Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice

Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice is a picture-perfect Chinese comfort food dish. It has an incredible earthy flavor, courtesy of the classic combination of Chinese black mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms and lily flower. It also has the silkiest chicken you ever tasted.

Note: This recipe was originally published in September 2014. We have since re-tested and re-photographed it, and republished it with clearer instructions, metric measurements, and more!

Remembering My Mother’s Clay Pot Meals

I just had a hankering for a warming clay pot meal, and decided to adapt one of my mother’s best.

My mom used to prepare this dish all the time in the steamer (without the rice) and served it family-style. In Cantonese, it’s called “waat gai”  (滑鸡). The only literal translation I could muster up is “slippery chicken.”

(If you’d like to just make the chicken dish without the rice, check out our steamed chicken and mushrooms recipe.)

Basically, by steaming the chicken, it ends up with a great silky texture and flavor. Our family always looked forward to dinner when we smelled it in the air, and as kids, we just loved to drown our rice in the soupy deliciousness at the bottom of the plate.

So as you can imagine…the minute I tasted this, it transported me back to childhood:

Well it wasn’t quite that dramatic, but you get the point.

Key Ingredients

Now, a word about the dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ears, and dried lily flowers.

These ingredients are readily available in the dry goods section of your local Chinese grocery store, and you can compare them with the picture provided below (clockwise from top left: dried shiitake mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ear mushrooms).

They will have to soak before use. Once re-constituted, there are a few additional steps for each.

Lily flowers can have tough ends that you must trim away. Wood ears come in varying sizes and quality levels. Some may need to be rinsed to remove dirt and grit, and some may need to be cut into smaller pieces.

The shiitake mushrooms take the longest to reconstitute. After soaking, remove any tough stems. They can also have quite a bit of dirt and grit, so rinse them as necessary before using.

Passing On This Recipe To the Next Generation

I’m doing my duty in passing this family recipe from my mother to the next generation by documenting it here.

So get your clay pot out now, hightail it to the local Asian store to get one, or have Amazon deliver a clay pot to your doorstep! (This is an affiliate link, so any purchase will help support TWOL!)

If you don’t have a clay pot, you can either use a small 2-qt Dutch oven, or simply make the steamed chicken and mushrooms separately, and serve it with steamed rice on the side!

You can also try out our Hong Kong Style Clay Pot recipe or Sarah’s recent Chicken & Soft Tofu Casserole.

Ok, here’s how to make this chicken and mushroom clay pot rice!

Chicken & Mushroom Clay Pot Rice: Recipe Instructions

OK, on to the dish:

Add the dried mushrooms, dried lily flowers, and dried wood ears to 3 separate bowls. (To measure the wood ears, fill a quarter cup measure halfway or measure by weight using the metric toggle below the ingredients list in the recipe card.) Cover with boiling water, and soak for 2 hours, or until rehydrated. 

Squeeze excess water out of the soaked shiitake mushrooms, trim away any tough stems, and cut them in half. Trim the tough ends off the soaked lily flowers, and cut them in half crosswise. Rinse the wood ears well of any dirt or grit, and trim away any tough parts. If they’re very large (larger than say, a half dollar coin or 3cm across), cut in half. 

Add the rehydrated mushrooms, lily flowers, and wood ears to a medium mixing bowl.

Add the chicken, cornstarch, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sugar, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper.

Toss all the ingredients to combine, and set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes (can do this up to 1 day in advance).

Add the rice to the clay pot, and cover with 2 inches of water. Soak for 25 minutes.

Then pour off all the water (as best you can; leaving a little bit behind isn’t a big deal), and then add the 1 cup chicken stock (or water), salt, and oil. Mix well. 

Even out the layer of rice. Stir the chicken and mushroom mixture until the chicken has absorbed all of the liquid in the marinade, and distribute the mixture evenly on top of the rice. 

Sprinkle the julienned ginger and the white parts of the chopped scallion over the top, and cover the pot.

Place over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until the liquid in the pot is simmering. Then turn down the heat to the lowest setting. Cook for about 25 minutes, until the chicken and the rice are cooked through. 

Garnish with the green parts of the scallions and serve!

The first time I tried this chicken mushroom clay pot rice recipe, I was worried if it would be worthy of my memories.

It was!