Filipino Garlic Chicken Feet

In our latest YouTube video, we attempted to create two styles of chicken feet! Chicken feet is an incredibly popular street food in many Asian countries, which is typically fried, grilled, steamed, or braised before being coated with a variety of seasonings!

My mom always raves about chicken feet because it contains tons of collagen, which can help in strengthening skin and provide joint pain relief!

How to eat chicken feet

Chicken feet contains very little edible meat. It’s mainly composed of very soft skin, cartilage, and tendons.

To eat, simply chew off the skin and suck off the tendons and cartilage from the bones. The “palms” tend to have the most amount of fat/skin, so I like saving that part for the last bite!

Alternatively, you can also just pop the whole thing in your mouth, carefully chewing the feet and spitting out the bones.

Fun fact: Filipinos tend to call this street food by the name “adidas” because the 3 claws of the feet resemble the iconic Adidas logo.

Craving more EASY Asian snacks and side dishes? Here’s some more that you might like:

• Toasted Garlic Bok Choy
• Chili Oil Sinangag (Filipino garlic fried rice)
• Atchara (Filipino pickled papaya salad)
• 10-Minute Cold Tofu

Ingredients

• About 1.5 lbs chicken feet

Braising liquid:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1-2 cups water, just enough to cover the feet

Frying:

• 7-10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2-3 tsp chili flakes (according to spice tolerance)
• 2-3 sprigs of green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions to cook chicken feet

Using kitchen shears, cut off the nails from the feet and give them a quick rinse under cold water.

Place the feet in a deep pot. Pour in water, soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and brown sugar. Bring this to a boil, then simmer for 1 hour with a lid, or until the feet are tender and no longer chewy.

After 1 hour, drain the braising liquid and let the feet air dry for at least 10 minutes.

In a separate pan or wok, gently fry the minced garlic in a shallow amount of oil until golden and toasted. Scoop out the toasted garlic and reserve.

Saute the shallots and chili flakes until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.

Add in the braised feet, then season with dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir-fry and toss until the chicken feet are fully coated in the seasonings, about 2 minutes.

Finally mix in the reserved toasted garlic and the chopped green onions. Stir-fry for additional 1 minute until the garlic and green onions are evenly distributed.

Serve immediately with an ice-cold drink!

Don’t skip the prep work!

The most important part of this recipe is the braising step. Braising for 1 hour ensures that the skin and fat are completely tender.

I found that around 45-60 minutes of braising time was the sweet spot for chicken feet.

Anything less, and the feet turn out extremely rubbery and chewy. Anything more, and you end up with slightly mushy and pulverized feet.