This homestyle soy sauce chicken drumsticks recipe is something I've been making at home for YEARS! And let me tell you, omg the FLAVOUR is AMAZING! It's rich, slightly sweet, sticky, gingery and tastes so good with a bowl of rice. The flavour is intensified by cooking with drumsticks or thighs bone-in, skin-on. Remember, meats cooked with bones in are always more flavourful.

Bowl of rice with 3 pieces of soy sauce chicken sat on top. Sauce drizzled on rice. Chopsticks holding onto 1 piece of chicken.

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Chopping through bones with a cleaver
Ingredients
Step by step instructions
Tip for serving if chopping chicken drumsticks
Best chicken parts for this dish
📖 Recipe
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Chopping through bones with a cleaver

DISCLAIMER! The chicken drumstick pieces in my photos have been chopped with a Chinese cleaver. Unless you're experienced and are comfortable with handling a Chinese cleaver, it is not recommended to try that at home. Simply use whole drumsticks or chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on for this recipe.

In order to chop drumsticks at home, you'll need a thick bladed cleaver. Growing up, I thought everyone used cleavers to chop everything in the kitchen. Took me a while to learn how to use Western style knives!

sliced ginger pieces, smashed and skinless garlic. sliced shallots

chopping board with chicken knee caps chopped off drumsticks. A thick bladed cleaver resting on chopping board. A bowl of chopped chicken drumsticks

Okay, I know most people don't have a scary looking cleaver at home. So instead, the safe and recommended way is to use whole drumsticks or chicken thighs with bones in.

The reason why I like cooking this dish with chopped drumsticks is because: 1) It becomes the perfect size to eat with chopsticks; 2) with the bones exposed/open, more flavour go into the chicken and sauce which means FLAVOUR (think bone broths).

Nonetheless, it'll still be super tasty if you use chicken thighs and whole drumsticks. You'll struggle eating with chopsticks though - serve with knives and forks instead.

Alright, let's get to it!

Ingredients

Dark/light soy sauces combo is used here to ensure we get as much flavour as possible in this dish. Dark soy sauces are stronger in flavour, darker in colour and lighter on the salt content than light soy sauces. This combo is very common in Chinese cuisines – in achieving that rich, umami flavour.
Shaoxing wine is a Chinese cooking wine (really good quality ones can be consumed as a beverage) that is made with fermented rice. Similar to cooking with red or white wine, Shaoxing wine adds depth and aroma to a dish.
Brown sugar is used a lot in the recipes (instead of white sugar) in this blog as I find they add more flavour (the molasses) to any dish!
Sesame oil is used to provide a nutty aroma. A little goes a long way. Because sesame oils are very strong in flavour, you don't want to overdo it.
Garlic, ginger and scallions/spring onions this a a very common combo in Chinese cooking. Particularly any stew/slow cook dishes.
Corn starch/cornflour is used here to thicken the sauce at the end of the cooking process. This is done by mixing a little corn starch with cold water and mixing in the sauce just before serving. A common practice for thickening gravy too!

Step by step instructions

Sliced ginger, garlic cloves and shallot frying in a pan

STEP 1. Saute ginger slices, garlic and white ends of scallions until golden and fragrant. Reserve the green parts of scallions. This will be used at the end of the cooking process.
STEP 2. Add chicken drumsticks or thighs. Saute on high until brown and skin lightly caramelised and golden. Browning meats prior to slow cooking adds depth and flavour to the final dish. Never skip this part!
STEP 3. Now things get exciting. Splash in Shaoxing wine, keeping the heat on high, reduce wine by half. Now add soy sauces, sugar, sesame oil and water. Mix thoroughly, bring sauce to boil.
STEP 4. Reduce heat to low, place a lid on and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces every 10 minutes to allow even seasoning.
STEP 5. Mix in corn starch and cold water mixture. The sauce will thicken almost instantly.
STEP 6. Remember the green parts of scallions? Now it's time to mix them in the pot. This will freshen the dish up and provide a lovely aroma.

Here you have it! Serve this incredibly tasty soy sauce chicken drumsticks with a bowl of steaming rice and some simple sauteed Asian greens.

bowl of rice with 3 pieces of soy sauce chicken sat on top of rice. Rice drizzled with sauces. Cropped image of pot of cooked soy sauce chicken

Tip for serving if chopping chicken drumsticks

If you do have a thick bladed cleaver at home and are comfortable with cutting through chicken bones, there is something you need to know.. BONES.

It's great cooking with bones (all that flavour!) HOWEVER! Inevitably, there will be a few small bone pieces in the sauce. Not very pleasant when you want to mix it in with rice and take big, satisfying mouthfuls (guilty).

A way to avoid having the occasional bone piece in your rice is to strain the sauce through a sieve/strainer just before step 5 above.

I admit, I'm too lazy to do this step but it's a good one.

close up shot of coocked soy sauce chicken, drenched in tasty sauce and glossy in colour

Glossy, sticky and savoury. In my opinion, this soy sauce chicken drumsticks dish is the ultimate Asian comfort food.

Best chicken parts for this dish

This recipe works best with chicken drumsticks, thighs or wings, bones-in and skins-on. Breasts are not recommended as it'll get really tough through the 30 minute simmering process.

Close up shot of 3 pieces of chicken sat on top of a bowl of rice. Sauce drizzled on rice.

Thank you for checking out my recipes! Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions, drop me a note in the comments section below. 🙂

Happy cooking!

Gen

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