A flavorful and delicious Hakka, Indian Chinese Manchurian chicken recipe made with crispy boneless fried chicken tossed in a spicy, savory, and sweet sticky sauce.
Table of Contents
What Is Chicken Manchurian?
Similar to chilli chicken and crispy beef, chicken Manchurian is an Indo-Chinese recipe. It's a popular takeout deep-fried chicken dish that is a favorite amongst Indians and Chinese (Hakka) and it's definitely one of my favorite dishes to order on takeout nights.
Chicken Manchurian is typically served either dry or with gravy. Dry chicken Manchurian is basically deep-fried marinated chicken fritters with no sauce, and is eaten as a snack or appetizer and dipped in a sauce. Gravy chicken Manchurian chicken is deep-fried marinated chicken as well but is coated in a spicy sauce and served with rice or noodles.
Alternatively, you can also make this a vegetarian dish by deep-frying cauliflower instead of chicken, and that dish would be called 'Gobi (cauliflower) Manchurian'.
If you're looking for something with a bit more sweetness and tang, I also have a Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe that always satisfies my takeout needs.
If you're looking to make a restaurant-style chicken Manchurian at home, then this is the recipe for you!
Difference Between Chicken Manchurian and Chilli Chicken
Every restaurant you go to will have their own version of chilli chicken and authentic chicken Manchurian recipe and they will all taste vastly different as well but the main difference between these two dishes is that chicken Manchurian is less spicy and sweeter than chilli chicken.
Ingredients for Chicken Manchurian
- Chicken - I like to use boneless chicken pieces for this recipe and I personally like to use dark meat with the skin on for a bit more flavor, but you can also use white meat (chicken breast) as well.
- Red Pepper - I like to finely dice red pepper and cook it with the garlic-ginger-onion trio to give the sauce a bit of sweetness but also a nice pepper flavor as well. You can also use green bell pepper as well.
- Garlic, Ginger, Onion - This trio of aromatics is the star of the recipe for both the marinade, batter, and sauce. Please do not omit or substitute these ingredients
- Chilli Powder - You can find this chilli powder at an Indian grocery store. The chilli powders at local grocery stores usually are a blend of cumin and other spices - this is not the type of chilli powder you would use for this recipe. That type of chilli powder has a more tex-mex kind of flavor. Indian chilli powders are pure chilli peppers blended into a fine powder with no extra spices, which gives the dish its heat. When you are looking for chilli powder, make sure there are no other extra spices in the ingredient list - it should only be chillis. If you cannot find this, you can substitute it 1:1 with cayenne pepper.
- Corn Starch/Potato Starch - I like to create the crispy chicken batter without eggs in this recipe. I like to add either corn starch or potato starch directly into marinated chicken instead, which creates a very flavorful batter once it is deep-fried.
Manchurian Sauce Ingredients
- Dark and Regular Soy Sauce - Soy sauce is a big part of the flavor for the sauce. I use dark soy to give the sauce a darker color but if you cannot find it you can use regular soy in its place.
- Tomato Paste - This recipe is made without ketchup. I like to use tomato paste instead because it gives the sauce a nice red color as well as extra umami flavor.
- Oyster Sauce - Oyster sauce gives the sauce extra umami flavor and a hit of sweet saltiness. I highly recommend using this ingredient, but if you cannot find it you can substitute it with half the amount of soy sauce with a pinch of sugar.
- Rice Vinegar and Sugar - The sugar and rice vinegar balance out the sauce flavor with sweet and tart flavors.
- Bird's Eye Chili - If you like it a bit spicier, you can also add bird's eye chili. Start with 1-2 for mild spicy, 3-4 for medium spicy, or 4-8 for hot spicy.
- Cilantro (Optional) - I like to use chopped cilantro as a garnish but it is optional and can be omitted if you do not like the flavor.
Tips
- I like to fry the chicken for a second time for 30 seconds after I have finished the first fry to make the chicken crispier. Totally optional, but definitely worth it.
- Unfortunately, there is no workaround to deep-frying the chicken. If you don't have a deep fryer, or you don't want to use a lot of oil, you can use a deep small pot or wok to deep fry. Using a smaller pot will use less oil and the oil will come up higher in depth so that the chicken will not touch the bottom of the pan and burn when it's being fried.
It's also very important not to fill the pot with oil more than halfway so that it doesn't overflow when you are deep frying. - When you are deep frying, make sure not to overcrowd the pot and only deep-fry a few pieces at a time so that it doesn't drop the temperature of the oil.
- If you don't have a thermometer to test the temperature of the oil, use a wooden chopstick or spoon and stick it in the oil, if it starts to bubble then you're good to start deep frying.
How to Make Crispy Manchurian Chicken
Marinating the Chicken
- With a food processor, blitz the ginger, garlic, and half a small onion until it's a fine paste. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this for browning the onions and red peppers later.
- Cut up the chicken into small bite-sized 1 inch pieces and marinate it in a bowl with the ginger-garlic-onion paste, soy sauce, chilli powder, black pepper, and water. (Do not add the corn starch yet. We will add that right before we deep fry the chicken.) Marinate in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
Preparation
- Finely dice the red peppers and set them aside with the reserved ginger-garlic-onion mix.
- If you are garnishing with cilantro, finely chop some and set it aside for the end.
Preparing the Chicken Manchurian Sauce
- Chop up the chillis in slices (keep the seeds) and add them to a small bowl.
- Mix the tomato paste, oyster sauce, sugar, dark soy, regular soy, rice vinegar, and chilli powder together and mix well until it is combined.
- Add water into the sauce and mix everything until it's combined well.
- In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch with 4 teaspoons of cold water, then add it to the sauce and stir to combine. Set the sauce aside for later.
Deep Frying the Chicken
- Add the corn starch to the chicken and mix until everything is well combined.
- In a wok, frying pan or deep fryer heat the oil to 350F (177C). You can test if the oil is hot by putting a wooden chopstick or spoon in the oil. If it bubbles, you're good to go.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken into the oil one at a time. Fry it in small batches being careful not to overcrowd the oil, which can drop the oil temperature
- Fry the chicken for about 5-6 minutes and set them aside on a plate with a paper towel or newspaper to absorb some of the oil.
- Once all the chicken has finished deep-frying, add them all back into the deep fryer at the same time and fry it for 30 seconds. This will re-heat the chicken and the double frying will make the chicken crispier.
- Remove the chicken from the deep fryer and set it aside for later.
Putting It Together
- In a wok or frying pan, set the stove to medium to medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil
- When the oil is hot, add in the 2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic-onion mix that was reserved from preparation and cook it until it is toasty and brown. Approximately 2 minutes. Careful not to burn it.
- Add in the finely diced red peppers and cook them for 2 minutes.
- Give the sauce a quick stir (the corn starch likes to settle at the bottom) and add it to the wok
- Keep stirring the sauce until it thickens.
- Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat on the stove and add the deep-fried chicken into the pan and mix it together with the sauce until the chicken is well coated.
- If you are using cilantro as a garnish, toss it in now. Enjoy with a bowl of rice!
What to Serve with Manchurian Chicken
Whenever we make this simple chicken Manchurian, plain white rice or a simple egg fried rice is always our default go-to as our side. It's easy to make, and it sops up the sauce well without overpowering the chicken.
That being said, I think any type of fried rice like cumin beef fried rice or stir-fried noodle dish would go fantastic with this flavorful chicken dish.
If you're looking for a heartier noodle side dish with thicker noodles, then try a stir-fried udon recipe like teriyaki yaki udon.
If you're still looking for a simple rice dish for this recipe, I highly recommend vermicelli rice as well. It's a very simple rice dish made with small pieces of butter-toasted vermicelli cooked with it
FAQs
This chicken Manchurian recipe is between a dry and gravy version. It is not completely dry, but it is also not overly saucy that your chicken will be sitting in a pool of sauce. There is enough sauce to coat the chicken. I made it this way so that you can still enjoy the crispiness of the chicken but have the delicious flavor from the sauce as well.
If you want to make this a dry chicken Manchurian, just skip making the sauce completely. If you want to have more gravy, double the sauce portion of the recipe.
Asian Takeout Recipes You May Like
- Chilli Chicken
- Sweet and Stick Crispy Beef
- Sweet and Sour Pork
- Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (叉烧, Chinese BBQ Pork)
- Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce (鱼香茄子)
- Singapore Noodles (Singapore Mei Fun)
- Beef Chow Fun (Beef Ho Fun)
- Crispy Cantonese Beef Chow Mein
- Hong Kong Style Sweet and Sour Chicken
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Recipe Card
Chicken Manchurian
Recipe Notes
- The chilli powder at local grocery stores usually are a blend of cumin and other spices - this is not the type of chilli you would use for this recipe. That type of chilli powder has a more tex-mex kind of flavor. Indian chilli powders are just pure chilli peppers blended into a fine powder with no extra spices, so this gives just heat. When you are looking for chilli powder, make sure there are no other extra spices in the ingredient list - it should only be chillis. If you cannot find this, you can substitute it 1:1 with cayenne pepper.
- Oyster sauce gives the sauce extra umami flavor and a hit of sweet saltiness. I highly recommend using this ingredient, but if you cannot find it you can substitute it with half the amount of soy sauce with a pinch of sugar.
- Dark soy sauce is used to give the chicken a darker color. If you cannot find it, you can substitute it with soy sauce instead.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs boneless chicken (Preferably dark meat)
- ½ red pepper
- 2 tablespoons garlic-ginger-onion mix (reserved from marinade)
Chicken Manchurian Marinade
- ½ small onion
- 3-4 slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ tablespoon chilli powder (*See Note 1)
- 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
- 3-4 tablespoons water
- 10 tablespoons corn starch or potato starch (mix this in with the chicken after you are done marinating, right before deep frying)
Chicken Manchurian Sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce (*See Note 2 for substitution)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1 ½ teapoons chilli powder (*See Note 1)
- 1-2 bird's eye chili pepper
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons corn starch (mixed with 4 teaspoons of cold water)
Garnish
- cilantro (Optional)
Instructions
Marinating the Chicken
- With a food processor, blitz the ginger, garlic, and half a small onion until it is a fine paste. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this for browning the onions and red peppers later.
- Cut up the chicken into small bite-sized 1 inch pieces and marinate it in a bowl with the ginger-garlic-onion paste, soy sauce, chilli powder, black pepper, and water. (Do not add the corn starch yet. We will add that right before we deep fry the chicken.) Marinate in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
Preparation
- Finely dice the red peppers and set them aside with the reserved ginger-garlic-onion mix.
- If you are garnishing with cilantro, finely chop some and set it aside for the end.
Preparing the Chicken Manchurian Sauce
- Chop up the chillis in the slices (keep the seeds) and add them to a small bowl.
- Mix the tomato paste, oyster sauce, sugar, dark soy, regular soy, rice vinegar, and chilli powder together and mix well until it is combined.
- Add water into the sauce and mixl everything until it's combined well.
- In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch with 4 teaspoons of cold water, then add it to the sauce and stir to combine. Set the sauce aside for later.
Deep Frying the Chicken
- Add in the corn starch to the chicken and mix until everything is well combined
- In a wok, frying pan or deep fryer heat the oil to 350F (177C).
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken into the oil one at a time. Fry it in small batches being careful not to overcrowd the oil, which can drop the oil temperature
- Fry the chicken for about 5-6 minutes and set them aside on a plate with a paper towel or newspaper to absorb some of the oil.
- Once all the chicken has finished deep-frying, add them all back into the deep fryer at the same time and fry it for 30 seconds. This will re-heat the chicken and the double frying will make the chicken crispier.
- Remove the chicken from the deep fryer and set it aside for later.
Putting It Together
- In a wok or frying pan, set the stove to medium to medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil
- When the oil is hot, add in the 2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic-onion mix that was reserved from preparation and cook it until it is toasty and brown. Approximately 2 minutes. Careful not to burn it.
- Add in the finely diced red peppers and cook them for 2 minutes.
- Give the sauce a quick stir (the corn starch likes to settle at the bottom) and add it to the wok
- Keep stirring the sauce until it thickens.
- Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat on the stove and add the deep-fried chicken into the pan and mix it together with the sauce until the chicken is well coated.
- If you are using cilantro as a garnish, toss it in now.
- Enjoy with a bowl of rice!
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*
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josie says
This Chicken Manchurian Sauce is very tasty, Yummy ! I love the sweet flavour, texture as of eating sweet and sour chicken😊😊. I can handle mild spicy..... Everyone enjoy my first made of this receipe. 👍 said I did a good try. Thank you.
Joyce Lee says
Hi Josie!
Yes, this is very similar to sweet and sour chicken except this one is sweet and savory! 🙂 I'm so happy everyone enjoyed it!!
Beth says
Made this tonight exactly as written and it was delicious! Tasted better than takeout manchurian and it felt healthier too. Just one unseeded red Thai chili pepper was good amount of heat for the family (with extra on the side for me!)
Joyce Lee says
Hi Beth!
Yay! I'm so happy you and your family liked it!