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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
- Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread
- 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!