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    Home » Recipes » Chicken Recipes » Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe

    Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe

    Published: Feb 28, 2023 Modified: Mar 4, 2023 by Isabel Laessig

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    Jump to Recipe

    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.

    Dragon chicken recipe in a wok after cooking
    Jump to:
    • Chinese Chicken Recipes
    • Chinese Chicken Recipe
    • How to make Hot and Spicy Chicken
    • Spicy Chinese Chicken Recipe Substitutions
    • Asian Chicken Recipes FAQs
    • Asian Chicken Recipe Side Dishes
    • Best Asian Recipes
    • 📋 Recipe
    • 💬 Reviews

    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 Dragon chicken recipe in a bowl with a fork ready to enjoy

    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

    1. In a medium bowl mix together the egg, garlic ginger paste, chili powder, cornstarch, and soy sauce to form the chicken marinade
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Cooking the chicken until golden brown and crispy then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    Close up of Dragon Chicken in a wok with spring onions

    Asian Chicken Recipes FAQs

    What is Dragon Chicken?

    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.

    What is shallow frying?

    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.

    Dragon chicken in a speckled bowl with a fork ready to enjoy, topped with green onions

    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

    Dragon chicken recipe in a wok, an overhead shot

    Chinese Chicken Recipe

    Isabel Laessig
    Dragon chicken is a spicy Indo-Chinese recipe of shallow-fried chicken with a fiery Asian marinade! It's a better-than-takeout easy spicy chicken recipe your whole family will be asking for more and more of.
    4.82 from 37 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 40 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Total Time 1 hour hr
    Course Main Course, Main Dish
    Cuisine Chinese, Indo-Chinese
    Servings 4 people
    Calories 504 kcal

    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
    Cooking Conversions

    See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!

    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.
      Mixing the chicken marinade for dragon chicken recipe
    • 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.
      Cooking dragon chicken in a wok with dragon chicken recipe marinade
    • 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.
      Topping the cooked dragon chicken recipe with cashews

    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

    Calories: 504kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 55gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 226mgSodium: 2066mgPotassium: 1248mgFiber: 3gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 1442IUVitamin C: 46mgCalcium: 57mgIron: 3mg
    Keyword asian chicken recipes, chinese chicken recipe, chinese chicken recipes, dragon chicken
    Did you try this recipe?Tag #SundaySupper on social and leave a comment below!

    Photography by Debbie Jones.

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    Isabel, AKA Family Foodie

    About Isabel Laessig

    Hi! I’m Isabel Laessig, also known as Family Foodie, creator of Sunday Supper Movement and author of the Boujee Steak Cookbook. Sunday Supper is my mission to bring family back around the dinner table. Join me in making family meal-time a tradition to celebrate!

    » About Me

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Katie says

      September 12, 2021 at 12:39 pm

      Would this reheat well? I’m thinking maybe for meal prep?

      Reply
      • Em Beitel says

        September 24, 2021 at 3:28 pm

        Absolutely! Reheat on low heat on the stove. Thank you for your question!

        Reply
    2. Diane Barber says

      September 20, 2021 at 5:57 pm

      Are the chilling peppers supposed to be chopped, sliced, whole?

      Reply
      • Em Beitel says

        September 24, 2021 at 3:23 pm

        Hi Diane! They should be chopped. Thank you for your question!

        Reply
    3. Brenda D says

      September 25, 2021 at 12:28 am

      what kind of chile peppers

      Reply
      • Em Beitel says

        October 04, 2021 at 11:27 am

        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.

        Reply
    4. Rob says

      October 24, 2021 at 12:22 am

      5 stars
      This was really good – Thank you. Nice spice level and the recipe was well written and easy to follow.

      Reply
      • Em Beitel says

        October 25, 2021 at 12:39 pm

        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!

        Reply

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