LOCAL FOOD GUIDE

Numbing and Spicy Young Chicken 麻辣仔鸡

Mala Ziji

Numbing and Spicy Young Chicken is featured among the local specialties of Hunan.

AI illustration: A plate of small browned chicken chunks tossed with fresh and dried red and green chilies.
AI illustration · AI 示意图（仅供参考，非实拍）AI-generated visual reference; not a restaurant photograph. AI 示意图，仅供参考，非实拍。

Numbing and Spicy Young Chicken (麻辣仔鸡) is a Hunan (湖南) dish associated with Yuloudong restaurant (玉楼东) in Changsha (长沙). Writer Zhang Xiaoxiong (张效雄), writing for New Hunan, describes the restaurant’s preparation with a young hen of about 500 grams, chillies, yellow vinegar and garlic.

Flavour and texture

Rednet’s documentary series Reunion Dinner (年夜饭) describes a golden colour, a browned exterior and tender meat within, with a numbing, spicy and savoury aroma. The chicken arrives sizzling.

Where it comes from

Zhang traces Yuloudong’s version to the Qing dynasty’s Tongzhi reign. In the Reunion Dinner episode, the dish forms part of a Hunan Lunar New Year’s Eve meal, carrying a wish for good fortune in the year ahead. The featured Kuang Bing couple (匡兵夫妇) prepare it to welcome guests arriving from afar.

China Revealed · Last updated 2026-10-07

Sources & reading

Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-27. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.