Claypot Rice: A Lidded Pot, a Crackling Sound and a Crust at the Bottom
Keep the soaking water and the cooking water separate, and keep the oils separate by when they go in. Leave the two sausages whole until the cooking is done, and let the lid stay on through both crusting passes.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board describes Temple Street as a hub for late-night dining and names sizzling claypot rice among the local foods to try there. It calls claypot rice a standout Temple Street delicacy and says that one restaurant on the street, Hing Kee, offers more than sixty varieties cooked on charcoal stoves, which the Board associates with a smoky aroma.
This article follows one home-kitchen version of the dish: Daddy Lau's "Clay Pot Rice" from Made With Lau, which uses chicken, Chinese sausage and dried shiitake over long-grain rice. The page names the dish 煲仔飯 (also written bo zai fan), calls it Cantonese, and describes the browned rice at the bottom of the pot as 飯焦 (faan6 ziu1). It is one way of making claypot rice, not the single standard for Hong Kong, and it is not cooked over charcoal.
The recipe page states that it is sponsored in part by Kikkoman. The page lists 4 servings, 20 minutes of prep, 35 minutes of cooking and 55 minutes in total. These are the published values on that page. The page does not name the kind of 1 Tbsp oil for the chicken (neutral oil is our editorial choice) or the type of cooking wine, and it gives no marinating time for the chicken, no soaking time for the sausages, no amount of rice-soaking water and no weights for the chicken pieces or the shallot; none have been added here. We have not kitchen-tested this recipe, and those times were not measured for this article. Results can differ with your stove and your clay pot.
Claypot Rice and the Hong Kong Table
Claypot rice is cooked and served in the same pot. The rice cooks first, and the toppings go on top partway through. The heat at the bottom of the pot then forms the crust. The Hong Kong Tourism Board's Temple Street listing shows one side of that: a street known for eating late into the night, where a single shop can offer dozens of variations from charcoal stoves. That is a restaurant example. It does not mean every shop, or every home cook, uses charcoal.
Published recipes also show how much the pot can change from one cook to the next. A cookbook extract from Tony Tan, republished by Broadsheet, marinates boneless chicken thigh, uses salted fish, and fries the toppings and sets them aside before the rice goes in. The publication also notes that variations exist across Hong Kong. A family recipe on The Woks of Life soaks the rice in the pot for an hour and cooks it in that same soaking water, then tops it with cured pork belly and sweet Chinese sausage with a different sauce. These are separate recipes with their own amounts and their own order. They show that many versions exist; none of their steps or ingredients have been brought into the version below.
The version here takes a different route from both. The rice is soaked in boiling water, and that soaking water is discarded. The chicken goes onto the rice raw, after it has been marinated. The sausages stay whole until the pot comes off the heat. The sources we used do not establish when or where claypot rice began, how widely it is made at home, or how typical this particular recipe is of Hong Kong kitchens, so this article makes no claims about any of those.
Ingredients (4 servings)
The same ingredient can appear several times, for example oyster sauce, sugar and oil. Each appearance has its own job and its own measure. Measure them separately and do not combine them.
Equipment
- Clay pot with a lid
- Colander
- Heat-safe bowls for soaking the rice, the sausages and the mushrooms
- Several small bowls for the chicken marinade, the shiitake marinade and the serving sauce
- Cutting board and knife, plus a separate clean board and knife (or ones washed well after the raw chicken) for the scallions
- Paper towels
- Dry towel, oven mitts or pot holders sturdy enough to hold and tilt a hot clay pot
- Spoons for mixing and for leveling the rice
Choosing Ingredients and Substitutions
- Rice: Keep to long-grain rice. Thai jasmine is suggested. The amounts and timing below are for long-grain rice, so do not swap in other types.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch goes into both the chicken and the shiitake marinades. Do not quietly swap in a different starch and assume the result will be the same.
- Cooking wine: Use 1 tsp of cooking wine in the chicken marinade.
- Oil for the chicken: Use 1 Tbsp of neutral oil and 1 Tbsp of sesame oil.
- Chinese sausage, dried shiitake, oyster sauce, tamari: Use them as named. No substitutes are suggested here.
Method: Soak, Layer, Then Crust the Rice in Two Passes
Several stages are judged by cues rather than exact times: when the pot is about to boil, when the rice has absorbed more water, and when the crackling starts. Use the minute counts where they are given, and watch and listen for the rest.
The times and the crackling sound above are cues for the cooking stages. By themselves, they do not confirm that the chicken is cooked through.
When Something Goes Off Course: Checks Inside the Method
Most of what can go wrong in this version comes from mixing up things that are meant to stay separate. Before the pot goes on the heat and during cooking, check these points against the recipe.
| Point to check | What the recipe does | Why it matters for this version |
|---|---|---|
| Which water is in the pot | The soaking water is discarded; 11 oz of fresh boiling water is measured in | The recipe is built on fresh water, not on the soaking water |
| When the oils went into the chicken | Only after the rice has started cooking, never in the first coating | The first coating is oil-free by design |
| Which oil is which | 1 tsp in the rice, 1 Tbsp neutral and 1 Tbsp sesame in the chicken, 2 Tbsp around the lid | Each oil has its own measure and its own moment |
| The sausages | Whole on the rice, sliced only after cooking | The recipe keeps them whole throughout cooking |
| No crackle yet on low | The recipe gives 5–10 minutes, until crackling starts | The sound is the cue to move on to the crust passes |
| Lid during the crust stage | Closed through both tilting passes and the lid-edge oil | Every crust step in this recipe happens with the lid on |
| How much sauce went in | Only a few splashes; the rest is served on the side | The full batch is not meant for the pot |
Other Versions You May Come Across
If you look at other claypot rice recipes, you will find salted fish, cured pork belly, chicken stock, pre-fried toppings or rice cooked in its own soaking water. The Tony Tan and The Woks of Life recipes mentioned above are two examples. These are different recipes, each balanced around its own amounts and order. If you want to try one, follow that recipe from start to finish rather than swapping its pieces into this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the soaking water thrown away?
That is how this recipe is written. The rice soaks in boiling water for 10 minutes, the water is discarded, and 11 oz of fresh boiling water is measured into the pot. Some other recipes cook the rice in its soaking water, but this one does not.
Can I put all the oil in the marinade at the start?
Not in this version. The chicken is coated first with a mixture that has no oil. The neutral oil and the sesame oil go in after the rice has started cooking. The rice oil and the lid-edge oil are separate again.
Do I have to cut the sausages before cooking?
No. The recipe keeps both links whole, one on each side of the rice. You slice them after cooking and return them to the top.
Why rinse the chicken thigh pieces?
The recipe's author does this to look for bone fragments after cutting through the bone. It is presented here only as the author's method for finding bone shards, not as a hygiene step, and it does not guarantee that all fragments are gone.
How much of the serving sauce goes into the pot?
The recipe says only a few splashes go into the pot and the rest is served separately. It does not give an exact amount for the pot or per person.
Will the times work on my stove and pot?
They may differ. The 20/35/55-minute times and the step timings are the source page's published values. We have not kitchen-tested them. Your clay pot and your heat source can change how the rice cooks, so watch for the cues the recipe gives: the pot about to boil, the rice absorbing more water, and the crackling.
Sources
- Made With Lau (recipe by Daddy Lau), "Dad's Clay Pot Rice: The Chinese Restaurant Way / Clay Pot Rice." The base recipe for this article: dish names 煲仔飯 and bo zai fan, the description as Cantonese, the rice-crust term 飯焦 (faan6 ziu1), the ingredients and units, the method and heat sequence, and the published 4 servings with 20/35/55-minute times. The page states that it is sponsored in part by Kikkoman. https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/clay-pot-rice
- Hong Kong Tourism Board, "Local Cuisine to Try on Temple Street." Temple Street as a late-night dining hub, claypot rice as one of its local foods, and Hing Kee's more than sixty varieties cooked on charcoal stoves. Regional context only; it is not a recipe. https://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/food-and-drink/local-cuisine-to-try-on-temple-street.html
- Broadsheet, "Recipe: Make Tony Tan's Comforting Claypot Rice When Cold Weather Kicks In" (edited extract from Tony Tan's Hong Kong Cult Recipes). A separate comparison recipe with salted fish and pre-fried toppings, and the publication's note that variations exist across Hong Kong. Not used for this recipe's amounts or method. https://www.broadsheet.com.au/national/food-and-drink/article/tony-tan-cantonese-claypot-rice-recipe
- The Woks of Life, "Hong Kong Style Clay Pot Rice Bowl." A separate family recipe, attributed to the author's mother, that cooks the rice in its soaking water and uses cured pork belly and sweet Chinese sausage. Used for comparison only. https://thewoksoflife.com/hong-kong-style-clay-pot-rice/
