Home » Recipes » Chicken Recipes » Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe
Published: Modified: by Isabel Laessig
Share
Pin
Share
Tweet
This post may contain paid links. If you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Jump to Recipe
My Dragon Chicken recipe is a spicy Chinese chicken recipe that’s shallow-fried in a fiery marinade! This easy spicy chicken recipe is simple to make and tastes incredible by itself, or over rice, noodles, or a vegetable stir fry.
Jump to:
- Chinese Chicken Recipes
- Chinese Chicken Recipe
- How to make Hot and Spicy Chicken
- Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe Substitutions
- Asian Chicken Recipes FAQs
- Asian Chicken Recipe Side Dishes
- Best Asian Recipes
- Recipe
- Reviews
Chinese Chicken Recipes
My family loves it when I order Chinese food for dinner, but one of my favorite things to do is to recreate our favorites at home. This spicy Chinese chicken, called Dragon Chicken, is one of our favorites.
My easy Dragon Chicken recipe is spicy, sweet, and stick-to-your-ribs delicious. Crispy, shallow-fried chicken with thick, tangy, spicy dragon sauce makes for an unbelievably tasty dish your family will ask you for again.
- Asian Peach Chicken is also super easy to prepare and packed with flavor.
- Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken my housemade teriyaki sauce is such a fun and delicious weeknight meal.
- Chicken Sausage Rolls with Sweet Thai Sauce
- Thai Chicken Meatballs
Chinese Chicken Recipe
Dragon Chicken Marinade
- Chicken breastssliced into bite-sized cubes
- Egg
- Garlic ginger paste*
- Soy sauce
- Chilli powder
- Cornstarch
- Walnut oil or Olive Oil for shallow frying
Dragon sauce Ingredients
- Walnut oil or Olive Oil
- Red onion
- Garlic ginger paste
- Chili pepper
- Green chili pepper
- Tomato ketchup
- Honey
- Sweet chili sauce
- Soy sauce
- Cashew nuts
- Green onions
How to make Hot and Spicy Chicken
- In a medium bowl mix together theegg,garlic ginger paste,chili powder,cornstarch, andsoy sauceto form the chicken marinade
- Add the raw slicedchickento the marinade. Stir well so that the marinade fully coats the chicken. Place the marinated chicken in the fridge andchill for at least half an hourto allow the flavors to infuse.
- Add walnut oilto a hot wok (preferably, but you can use a large skillet) on low heat – you want it to be deep enough to shallow fry the chicken, so about ½ cup oil. Allow the oil to heat up and then carefully add the marinated chicken to the oil, which will begin to sizzle and cook immediately.TIP:add the chicken bit by bit to avoid violently spitting oil.
- Cooking the chicken until golden brown and crispy then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
- While the chicken is resting, remove any leftover oil from the pan and place it back on the heat ready to make the dragon sauce. Begin the sauce by stir-frying thered onion,garlic ginger paste,andredandgreen chili. When the onions become soft add theTomato Ketchup,honey,sweet chili sauce, andsoy sauce, then stir together well.
- Allow the dragon sauce to come to a simmer before stirring in the crispy chicken. Cook for another minute until thick and sticky, then top withcashew nutsandsliced green onions.
Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe Substitutions
- Garlic ginger paste: You can find garlic ginger paste sold in a jar at most grocery stores. If you have trouble finding it, mix equal parts garlic paste and ginger paste. You can also make your own garlic ginger paste by mixing equal parts chopped garlic and chopped ginger with a little bit of oil in a food processor until it reaches a paste-like consistency.
- Walnut oil: I use walnut oil for shallow frying and for making dragon sauce. However, you can fry this recipe in regular or light olive oil or another frying oil of your choice. Do not use extra virgin olive oil as this is a high-heat frying recipe, and it has a low smoking point.
- Soy sauce: Feel free to use a soy sauce substitute such as tamari or coconut aminos.
- Chicken: You can substitute the chicken for pork, shrimp, or prawns instead! You could make this dish using tofu.
Asian Chicken Recipes FAQs
What is Dragon Chicken?
Dragon chicken is an Indo-Chinese recipe consisting of chicken marinated in a sweet and sticky sauce, before being shallow fried and finished with a fiery dragon sauce. It’s one of the most delicious Chinese chicken dishes you will ever try.
What is shallow frying?
Shallow frying is a method of frying food without fully immersing it in oil. Instead of covering it completely, the oil instead rises about half-way up whichever food you are frying. Many shallow-fried foods have a batter; however, in the case of my dragon chicken recipe, the chicken is instead coated with a thick, sticky marinade before frying.
For more tips on cooking the best chicken recipes, check out my Chicken Temperature Chart complete with a cooking guide!
This recipe is a favorite at our house for a quick and easy weeknight meal. My family also loves my easy chicken chili recipe.
Asian Chicken Recipe Side Dishes
- Instant Pot White Rice
- Instant Pot Green Beans
- White Rice
- Substitute pork for Dragon Chicken in our Easy Pork Fried Rice
Best Asian Recipes
- Shrimp Shumai
- Chinese shrimp stir Fry
- Asian Beef Stir Fry
- Easy Mongolian Beef
- Korean Braised Short Ribs
- Beef Bulgogi
Recipe
Chinese Chicken Recipe
Isabel Laessig
Dragon chicken is a spicy Indo-Chinese recipe of shallow-fried chicken with a fiery Asian marinade! It's a better-than-takeout easy spicy chicken recipe your whole family will be asking for more and more of.
4.80 from 40 votes
Print Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr
Course Main Course, Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese, Indo-Chinese
Servings 4 people
Calories 504 kcal
Equipment
Wok (or large skillet)
Ingredients
For Marinating the Chicken:
- 2 Chicken breasts sliced into bite sized cubes
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic ginger paste*
- 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
- 1 tsp. Chilli powder
- 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
For Cooking the Chicken:
- Walnut oil for shallow frying* about ½ cup
For the Dragon sauce:
- ½ tablespoon Walnut oil*
- 1 small red onion
- 2 teaspoon Garlic ginger paste
- 1 Red chilli pepper
- 1 Green chilli pepper
- 3 tablespoon Tomato ketchup
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 1 tablespoon Sweet chilli sauce
- 1 tablespoon Soy sauce
- Handful of Cashew nuts about ¼ cup
- 3 Green onions
Cooking Conversions
See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
In a medium bowl mix together the egg, garlic ginger paste, chilli powder, cornstarch, and soy sauce to form the chicken marinade
Add the raw sliced chicken to the marinade. Stir well so that the marinade fully coats the chicken. Place the marinated chicken in the fridge and chill for at least half an hour to allow the flavors to infuse.
Add ½ cup walnut oil to a hot wok (preferably, but you can use a large skillet) on low heat – you want it to be deep enough to shallow fry the chicken. Allow the oil to heat up and then carefully add the marinated chicken to the oil, which will begin to sizzle and cook immediately. TIP: add the chicken bit by bit to avoid violently spitting oil.
Cooking the chicken until golden brown and crispy then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
While the chicken is resting, remove any leftover oil from the pan and place back on the heat ready to make the dragon sauce. Begin the sauce by stir-frying the red onion, garlic ginger paste, and red and green chilli. When the onions become soft add the Tomato Ketchup, honey, sweet chilli sauce, and soy sauce, then stir together well.
Allow the dragon sauce to come to a simmer before stirring in the crispy chicken. Cook for another minute until thick and sticky, then top with cashew nuts and sliced green onions.
Notes
- While we recommend using walnut oil for shallow frying and for making the dragon sauce, you can fry this recipe in regular or light olive oil or another frying oil of your choice. We don’t recommend using extra virgin olive oil as this is a high-heat frying recipe, and it has a low smoking point. We recommend the same for the dragon sauce.
- Ginger garlic paste is typically sold in a jar and can be found at most grocery stores. You can also make your own by mixing garlic and ginger in a food processor. An alternative is to use equal parts garlic paste and ginger paste, which can be bought separately.
Nutrition
Calories: 504kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 55gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 226mgSodium: 2066mgPotassium: 1248mgFiber: 3gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 1442IUVitamin C: 46mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 3mg
Keyword asian chicken recipes, chinese chicken recipe, chinese chicken recipes, dragon chicken
Did you try this recipe?Tag on social and leave a comment below!
Photography by Debbie Jones.
More Chicken Recipes
- Chicken Alfredo Recipe
- Chicken Fajita Recipe
- Chicken and Mushroom Recipe
- Peri Peri Chicken Recipe
About Isabel Laessig
Hi! I’m Isabel Laessig, also known as Family Foodie, creator of Sunday Supper Movement and author of the Boujee Steak Cookbook. Sunday Supper is my mission to bring family back around the dinner table. Join me in making family meal-time a tradition to celebrate!
» About Me
Reader Interactions
Comments
Katie says
Would this reheat well? I’m thinking maybe for meal prep?
Reply
Em Beitel says
Absolutely! Reheat on low heat on the stove. Thank you for your question!
Reply
Diane Barber says
Are the chilling peppers supposed to be chopped, sliced, whole?
Reply
Em Beitel says
Hi Diane! They should be chopped. Thank you for your question!
Reply
Brenda D says
what kind of chile peppers
Reply
Em Beitel says
Hi Brenda! We use both red and green chili peppers. You can use any variety you’d like depending on availability. Thai red chili peppers would be great with this dish.
Reply
Rob says
This was really good – Thank you. Nice spice level and the recipe was well written and easy to follow.Reply
Em Beitel says
Thanks so much, Rob! We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed it – and thank you for letting us know about your experience with the recipe!
Reply
Michelle Vega says
I made a few adjustments to the recipe. Like I added bell peppers, made my own ginger and garlic paste. Following the basic recipe and it was so delicious. My hubby loved it. So thank you for sharingSincerely Mrs. Michelle Vega
From Cali!Reply
Isabel Laessig says
That is awesome to hear, Michelle! So glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Your additions sound fantastic.
Reply
Andrew says
Do you have the quantities of the ingredients used in your marinade?
Reply
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Andrew! You can find all quantities at the bottom of the page in the recipe card. Thank you and enjoy!
Reply
