Shaoxing rice wine is commonly used in Chinese cuisine. It’s essential for preparing meat or fish, either in stir-fry or in braising dishes.
Pin this now to find it later!
Pin ItShaoxing (Shaohsing) rice wine (绍兴酒) is a type of yellow wine (黄酒) used in Chinese cuisine. It was originally produced in Shaoxing, a city in Eastern China’s Zhejiang province. It’s also a popular drink, served cold or warm (often cooked with dried plum, dried tangerine, rock sugar, etc.).
As its name suggests, Shaoxing rice wine is fermented from rice, glutinous rice precisely. Glutinous rice doesn’t contain gluten, the term “glutinous” refers to the sticky texture when the rice is cooked. However, it is worth noting that there is also a small amount of wheat in Shaoxing rice wine. So, it’s not gluten-free. The alcohol percentage is around 14.
Shaoxing rice wine is an amber-coloured clear liquid. It has a mixed aroma and taste. For those who are unfamiliar with it, Shaoxing rice wine doesn’t smell much like alcohol. Some think it has a very particular taste: vinegary, spicy and caramel-like.
Playing an important role in Chinese cuisine, Shaoxing rice wine is commonly used for everyday cooking. It’s essential for preparing meat or fish, either in stir-fry or in braising dishes. It eliminates the unpleasant smell of raw meat (or fish) and adds an aromatic, rich flavour to dishes.
In most cases, you only need a few spoons of rice wine. But for certain dishes, such as Three cup chicken, Red-cooked Pork Belly, Drunken Chicken, etc, you need to use a much larger volume of rice wine to create the desired taste.
If only a small amount of rice wine is called for in a recipe, you may replace it with dry sherry. Sometimes, especially for fish and other sea foods, white wine can also be used as a substitute.
Shaoxing rice wine is available in Chinese/Asian shops, and in some mainstream supermarkets as well. When purchasing, I suggest you always check the nutrition label. Good quantity ones contain very little salt. For example, mine has 0.08g salt per 100ml wine. But I’ve seen brands which have as high as 0.51g salt per 100ml wine.
Hello! I found this web page just recently, and it is amazing! I am eager to try out some of these recipes 🙂
I can get “Kuaijishan Shaoxing Rice Wine 5 Years” where I live, is this a good brand to use in cooking?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you found my blog helpful.
That brand can be used, but it’s best to check the nutrition label and make sure it doesn’t have a high salt content. For example, the one I use has about 0.08 g salt per 100 ml, while I’ve seen other brands with as much as 0.51 g salt per 100 ml.
Hi, this is such good information. I just checked the Shaoxing bottle I was finally able to find at T&T Supermarket. (I’d been looking at stores to find it for a long time.) It tastes vile to me. The label says its salt content is 1.5% or 149 mg/30ml. I’m not a math whiz, so is this good or bad? Thank you for a reply!
p.s. I love your recipes and all the detailed information I find on your website.
A salt level of 1.5% is relatively high. It works fine in dishes that only require a small amount of Shaoxing rice wine, such as 1 tablespoon. However, it would be far too salty when used in larger quantities, for example in Three-Cup Chicken or my rice-wine braised pork belly recipe. Hope this helps!
I love your articles. I read them all the time. Regarding Shaoxing rice wine. Most American markets don’t carry any except for “cooking” wine. This is usually cheap super salty nasty stuff I won’t put on weeds. Is it the same for Shaoxing rice wine? It is not cheap in my local market like $13 vs $5-6 for cooking sherry. Shouldn’t it have alcohol in it? Thank you. Pete
P
Thank you for visiting my blog and for your thoughtful question. The “Shaoxing cooking wine” sold in many American markets is not the Shaoxing rice wine I recommend. It contains a very high amount of salt so it can be sold as a cooking condiment rather than an alcoholic product. Because of that, I don’t suggest using it. If a recipe only calls for a small amount and you can’t find proper Shaoxing wine, it’s completely fine to omit it.
Online, I can only find TTL Taijade Shaohsing Rice Wine, 600 ML. Can I use this instead of Shaohsing Chinese Cooking Rice wine? The online retailer doesn’t state/show the salt content. Thank you!
Although I haven’t seen the exact bottle you’re referring to, I assume it should work fine. I’m currently using TTL Taijade Shaoxing wine as well. Give it a taste—it should only have a very subtle saltiness. Happy cooking!