Salt and Pepper Chicken

5 from 2 votes

This homemade crispy Chinese Salt and Pepper Chicken is made with tender chicken thighs lightly battered, pan-fried till crispy, and tossed with plenty of chillies&garlic.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Snack

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: portions

Calories: 545kcal

Author: Ayla Clulee

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Chicken

700 g chicken thighs
100 g cornflour
2 small eggs
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Chinese five spice
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
50 g corn or wheat starch

For the Vegetables

1 red chilli (finely sliced)
½ sweet red pepper (finely sliced)
3 cloves garlic (finely sliced)
4 spring onions (finely sliced)
½ teaspoon salt
vegetable or sunflower oil for frying

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix the cornflour, eggs, rice wine, salt, Chinese five-spice and freshly ground black pepper in a bowl.
Put the corn starch onto a large flat plate.
Dice chicken thighs into even bite-size pieces and then cover them with batter.
Remove the chicken pieces from the batter and then add them to the plate with corn starch.
Toss the chicken pieces until it is all evenly coated. Do not let the coated batter sit too long before putting them in hot oil or the moisture of the chicken will soak up the cornflour.
Heat ½ cup of oil in a wok. It might take a while until it gets really hot, depending on your pan and stove.
Add the coated chicken pieces to the pan and fry for a few minutes, until lightly browned. Do it in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.
Stir the chicken pieces to brown the other side, and cook for a further 5 to 6 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and brown and crispy on the outside.
Remove the chicken pieces from the pan, and set them aside on a piece of kitchen roll to get rid of excess oil. Keep them warm while cooking the vegetables.
Add chilies, red peppers, and garlic to the same wok, add a little oil if needed, and sauté for a minute.
Stir in the spring onions and salt, and cook for another minute.
Add the cooked chicken pieces to the wok, stir well to coat them in the vegetable mix, and cook for a few more minutes.
Remove from heat and serve on a bed of rice or noodles.

Notes

Choose your chiles based on how spicy you want the dish to be. You can replace it with extra red and green bell pepper if you don't like the heat at all.
Do not overcrowd the pan or air frying tray with the chicken pieces. Try to cook in batches to get a perfectly fried, crispy, and brown salt and pepper chicken.
This is a really quick recipe and the stir-frying takes less than 5 minutes so do your preparation in advance before you start cooking.
Use a neutral-flavored, high-smoke-point oil for pan-frying such as sunflower, peanut, canola, corn, vegetable, or grapeseed oil.
The frying time depends on your pan and stove, take my timings as a guide and keep an eye on your chicken when frying. An electric stove and nonstick pan will take longer than a powerful gas stove and heavy-duty pan.
When sautéing the garlic, chili, peppers, and spring onions, use low heat to avoid them burning.

Nutrition