I couldn’t in good conscious rank my favourite takeaway dishes (they’re all my babies 🤣). However, I can confidently say that salt and chilli chicken would make my top 5 of all time. This recipe has been a long time coming and I’m so pleased to finally share it with you! Follow me…
Preparing Salt and Chilli Chicken
We’re going to be using boneless skinless chicken thighs for this recipe. This is essential as thigh is much more robust than breast. This is important as we want to fry the chicken and build up a crust without overcooking the chicken. Unfortunately, breast would dry out during this process.
Salt and Chilli Chicken Marinade
It’s important to season the chicken itself since the batter is going to pick up more flavour in the pan. Once we’ve diced the chicken we’re going to coat it in Chinese 5 spice, white pepper and salt, alongside garlic and sesame oil. Let it sit for 30 minutes or so, just to let the flavours properly cling to the chicken and start working their way into the meat.
Cornflour/Cornstarch
This is what makes the crispy batter. It’s much lighter than flour and works perfectly in a dish like this. I actually like to coat the chicken in 2 stages: When you’re coating in the second stage just really make sure you work the cornflour into the chicken. A light dusting won’t be sufficient to crisp up the chicken properly. I also find it easiest to assign a ‘wet’ hand and a ‘dry’ hand, just to reduce mess as you coat the chicken! Process shots: dice chicken and add to bowl (photo 1), stir in seasoning, garlic and oil (photo 2), add cornflour (photo 3), toss to coat then add beaten egg (photo 4), place in cornflour (photo 5), coat then repeat (photo 6).
Fried Salt and Chilli Chicken
You only need to shallow fry the chicken – you’ll get just as good results as if you were to deep fry. I actually like to fry the chicken in a separate pan from the wok, just to create more space for the chicken. A cast-iron/heavy-based pan works perfectly. I recommend working in batches to give the chicken space to fry and ensure the oil temperature doesn’t drop too much. Once cooked, add the chicken to a wire rack above a tray or kitchen roll to catch excess oil. Process shots: add chicken to oil (photo 1), fry (photo 2), add to wire rack (photo 3).
Salt and Chilli Chicken
This is a dry dish, so we don’t need to make a sauce. We’re just going to throw in some onion, pepper and garlic, alongside more seasoning and of course chillies.
What kind of chillies should I use?
I love using Birds Eye Chillies. The flavour profile also matches this dish so perfectly. They’re very hot, so you only need a couple. You can use a different, more mild variety of chilli if you’d prefer.
How salty is this dish?
As the name suggests, this is a fairly salty recipe. You must keep the amount in the marinade the same, but you can alter the salt that goes in the stir fry if you’d prefer. Process shots: heat oil (photo 1), add onion, peppers, chillies and garlic (photo 2), fry (photo 3), add cooked chicken, spring onion and seasoning (photo 4).
Serving Salt and Chilli Chicken
As I mentioned, this is a dry dish, so a sauce is always welcome (curry sauce I’m looking at you!). This works great as an appetiser or as a main with some chips or rice! Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this salt and chilli chicken shall we?!
How to make Salt and Chilli Chicken (Full Recipe & Video)
For the sister recipe to this dish check out my Black Pepper Chicken! For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Chicken Fakeaway Recipes
Honey Sriracha Chicken Popcorn Chicken Spicy Chicken Tenders BBQ Chicken Pizza Chicken Noodle Stir Fry
