, just add the carrots to the braising pot
carrots are less likely to break than potatoes during braising but frying them a bit enhances their flavour - Add potatoes to the wok and fry until golden
Frying the potatoes first will ensure that they will not break apart during braising and it’ll enhance the flavour of the potatoes - Remove the potatoes using a wire strainer, leaving the oil in the wok, place the potatoes into the braising pot with the roux
- Fry onions, shallot and garlic together. Fry until aromatic. Remove using a wire strainer, leaving the oil in the wok, place into the braising pot with the roux
- Turn the heat on medium for the braising pot and stir occasionally
- There should be oil left in the wok, but if not, add 1-2 more tablespoons
- Turn heat up to high
- Add the chicken to the wok. Arrange them in a single layer and let it cook by itself for 1 minute
- Add 1 tbsp of turmeric, 2 tsp of curry powder or sauce and 1 tsp sugar to the chicken and start to stir-fry the chicken
- Flip the chicken over to the other side and let it cook for another 1 minute
- Add 2 tbsp of Shaoxing wine to the wok and continue stir-frying for 30 seconds
In total, the chicken should only be fried for approx. 3-4 minutes - Put the chicken into the braising pot
- Add 4 tbsp of coconut flakes, 250 ml coconut milk, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tbsp dark soy sauce into the pot. Mix well
- Turn the heat down to low, cover with lid and check back in 10 minutes
- Stir and taste the sauce, add approx. 1 tsp salt if necessary. Cover with lid and braise for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are soft
- Do this step if you want to make Portuguese Coconut Chicken with Rice Casserole: Fry cooked rice with some oil, add eggs onto the rice and stir-fry until egg is mixed with the rice and the rice is fluffy. Then put the rice into a casserole dish
Frying the rice will prevent the rice from becoming mushy - Once the potatoes and carrots have softened, add 4 tbsp evaporated milk, mix and put everything into a casserole dish
- Sprinkle with 2 tbsp of coconut flakes
- Broil in the oven for 5 minutes or until coconut flakes turn golden colour
- Serve
Another family favourite! I've had this at Hong Kong cafes and this recipe is exactly like that! So good! I put a layer of cheese on mine and baked it because we love that crunchy gooey cheese layer like on the baked pork chop rice.
Your dish looks sooooo good! Next time I've got to try it with a layer of cheese too! Thanks for the tip & thanks for trying out my recipe! Happy Cooking!
Thank you for this thorough recipe and photos!! Since we cannot travel to HK, I brought a taste of HK to my family. My children (6&8 year olds) LOVED your version of HK Portuguese Chicken and I love that it is very reminiscent of HK "cha chaan teng" food. yum! Like your other reviewer, instead of sprinkling coconut flakes on top (which I think would be the healthier option), I went traditional and sprinkled whatever cheese I had on-hand and then broiled it. I also stir fried some green bell peppers with the onions/shallots/garlic step for some color and more veggies for the kids. We ate it with steamed rice and plain naan. It was SO SO good! Your recipe lasted us 2 dinners! The second night we ate it, it was actually even more flavorful since the sauce had lots of time to meld. I am very impressed with your recipe!
My only concern was that it was a little tedious to fry all the veggies separately, though in the end result, it was totally worth it (I think your way is how restaurants do it anyway). I'm a bit lazy, I may try to fry all the veggies together to save me some time... potatoes in first, since they take longer to brown and then throw in the rest, remove with strainer, then with the remaining oil, fry the meat. Other than that, we are a HUGE FAN of your recipe that's true to HK-taste! It's been hard to find real HK-recipes! THANK YOU!!! 🙂
Hi Cindy, thank you so much for your kind words! I'm really happy that you took the time to try my recipe and loved it!
I agree, frying everything separately can be quite tedious. I was trying to replicate what you would get at a restaurant. Just a tip for you if you decide to fry everything together...fry the chicken first and then remove it from the wok/pan then work on the vegetables. This is because the vegetables will definitely leave some water in the wok/pan and then you'll have a harder time browning the chicken and it'll also prevent oil splatter. Since it's harder to brown the chicken, it'll be more likely to overcook it. When you add the vegetables, add one thing at a time, let it get hot, push it to the side and add the next. This way the temperature of the wok/pan is not brought down too much and you won't get too much water coming out of your vegetables.
Maybe you can try my Hong Kong Style Spaghetti Bolognese next; it's my son's favorite! Happy cooking!
I haven't had this dish in a while! It was great, but a lot of work! Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Artur! Looks beautiful! Yea, this dish has a few extra steps to take it to the next level! And you absolutely took it there! You know what you should try next? They clay pot chicken rice. You seem to like the same dishes as my son and clay pot rice is one of his favourites. Happy cooking!
I know that one! I learned it from my mom! (She's Cantonese). But I haven't made it in a long time so I'll give your recipe a try and I'll post the results! Thanks!
This was so delicious and very straightforward to make! One of my favourites at HK cafes. My partner who didn’t grow up going to HK cafes loved it too and said it’s one of the best things I’ve ever made. I just baked it on its own (topped with shredded cheese) and had it with rice. Next time I’ll probably cook it in my Instant Pot. Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Chloe, wow! That looks good! Thanks for trying my recipe! My baked pork chop on rice recipe is a bit more complicated, but super delicious if you're ever in the mood to upping your game 🙂 Happy cooking!