What Is Rock sugar and How Can I Use It?
Rock sugar is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 6 recipes to get you started.
Key Points
- Large crystallized sugar lumps, clear or pale yellow, with a clean, mild sweetness.
- A backbone of Chinese cooking, especially red-braised (hong shao) dishes, syrups, and tea.
- It dissolves slowly, so add it early; smash lumps or use granulated 1:1 in a pinch.
What is rock sugar?
Rock sugar is sugar grown into large, hard crystals, sold as chunky lumps that are either clear or a pale amber yellow. The yellow kind keeps a faint trace of molasses; the clear is more refined. Both taste cleaner and milder than granulated, with none of its sharp edge.
That mellow sweetness is why it is the sugar of choice in much Chinese cooking.
When to Reach for It
Rock sugar is central to red-braised dishes, the hong shao style where soy and aromatics reduce with the sugar into a dark, glossy sauce. It gives Braised Chicken Drumsticks and similar braises their lacquered sheen, and it also sweetens syrups, double-boiled soups, and tea.
The catch is that those big crystals dissolve slowly. Add rock sugar early, with the braising liquid or at the start of a syrup, so it has time to melt down fully before the dish finishes.
For a faster melt you can smash the lumps first, or stand in regular granulated sugar at roughly 1:1. The everyday sugar works, but you lose a little of the clean taste and the glossy finish rock sugar is known for.
For how sugar behaves in heat and the wider family of sweeteners, see sugar.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 冰糖
- British (UK) term
- Rock sugar
- en français
- sucre candi
- en español
- azúcar de la roca
Recipes using rock sugar
There are 6 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Hot & Sour Cabbage
Quick, easy and tasty! The stir-fried cabbage can be served with steamed rice or crusty bread.
Hot Orange Soup with Wafers
Chinese hot orange soup made with fresh-squeezed orange juice, rock sugar, and preserved ginger, lightly thickened with cornstarch. Served warm with citrus slices and cream wafers.
Braised Chicken Drumsticks
Chinese red-cooked chicken drumsticks with chestnuts braise crispy fried chicken in dark soy sauce, sherry, five-spice, and rock sugar until glossy mahogany. A classic hong shao technique for festive Chinese dining.
Steamed Chicken & Ham with Broccoli Spears
A whole chicken and ham steamed with ginger and sherry, chopped Chinese-style, and served with stir-fried broccoli under a glossy rock sugar glaze. An impressive traditional Chinese banquet dish.
Red Braised Pork Shoulder
Red braised pork shoulder slow-cooked in dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, star anise, cinnamon, and rock sugar. A classic Chinese hong shao technique for meltingly tender pork.
Duck with Sugar Cane - Vit Tiem Mia
Vit Tiem Mia is a traditional Vietnamese braised duck wrapped in sugar cane, stuffed with peanuts, chestnuts, ginkgo nuts, and lotus seeds, simmered in coconut water until fork-tender.
