Spicy Chicken
Quick and Easy at Home Chinese
Spicy chicken is easy sautéed dinner in a skillet. Quick and delicious, it’s great over rice or next to fried rice.
This is also a perfect chicken for lettuce wraps, salads or tacos. It’s made with simple ingredients and is ready in under 30 minutes.
I make this chicken alongside my Fried Rice recipe. This makes an easy dinner that is also comforting and delicious .
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Make It Your Own
I add a lot of cayenne to this recipe as well as a spicy sesame oil. I know that not everyone shares my love of heat, however.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it as spicy as you like. You can also make it not spicy at all.
This recipe is so delicious for a spicy lettuce wrap dinner and it is also great as leftovers in a salad. I make a big batch of this when I cook it and eat it all week as tacos, salads, or lettuce wraps.
The Chicken
I like to use this thinly sliced chicken breast for the recipe. I like the way it cooks up when you cut the chicken into smaller, bite sized pieces.
The beauty of this is that the chicken cooks quickly and more evenly. If you cannot find thinly sliced chicken, you can pound out a regular chicken breast with a meat mallet or even just a can of something.
You can also use thicker chicken pieces, you will just need to add some cook time.
Corn Starch
The corn starch adds a coating to the chicken that gets it crispier. When you add the sauce to this dish, it also helps thicken the glaze so you have a perfect sauce for on top of the rice.
I have another similar recipe that uses corn starch for a Chicken and Peapods dish. That dish also uses the corn starch to make the glaze the way you are familiar with from Chinese take out places.
This dish is easy to master and will save you SO much money on Chinese takeout.
Spicy Chicken
Spicy chicken is easy sautéed dinner in a skillet. Quick and delicious. Great over rice or with Fried Rice. This is also a perfect chicken for lettuce wraps, salads or tacos. Simple ingredients and ready in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 pounds of thinly sliced chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of corn starch
- 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper (can add more or less)
- 1 teaspoon of celery salt
- black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons of cooking oil of your choice
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil or hot sesame oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of honey
- 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced both the white and green parts
- 2 tablespoons of finely diced jalapeño
Instructions
- In a bowl add your chicken and sprinkle the corn starch all over and then toss to coat. You can eyeball this, you want a light coating but not caked in it. Season with the cayenne pepper and the celery salt and the black pepper.
- In a bowl combine your soy sauce, honey, vinegar, jalapeños and green onions. If I happen to have some "Chinese Five Spice" seasoning on hand, I will add a sprinkle of that to this mix as well. Mix well to combine until the honey is smooth.
- In a skillet, add your oils and let it get hot but not smoking. Add your chicken and sauté, stir occasionally as the chicken fully cooks and gets golden brown.
- When the chicken is fully cooked, add your sauce and sauté for 10 more minutes. Stir occasionally making sure all the chicken is coated. Let this simmer on low. The corn starch on the chicken will thicken the sauce.
- When the sauce is a glaze, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes before serving.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds before serving.
Do you want another great chicken dish to try? Then you should check out my Pancake Battered Chicken Tenders.