Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)
Soup Name:
Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)
Chinese Name: 醬油雞腳 (jiàng yóu jī jiǎo)
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This is a very common Canton (Chinese-styled) dish. The soy sauce base can be used with pork, chicken (various parts), duck (wings are best), pigeon and any other meats with bones as best. The trick to this dish is that it must be simmered for some time (or use a pressure cooker) to let both the sauce seep deep into the meat and enable the meet to be almost falling off the bone.
Why this particular dish is called out for Chinese confinement is that the chicken feet provides a healthy amount of collagen – and adding warming ingredients such as ginger, star anise and cinnamon help keep the body warm and heated throughout this period. My mom actually used to keep the sauce after she made it in a glass jar in the fridge, to be used again the next time around. The more it’s used, the tastier it gets. You can simply skim off the accumulated fat once it’s cooled and add more soy sauce if it’s been reduced too far. A delicious, easy-to-make, easy-to-keep Chinese confinement dish for any postpartum mother.

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
Total time: 60 mins
Serves: 4
- 20 fresh (or frozen) chicken feet, nails cut off
- 10 fresh chicken wings
- 3/4 cup of soy sauce
- 4 cups of boiling (or hot) water
- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 pieces of star anise
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced and peeled
- 1 scallion, diced (optional)
- White pepper (optional and recommended for Chinese Confinement)
- Cut off the nails of the chicken feet
- In a pot of boiling water, blanch the chicken feet and chicken wings for 3 minutes (to flush out the oil in the chicken feet)
- In a fresh pot, add all the ingredients together and let simmer for 45 minutes (or longer if you want it softer)
- Top with fresh scallions as needed
- Serve and enjoy!
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You soup lady’s are true gems!! I’m so truely grateful, thank you so much!
This sounds delicious! I’ve never eaten chicken feet before. I’ve used them to make soup stock, but just throw them out after. How do you eat them? Do you eat the skin?
Thanks!
Keep the feet! Use soy sauce to dip them in and then basically eat everything off (minus the bones). You can eat the skin, cartilage and meat! Enjoy! Lisa
Thank you! Another great recipe! I tried it with just the wings because not a fan of feet – still very good!
Hi Lady Tong, the “4 cups of boiling (or hot) water” is meant for blanching the feet and wings, or to cook with the other ingredients in the dish?
Dear Lily, the water is for the dish. You can blanch is separately first. Hope this helps! Lisa