The best Honey Chilli Chicken recipe, made with fried chicken strips tossed with delicious spicy-sweet, honey chilli sauce. You can create Chinese takeaway-style crispy honey chilli chicken at home with simple ingredients!
Honey chilli chicken is very popular in the UK, US, Chinese restaurants and takeaways. In this recipe, I'll be sharing our version of crispy fried chicken with honey chilli sauce from scratch.
Creating takeout dishes from scratch can be quite challenging when you recreate them at home. But this recipe does not need any special ingredients, equipment, or cooking skills. It is so much tastier and easier than you have imagined. Every home cook can make it happen without much hassle!
If you love Chinese restaurants dishes, you will definitely enjoy our viewers' favourite Crispy Chilli Beef and Crispy Salt and Chilli Chicken recipes.
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What do we need
- Chicken - We usually use chicken breast for this recipe. Cut the chicken into same size thin strips. You can swap with chicken thigh, beef, pork, or prawns.
- Chicken Marinade - Simply season the chicken pieces with soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, sugar and garlic paste.
- Coating - Break one egg white in the chicken to create a layer to keep the chicken moist and tender. Coat the chicken strips with corn starch or potato starch for extra crunch.
- Garnish - Simply garish with fresh chilli slices, chopped spring onions or coriander. If you like sesame flavour, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds.
- Chilli sauce - I add Sriracha chilli sauce, tomato ketchup, lime juice, honey and dried chilli flakes. As this chilli sauce mixture is very versatile, you can reduce the chilli sauce and chilli flakes amount according to your taste.
- Sriracha - Thai hot chilli sauce Sriracha is ideal for this recipe. If you cannot get it easily, you can use any of your favourite hot chilli sauce or Thai sweet chilli sauce as an substitute.
- Tomato ketchup - Add tomato ketchup for the sweet and tangy flavour.
- Honey - To blance the hot chilli flavour add honey or brown sugar.
How to make honey chilli chicken from scratch
- First, combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside. Slice the chicken breast into same size thin strips. Marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic paste, sugar and white pepper for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
- Next, add one egg white into the chicken and mix it well. Then add the corn starch and coat each chicken pieces until separate. Add more corn starch if needed.
- Heat the oil into high heat about 350 F, fry the coated chicken strips for 1-2 minutes until light brown. Then remove from oil and set it aside on the cooling rack for 4-5 minutes.
- Then double fry it again until crispy golden.
- Heat the large wok/pan into medium-low heat, drizzle oil and saute the chopped garlic for few seconds.
- Pour the chilli sauce mixture in and stir for few seconds to heat up the sauce.
- Place the fried chicken strips in the wok and toss well to combine everything evenly with the sauce.
- Turn off the heat and sprinkle chilli slices and chopped spring onions.
Cooking tips
- It's important to fry with high-heat to prevent the chicken strips from getting greasy and soggy. You can check the oil temperature with food thermometer. If you don't have it in hand, use wooden spatula or chopstick to test. Dip the wooden chopstick/spatula in the hot oil, when the oil steadily bubbling it's ready to fry.
- Do not overcooked the chicken strips. Overcooked chicken strips can be tough and chewy.
- Use vegetable oil or neutral flavour oils for deep frying because they do not overpower the dish flavour.
- To prep-ahead, fry the chicken strips 2-3 minutes, then you can store in fridge or freeze with air tight bags. Make the sauce and keep it in and air-tight jar once it cool down. Deep fry the chicken strips 2nd time just right before serving and heat the sauce until hot, then toss well to combine together.
FAQ
Can I use plain flour for coating chicken?
You can use plain flour but the coating will be less in crunchiness. Recommend to use potato starch or corn starch for extra crispy coating texture.
Is this dish very spicy?
It's a medium-hot dish but you can adjust the spiciness by adding more or less hot chilli sauce and chilli flakes.
How many calories per serving?
This dish is 317 kcal per serving as an appetizer without rice. Nutritional information is calculated approximately and can be varied by a number of factors.
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Crispy Honey Chilli Chicken
Chinese takeaway style Honey Chilli Chicken recipe made with coated crispy fried chicken tossed with spicy, sweet, honey sauce. Perfect as an appetizer and made with simple cupboard-friendly ingredients.
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Servings: 4
Calories: 317kcal
Ingredients
- 350 g Chicken breast ( about 12oz ) cut into thin strips about
- 1 Egg white
- 1 cup Corn starch
- 1 tbsp Garlic finely chopped
- 2 tsp Oil
- Oil for frying Vegetable or neutral flavour oil
Chicken Marinade
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Garlic paste or finely grated garlic
- 1 tsp Sesame oil
- 2 tsp Sugar
- ½ tsp White pepper or black pepper
Chilli Sauce Mixture
- 3 tbsp Sriracha sauce Or hot chilli sauce ( see details in note )
- 2 tbsp Tomato ketchup
- 2 tbsp Honey Or sugar
- 1 tbsp Lime
- ¼ tsp Chilli flakes optional
Garnish
- 1 Red chili pepper cut thin slices
- 2 Spring onions cut thin slices
Instructions
- First, cut the chicken breast into thin strips. Place the chicken strips in a bowl, marinade with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic paste, sugar, and pepper for 10-15 minutes. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set it aside.
- Next, add egg white into the chicken and mix it well. Then add the corn starch and coat each chicken piece. ( Add more corn starch if needed. ) Toss the excess flour out before frying.
- Deep fry the coated chicken pieces with pre-heated high-heat oil, 350° F for 1-2 minutes until light brown. Remove from oil and set it aside for 4-5 minutes. Then place the fried chicken back in hot oil and fry it again for another 2-3 minutes or until crispy golden. Remove from oil and place it over the wire rack.
- Heat the wok/pan into medium-low heat, drizzle 2 tsp of oil and saute the chopped garlic for few seconds. Then pour the sauce mixture in and stir for few seconds, place the fried chicken strips back in the wok.
- Combine the sauce and chicken pieces well. Turn off the heat and sprinkle fresh chilli slices and spring onions.
- Transfer to serving plate and serve immediately.
- You can serve on its own or pair it with plain rice, egg fried rice or stir fry noodles.
Notes
- Sriracha - is a Thai hot chilli sauce made from chilli peppers, garlic, vinegar, sugar and salt. You can swap it with Maggi hot chilli sauce, or any of your favourite chilli sauce brands.
- Adjust the spiciness - reduce the hot chilli sauce amount or swap it with mild chilli sauce. You can omit dried chilli flakes and fresh chilli according to your preference.
- Coat each chicken strips well - if the chicken strips are sticking to each other, you need to add more corn starch until each chicken strips separate. Or you can dip each chicken strips in the corn starch, one by one.
- Fry with high heat - it's important to fry with pre-heated high heat oil. The temperature should be around 350° F to prevent the chicken from soggy and greasy.
- Double fry the chicken - Double frying create the chicken extra crispy coating texture while the inner meat is still moist and juicy.
- Baking Option - Deep frying tastes best, however, if you wish to bake or air fry, spray a generous amount of cooking oil over the chicken strips. Place them over the wire rack, bake with 400F ( 200 C ) preheated oven/air-fryer for 15-20 minutes or until crispy golden. Flip halfway through.
- More Sauce - This recipe doesn't come with loads of sauce. The sauce mixture is just to coat the chicken strips. If you prefer extra sauce, you can double the sauce ingredients.
Nutrition
Calories: 317kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 699mg | Potassium: 460mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 286IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg
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Suzanne says
I am going to try this in my air fryer! Looks delicious!
Khin says
Hope you like this recipe, Suzanne. Don't forget to spray cooking oil over the coated chicken strips before you air-fry them.
Emily says
My daughter is allergic to sesame. Is there any other we can use instead? Thanks
Khin says
Hi Emily, if your daughter has an allergy, you can omit the sesame oil. Sesame oil is added for flavour.
Anne says
Love this recipe🧡
Khin says
Thank you so much Anne. So glad that you enjoyed it.
Preeti says
This was an awesome recipe!!! my kids loved it - thank you
Khin says
So glad that you tried out this recipe, Preeti! Thanks for sharing feedback.
Joan says
This has quickly become one of our family favourites. My son actually commented that it tasted better than the takeaway chinese! Since lockdown, your recipes have become part of our weekly plans and have saved money by not having to order out. Easy and quick to make and easy to adapt to suit family preferences, with lots of options - we're going satay next!
Khin says
So glad that you enjoyed our recipes, Joan! Thank you so much for trying out and sharing feedback with us.
Quincy says
Is it possible to mention the measurement for each ingredient needed.
Khin says
Hi Quincy, please find the detailed measurement in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Sarah says
Surely you can't call it honey chilli chicken unless there's at least some honey in it?
Khin says
Hi Sarah, honey is on the ingredient list. You can find it in the recipe card, at the bottom of the page. Hope this helps.
Krissy says
Just tried this recipe absolutely loved it, so easy to make.
Khin says
Thank you so much for sharing with us Krissy. I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe.
Darren Fisher says
Perfect, so simple to make. You make it look easy and it is
Danielle says
This was delicious! Loved the sauce. I used chicken drumsticks instead (just took out the bones and used it for a chicken broth for another meal) and it still tasted lovely.
Khin says
I am really happy that you enjoyed it Danielle. Thank you so much for trying my recipe.
Jason says
Hi Khin. I'm going to attempt this dish tonight. We are a large family, so will be using 1kg of chicken. Do I need to triple the ingredients for the sauce etc.. ? Thank you
Khin says
Hi Jason, you can triple the sauce and also marinade ingredients. If you go to the recipe card and press on the serving size, there is an auto- calculator. 1kg chicken is approximate 12 servings. Hope you enjoy it!
Jimmy says
This is the recipe I am looking for. Can I use plain flour to coat the chicken? What chilli sauce brand do you recommend for this recipe and can I use chicken thigh instead of chicken breast? Thank you.
Khin says
You can use plain flour but the chicken would not be as crispy as starch coating. You can use Sriracha or Hot chilli sauce (Flying Goose or Maggi brand).