This Chinese Crispy Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce is one of those meals everyone loves! In this honey chilli chicken recipe i show you how to turn regular chicken tenders into wonderfully addictive Asian chicken tenders. Scroll down for our video showing you all the steps.
If you look at my Top Posts & Pages widget on the sidebar, I'm willing to bet there are at least two Asian-inspired recipes on there.
You guys seems to love the Chinese stir fry's, sticky-spicy combos like my Crispy Sesame Chicken and curries like my Beef Massaman, so I'm hoping you're going to love this one too!
Not gonna lie - it takes a little bit of effort, as you need to deep-fry the crispy chicken tenders first - if you want really crispy, juicy chicken strips. Once that's done, it's a pretty simple case of mixing and bubbling up the sauce ingredients.
I am working on a stir-fry and an oven-baked version of this chicken. So once I get the formula just right, I'll update this post with an alternative to the deep frying method.
Go spicy with the addition of fresh chillies and a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes at the end, or keep it mild and bypass the chillies completely. If you're cooking for a group of people who have mixed tastes when it comes to chilli, simply serve up the mild version first, then throw in ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes per-person to the portions that are still in the pan. Let it bubble for 30 seconds, then dish it out.
Check out the video of how to make Chinese Crispy Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce Below:
Serve it up with a big pile of boiled rice and some stir-fried or steamed greens, and whoa! You're in for a treat!!
The crispy chicken part of this honey chilli chicken recipe is based on my basic Chicken tenders recipe (definitely worth a try - served with a creamy garlic-chilli dip). It's pretty versatile, and you can use it for the base of sweet and sour chicken, orange chicken, or even crispy chicken burgers with honey mustard coleslaw.
The sauce part is based on the sauce I use for my sticky Chinese pork belly. Again, it's versatile - you can use it for ribs, beef, or as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.
If you try it, please leave a rating and let me know what you think in the comments below.
Equipment:
In order to make this Honey Chilli Chicken recipe you will need:
-
- A good Kitchen knife. I have recently bought this Dalstrong one and love it.
- Chopping Board
- Large Bowl for marinating the chicken in
- Deep fryer. You can use a large pan with oil if you wish.
- Couple of small bowls for dredging the chicken in the coating
- Zester or microplane
- Juicer
- Measuring Spoons
- Garlic Press
- A wok or if you dont have a wok then a frying pan/skillet will do
- Wooden or Silicon Coated Spoons. We have just bought these and love them.
- Rice Steamer.
The Chinese Crispy Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce Recipe:
Chinese Crispy Chicken with Honey Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade:
- 3 chicken breasts - sliced into long, thick strips (or chunks if you prefer)
- 240 ml buttermilk
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
Crispy Coating:
- 180 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp celery salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
Honey Garlic Sauce: *
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger - peeled and minced
- 1 fat clove of garlic - peeled and minced
- 1 red chilli - finely chopped
- 1 tsp lemon grass paste
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- pinch black pepper
To Serve:
- Boiled rice
- 2 spring onions/scallions - sliced into thin strips
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
- Green stir fried or steamed veg
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the chicken in a bowl or large ziplock bag. Add the buttermilk, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Mix together, cover (if in a bowl) and place in the refrigerator to marinade for 3-6 hours.
- Preheat the oven to a low heat (to keep cooked tenders warm). Heat a large pan filled with no more than one third of vegetable oil (or preheat your deep fat fryer) until hot (you can test by dropping a small cube of bread in there, if it rises immediately to the top and starts to bubble rapidly, it’s hot enough). You’ll need at least 4 cups of oil.
- Mix together the crispy coating ingredients in a small bowl.
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and dredge each piece through the crispy coating mixture – ensuring it’s fully covered. Place on a tray in a single layer ready for frying.
- Once the oil is hot enough, add in 4 or 5 of the chicken tenders. You can add more or less depending on the size of your pan, just be sure not to overcrowd the chicken.
- Cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown and cooked in the center. You can check this by cutting open a piece of chicken, if it’s no longer pink in the middle, it’s cooked. Place on a tray in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the rest of the chicken.
- When the chicken is 5 minutes away from being cooked, make the honey garlic sauce.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan (skillet) on a medium heat.
- Add the ginger, garlic, chilli and lemongrass paste. Stir and heat through for 30 seconds,
- Then add in the soy sauce, followed by the honey, brown sugar and pepper. Turn the heat up to medium-high, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat slightly and allow to bubble gently for 5 minutes until slightly reduced and thickened.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat.
- Serve the chicken with boiled rice and top with strips of spring onion, sesame seeds and chilli flakes. Serve with green veg too if you like.
Video
✎ Notes
Nutrition
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Raquel Elias says
Love, love, loved!! It turned out amazing. I did not have lemon grass paste & used lemon zest as suggested. I also substituted fresh ginger with ginger paste because it was what I had on hand. It worked out just as great. I never write reviews. I felt I had to comment on this one. It’s a keeper. My husband said he can have it twice a week it’s that good. I sautéed some red onion & cabbage & put it over basmati rice with the chicken on top of it all. Thank you for this recipe. I have friends requesting the recipe 🙂
Sandra ainbinder says
I sliced chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Put flour & starch mixture in a plastic ba. I used a few tbd of olive oil, dusted off the chicken and pan fried it. I put chicken in a bowl ,added 1 tbs olive oil to the pan and added cut up asparagus, bamboo shoots small onion And a little thinly sliced Napa cabbage, and.some dried soaked mushrooms . I put in the honey garlic sauce on covered it until the cabbage wilted and veggies softened. I added the cooked chicken in order to gently reheat. It was delightful. Thanks so much
V Openshaw says
Great chicken, with or without the sauce. Big thumbs up from everyone in my family.
Julie says
Absolutely delicious! Better than any take away.
Nicole says
This - like all your recipes - turned out fantastic! The chicken was crispy, the sauce was delicious, and I'm looking forward to my leftovers for lunch. Thanks!
Josie says
This turned out so sour :/ i dont know what i did wrong
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Josie, could if be possible that the ginger and garlic was cooked for too long? If garlic is burned (even if it's just dark brown instead of black) it can cause a bitter taste.
Kelly says
What could I use in place of lemon grass paste Help please
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Kelly, you can use 1 lemon grass stalk, chopped really finely (remove the outer leaves first).
If you can't find that, you can add in 1 tsp of lemon zest or leave it out entirely. It will still taste great 🙂
Debbie Billings says
love this recipe, my son said he has ate a lot of chicken in his life but this is the best ever!!!
Stefan says
I made this 5 times already ( as a matter fact I’m it again tonight ) . I triple the amount of the sauce and refrigerate the extra sauce for times like this. This is fantastic recipe and a must have, make it you will not be disappointed.
Tom says
Oh wow, this looks amazing. Can't wait to make this!
David Breschel says
Do you use garlic powder or garlic salt. The written recipe lists garlic salt, the video lists garlic powder?
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks David - it's garlic powder 🙂
bellasapron says
Yum!!! looks fantastic I love the ginger and garlic mix
Karly says
Mmmm.. every time I stop by I leave drooling. And I wish I was being dramatic. These chicken wings look to die for!
Nicky Corbishley says
Ha ha thanks Karly 🙂
Tara says
If this is chicken in honey garlic sauce, how much garlic goes into the honey garlic sauce? There's no garlic listed in the ingredients, expect a bit of garlic salt in the marinade.
Nicky Corbishley says
Argh! Thanks for picking up on the mistake. I've updated the recipe now. It goes in with the minced ginger.
Lavina Datwani says
I absolutely love your post Nicky and couldn't agree more about how bases and sauces are so versatile when it comes to switching up styles and proteins in recipes! Looking forward to your amazing videos and recipes, but his one, my friend, is a real DIAMOND! 🙂 xx
Lavina Datwani says
*this 😉
Nicky Corbishley says
Thank you so much Lavina - so glad you like it 🙂