Salt and Chilli Chicken

close up shot of salt and chilli chicken in black wok

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Here I'll share with you the most delicious way to make the iconic salt and chilli chicken!

Prep Time25

Cook Time15

Resting time30

Total Time1 10

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Equipment

Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Medium Sized Mixing Bowl (for marinating chicken)
Large Shallow Dish (for coating chicken)
Large Baking Tray (to rest coated chicken)
Large Heavy-Based/Cast-Iron Pan & Tongs (for frying chicken)
Kitchen Thermometer (for frying chicken)
Wire Rack and Kitchen Roll (for resting cooked chicken)
Wok or Deep Pan & Wooden Spoon (for stir fry)

Ingredients

Chicken

600g / 1.3lb boneless skinless Chicken Thighs, sliced into fairly large bite-sized pieces (1 thigh usually produces 6 pieces)
1 tsp EACH: Chinese 5 Spice, White Pepper, Fine/Table Salt
2 tsp Sesame Oil
2 cloves of Garlic, finely grated into a paste
160g / 2 packed cups Cornflour/Cornstarch, plus more if needed
1 medium Egg, beaten
360ml / 1 1/2 cups Vegetable Oil, or as needed

Stir Fry

1 small/medium White Onion, thinly sliced
1/2 Red Pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 Green Pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
2 Red Birds Eye Chillies, thinly sliced (see notes)
2 Spring Onions, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp Flaky Sea Salt (see notes)
1/4 tsp Chinese 5 Spice
1/8 tsp White Pepper

Instructions

In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine the diced chicken with sesame oil, garlic, 5 spice, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
Add the cornflour to a large shallow dish. Take 2 1/2 tbsp of the cornflour and mix it into the chicken (I find this easiest with my hands). Once evenly combined, leave for a few minutes to allow the cornflour to soak into the chicken. It will be quite sticky at this point, which is fine.
Mix the egg into the chicken until evenly combined. One by one, take a piece of chicken, thoroughly coat it in the cornflour, then lightly shake and place on a baking tray. Although tedious, this step is crucial to ensuring the chicken comes out crispy. Really squeeze the cornflour into every crevice of the chicken to create lots of tiny flaky bits. If you run out of cornflour, just add more as needed.
Add around 3/4" oil in a heavy-based/cast-iron pan, or enough to cover a little over half the size of the chicken. Turn the heat to medium-high and allow the oil to reach 190C/375F. From there, and working in 2-3 batches, add the chicken and cook until golden and crisp on the outside and piping hot through the centre (approx 3 minutes on each side). Remove the chicken and place on a wire rack with kitchen roll underneath to catch excess oil. Bring the oil back to temp between batches.
Take 2 tbsp of the leftover oil and add it to a wok or deep pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, peppers, garlic and chillies and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until it all starts to soften slightly. Add in the chicken, spring onion, 5 spice, sea salt and white pepper and toss until everything is well-distributed.
Serve up immediately and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Chicken - Don't substitute chicken breast, it must be thigh. Breast will dry up and overcook by the time the outside properly crisps up in the oil.

b) Chillies - This recipe produces a fairly spicy salt and chilli chicken, similar to what you'd get at most takeaways. Birdseye chillies are pretty hot, so 2 go a long way. I sometimes do 3, so consider adding another one if you love spice!

c) Salt - As the name suggests, this is a fairly salty recipe. The salt in the marinade needs to be regular fine salt so you can coat as much of the chicken as possible. I prefer finishing with sea salt, just so you get bigger hits of salty flavour. If you're at all wary then you can adjust the salt the serve, however 1 tsp in the marinade is a must. If you don't have flaky sea salt you could finish with more regular salt, just consider halving the amount to 1/4 tsp and working up. Much easier to add more salt than take it out!

d) Serving - This is a dry dish, so serving with curry sauce is a great idea!

e) Calories - Whole recipe divided by 4 (no sauce or side).

Nutrition