Szechuan Vs Hunan Chicken: The Difference Explained

Spicy, meaty, and slathered in sauce is the unofficial holy trinity of a knockout dinner in our book. Today, we're talking about two popular Chinese entree dishes that you should try at least once – Hunan and Szechuan chicken — to find out what makes these saucy, intensely hot regional culinary creations different. Both stir-fry chicken and veggies together in a wok and are commonly served with steamed white rice, noodles, or fresh, crunchy cucumber salad (which can help soothe some of the spiciness). Vegetarian versions can also totally be made using tofu or seitan (just don't forget a satiny slug of East Asian sauce).

Extrapolating the differences between Hunan and Szechuan chicken is best accomplished by taking a closer look at the respective eponymous regions behind these dishes. Both regional cooking styles are famously spicy and oil-forward, but they're not interchangeable. Hunan cuisine is characterized by fiery, dry heat, led by the intensity of chili peppers. On the palate, Hunan dishes are typically some combination of sweet and sour, hot and sour, or hot and spicy. In the case of Hunan chicken, chili heat is met with the savory taste of the Chinese staple doubanjiang fermented bean paste.

Conversely, Szechuan cuisine focuses more on flavor dimensionality — the harmonious interplay of several opposing tastes at the same time. As a result, Szechuan chicken features sweeter and tangier tastes alongside that classic numbing sensation from the Sichuan peppercorns. In this meaty dish, it's more about the sensory experience, and the heat is more complex but overall less intense than Hunan chicken.

Hunan chicken hails from the Xiang River region of the Hunan province in Southeast China,an area north of Guangdong famous for its ultra-spicy cuisine fronted by chili peppers and garlic. The dish consists of thin-sliced chicken breast stir-fried with veggies and coated in thick, luscious sauce. Vegetables typically include broccoli, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, carrots, and chili peppers, but bell peppers, baby corn, or zucchini would also be welcome.

Inspired by the Hunan region's lush agricultural tradition, this is a highly customizable dish on the veggie front (and making it at home could also be a thrifty, adaptable way to use up any leftover produce odds and ends in your fridge). Hunan chicken sometimes also includes crunchy roasted peanuts for textural intrigue.

Perhaps more important than the chicken or the veggies here is the doubanjiang fermented bean paste. This pungent ingredient isn't commonly spied in Americanized versions of Hunan chicken but is a key player in traditional prep and often used in the culinary style of the Chinese region, especially alongside ginger, garlic, and leeks. In Hunan chicken, fermented doubanjiang mixes with red chile paste like sambal oelek (cousin of sriracha) for a spicy and strongly-flavored profile. That intense dry heat is suspended in a sticky, velvety stir-fry sauce made from soy sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, rice vinegar, and cornstarch to thicken.

It's worth mentioning that Szechuan chicken is technically a type of regional cuisine, not a specific dish. Although, in Western interpretations of Chinese dishes, Szechuan chicken typically refers to chicken stir-fried with garlic, Szechuan peppercorns, vegetables, and red chilis.

Szechuan cuisine is known for its fragrant aromatics and, in due fashion, Szechuan chicken is garlic-, scallion-, and ginger-forward on the palate. It uses crispy, often battered, cubed chicken (toothier than the thinly-sliced meat in Hunan chicken), which also gets deep-fried before being stir-fried with the veggies. The sauce uses largely the same ingredients as Hunan chicken (minus the doubanjiang) but is significantly less thick and less generously applied. Bottled pre-made versions of Szechuan stir-fry sauce can be found in most grocery stores. In fact, San-J Spicy Hot Szechuan Stir-Fry & Marinade took second-place in Tasting Table's definitive ranking of the best store-bought stir-fry sauces.

Szechuan chicken hails from the namesake region in Southwest China, slightly North of Hunan. The Sichuan culinary style is based around the interplay of seven flavors — salty, sweet, bitter, acidic, pungent, savory, and spicy — with all seven typically being present and non-dominant in a single dish. That famous Szechuan spiciness comes from "ma la," the combination of numbing, floral, and unique Szechuan peppercorns (ma) and dried chili peppers (la). Here, the warmth meets that signature tongue-numbing sensation, making Szechuan chicken overall sweeter, less saucy, and comparatively less spicy than Hunan chicken.