Chicken à la King on Rice 雞皇飯 (Cantonese: gai wong fan) is a very popular western dish in Hong Kong cafés. It’s so popular that KFC and Pizza Hut in Hong Kong has it on their menu too. We often order this dish at Hong Kong cafés because my mom doesn’t like red sauce. Portuguese Chicken with rice and Chicken à la King on Rice are her favorites.
There are many versions of the origins of this dish. The most common one is that it came from Brighton Beach Hotel around 1900 in New York. The head chef, George Greenwald, created it for the hotel owners, Mr. and Mrs. E. Clark King II. Thereafter, by the 1930’s, it was being served at many high-end restaurants in the US and around the world. Today, in the western world, Chicken à la King on Rice 雞皇飯 seems to have disappeared from menus. I’ve seen them in cans and frozen dinner packages but not ever at any western restaurant. It’s a real “riches to rags” story. But it has been kept alive and well in Hong Kong cafés around the world! Who knew this was an American classic dish?!
Regardless of its ill-fate, Chicken à la King on Rice 雞皇飯 is a family favorite of ours. I used to make it with Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup, which tasted pretty decent. Then, I started making this dish from scratch but the sauce didn’t have the rich chicken flavour with chicken broth alone. Recently, Knorr Concentrated Chicken bouillon liquid came to the rescue. I like that this bouillon is natural with no MSG and being a liquid makes it easy to use. And it gives a great chicken taste.
In my Chicken à la King on Rice 雞皇飯 recipe, I’ll show you how to make it Hong Kong style. It’s pretty easy to make and tastes so good with rice. Make a big pot of it and you can have lots of leftovers to freeze. It freezes really well so you can make your own frozen dinner for when you’re too tired to cook. Make it for your family. Great for casual potluck dinners. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t love this dish!
Furthermore, 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.
Chicken à la King on Rice 雞皇飯
Ingredients
- 400 g Chicken , diced
- 400 g Potatoes , diced
- 200 g Onions , diced
- 200 g Carrots , diced
- 300 g Mushrooms , diced
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 c Chicken broth
- 1 c Milk
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 tsp Concentrated chicken bouillon (liquid)
- 2 tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Oil
Instructions
- Dice chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots and set aside
- Slice mushrooms and set aside
- Chop garlic and set aside
- Marinate chicken with 2 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp cornstarch. Mix well and set aside
- Heat wok to medium-high. Add 2 tbsp oil and add chicken. Arrange in a single layer and let it cook for approx. 1 minute
- Flip the chicken over and cook for another minute. Stir it around the wok for 1 minute and turn heat down to medium, remove chicken from wok, leave the oil. If there is little or no oil left, add another 1 tbsp oil
Chicken does not need to be cooked through at this point. Just needs to be seared - Add onions and garlic to the wok. Turn heat back up to medium-high. Fry until aromatic
- Add potatoes. Stir-fry for 1 minute
- Add mushrooms. Stir-fry for 1 minute Add 2 tbsp butter. Stir-fry until butter is mixed
- Add 2 tbsp flour. Stir-fry until the flour has turned translucent
- Add 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup milk and 2 tsp concentrated chicken bouillon liquid. Turn heat to high
Note: I used the natural chicken bouillon concentrate from Knorr. Other brands may have different levels of salt - Stir until sauce boils. Turn heat to low, cover with lid and cook for 15 minutes until carrots are soft
- Add chicken and mix well. Cover with lid and cook for another 5- 10 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
- Taste test. Add salt and/or sugar to adjust taste. I added 1 tsp salt to mine
- Optional: add ½ tsp dark soy sauce to give it a darker colour
- Serve with rice, bread or pasta.
Serve it au gratin for or in vol-au-vent for added finesse
Hi Emily, I have came across your website and recently made the egg tomato beef mince stir fry, so delicious. I would like to try and make the chicken a La king on rice. If I used cream of chicken soup, is that in step 11. So instead of milk, chicken broth and bullion, I would used the cream of chicken soup.
Thanks! Keep up great work!
Hi Leesa, yes, you are exactly right! As a matter of fact, when I first learned to make this dish, an auntie used Cream of Chicken soup. And it's much easier and quite tasty! Happy cooking!