Meat, Grills & Lauk

How Many Calories in Ayam Masak Arak (Rice Wine Chicken)?

A Foochow-Sarawak classic from Sibu where chicken is braised in red glutinous rice wine and sesame oil, traditionally served during confinement but honestly too good to wait that long.

530kcal / 1 serving (2-3 bone-in chicken pieces with wine sauce)
One serving of Ayam Masak Arak, which is 2 to 3 bone-in pieces with the wine sauce, comes in at around 530 calories, with 30g protein, 6g carbs, and 35g fat. The dish is lower carb than you'd expect but the fat is real because sesame oil alone contributes about 180 calories per serving. These are honest estimates since detailed nutritional data for this dish is sparse, so treat it as a ballpark rather than a precise lab result.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 serving (2-3 bone-in chicken pieces with wine sauce) (300g)AmountPer 100g
Calories530 kcal177 kcal
Protein30 g10 g
Carbs6 g2 g
Fat35 g12 g

Where the calories come from

Chicken thigh/drumstick (bone-in, cooked, ~180g raw)180g
245 kcal
Sesame oil (~1.5 tbsp used in braising)20g
180 kcal
Red glutinous rice wine and dregs (ang chao)70g
75 kcal
Ginger and aromatics30g
25 kcal

The real talk

Ayam Masak Arak is a Foochow confinement dish from Sibu, Sarawak. If you're not from that community, you may have only seen it at Sarawakian kopitiam or at a friend's mum's place after she gave birth. It's chicken braised in ang chao, which is red glutinous rice wine, cooked down with sesame oil and ginger until the sauce is fragrant and slightly sticky. At 530 calories for a solid serving, it's not a diet dish. The two big calorie drivers are the sesame oil, about 180 calories from just 1.5 tablespoons, and the chicken thigh and drumstick fat. On the protein side, 30g is decent. Worth flagging: these numbers are a ballpark estimate because hard nutritional data for this dish basically doesn't exist, so there's genuine uncertainty of maybe plus or minus 60 to 80 calories per serving.

What actually moves the number is mostly the oil. A soup-style version with more wine broth and less sesame oil drops the count to around 380 calories for the chicken and broth alone. The rich confinement version with extra sesame oil and wine can hit 680 calories for the same portion size. If you're eating it at home or at a kopitiam, ask for less oil in the braising if you can. Choosing breast over thigh would cut maybe 40 to 60 calories from the chicken portion. The ang chao wine and dregs themselves only add about 75 calories from the 70g in a standard serving, so the wine isn't the villain here.

Ayam Masak Arak (Rice Wine Chicken) variants, ranked by calories

VariantCaloriesNotes
Soup-style (more wine broth, less oil)380 kcalChicken and broth only, lower oil ratio; this figure does not include mee sua noodles which are sometimes served on the side
Standard braised (kopitiam/home style)530 kcalTypical Sibu Foochow version with sesame oil and ang chao dregs, 2-3 bone-in pieces
Rich confinement version (extra sesame oil and wine)680 kcalPostpartum confinement preparation uses more sesame oil and wine per serving for nourishment

How to eat it lighter

Common questions

How many calories in Ayam Masak Arak (Rice Wine Chicken)?
Around 530 calories per serving of 2 to 3 bone-in chicken pieces with wine sauce, roughly 300g total. That's 30g protein, 6g carbs, and 35g fat. The sesame oil is the main calorie driver at about 180 calories on its own.
What is Ayam Masak Arak exactly?
It's a Foochow Chinese dish from Sibu, Sarawak where chicken is braised in ang chao (red glutinous rice wine) with sesame oil and ginger. It's traditionally a confinement dish eaten after childbirth but you'll also find it at Sarawakian kopitiam. The sauce has a slightly sweet, winey, deeply aromatic flavour from the wine dregs and sesame oil cooked together.
Is Ayam Masak Arak a healthy dish?
It depends what you mean by healthy. The protein is solid at 30g, the carbs are low at 6g, and ginger has its merits. But 35g fat and 530 calories for a side dish means it adds up fast if you're not careful with portions. The soup-style version at around 380 calories is a lighter option if you're watching your intake.

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Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical hawker or kopitiam serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

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