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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.
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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 breasts sliced 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 the egg, garlic ginger paste, chili 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 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, 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 the red onion, garlic ginger paste, and red and green chili. When the onions become soft add the Tomato Ketchup, honey, sweet chili 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.
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
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.
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
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
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
Photography by Debbie Jones.
Katie says
Would this reheat well? I’m thinking maybe for meal prep?
Em Beitel says
Absolutely! Reheat on low heat on the stove. Thank you for your question!
Diane Barber says
Are the chilling peppers supposed to be chopped, sliced, whole?
Em Beitel says
Hi Diane! They should be chopped. Thank you for your question!
Brenda D says
what kind of chile peppers
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.
Rob says
This was really good – Thank you. Nice spice level and the recipe was well written and easy to follow.
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!
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 sharing
Sincerely Mrs. Michelle Vega
From Cali!
Isabel Laessig says
That is awesome to hear, Michelle! So glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Your additions sound fantastic.
Andrew says
Do you have the quantities of the ingredients used in your marinade?
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Andrew! You can find all quantities at the bottom of the page in the recipe card. Thank you and enjoy!
Gina says
The guy at the Asian market didn’t sell walnut oil, so he told me to use peanut oil instead, saying “will work just fine” as he handed a bottle of it to me.
You said that if you don’t have a wok, to use a skillet on low, however, my pan or oil wouldn’t heat up at all, so it that was you meant? I put it on med high instead. I thought the oil was hot enough because it sizzled when I put a piece of the chicken into oil, so I added all the chicken, and it didn’t sizzle. It took some time for the oil to heat up and sizzle. I saw as I took the chicken out to drain that it was suppose to be crunchy…it was not, it was more like a paste. I don’t know if it was because the chicken sat in the oil before it was hot, or because of the peanut oil. However, in the end it was actually good with the “paste” on the chicken, it reminded me of peanut sauce.
The good thing about all of it was that my 14 yr old son finished his plate, which he never does when I cook!
Isabel Laessig says
Hi Gina! I’m so glad you and your son enjoyed the flavor of it! We’ll take another look at the heat levels in the recipe. I think you were right to turn up the heat in this case. As for testing if the oil is ready, see if a wooden spoon handle has bubbles form around it when you dip it into the oil. That means it’s hot enough. It can be a bit tricky to tell otherwise. The texture sounds like it was just a result of the oil not being hot enough when the chicken was added to the pan, but it sounds like it turned out very good regardless! Thank you for letting me know about how this went for you!
Gina says
My son actually requested this for dinner. This time I made sure the oil was hot ( I had to put the heat on Med again to get it hot, but we’re no issues doing it that way ) The chicken didn’t get crispy, and I’m wondering if the pan I use might be too small, although it’s big pan, but maybe it’s just small enough that the oil is deeper than it would be in a wok, and thats why it doesn’t get crispy.
It turned out EXCELLANT like the first time, and once again, my son asked for more once he was done with his first plate of it!! There were no leftovers at all!!
I think I’ll keep doing it the way I am now since he eats it, likes it, and asks for more!! Very rare for a 14 yr old….at least with mine!! 😁
Thanks!!
Isabel Laessig says
Gina, I am so happy to hear your son enjoys it so much. This made my day. I’m sorry it’s not crisping up for you, but if it works, it works, right? Happy cooking, and thank you!