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    Home » Recipes » Asian Recipes

    Chilli Chicken

    Sep 26, 2017 • Author: Joyce Lee • 123 Comments • This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    4.99 from 81 votes

    A popular and delicious Hakka, Indian Chinese takeout dish, dry chilli chicken is made with crispy chicken chunks and lightly tossed in a spicy chilli sauce. Packed full of amazing flavours from both worlds.

    Hakka, Indian Chinese chilli chicken made with crispy chicken chunks and lightly tossed in a spicy chilli sauce.

    You will find popular dishes like dry chilli chicken and chicken Manchurian in both Hakka Chinese restaurants and Indian restaurants, so does this make them a Hakka dish or an Indian Chinese dish? The real question is: Does it really matter? It's fantastically delicious and it's two regions of the world working together by combining their techniques and flavors to produce a very loved dish. 🙂

    If you have never had this dish before then definitely try it out. If you enjoy takeout dishes like Sweet and Sour pork, Crispy Beef, Sweet and Sour Chicken (Hong Kong Style), Chinese Lemon Chicken or Mongolian beef then you will probably enjoy this dish as well. It uses the Chinese takeout technique of 'deep-frying and tossing it in a thick sauce to coat it' that most of us are very familiar with but uses a dark spicy chilli sauce instead of the usual sweeter sauces.

    This recipe is a dry chilli chicken version, however, if you prefer the gravy version of chilli chicken then just double up the sauce recipe to make it saucier 🙂

     

    Ingredients for Chilli Chicken

    Almost all of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store.

    Chilli Chicken

    Why do I use 2 kinds of soy sauce? Dark soy is a thicker, less salty soy sauce. It is used for this dish to mostly give it the signature dark colour.

     

    For the chilli powder, this is usually found at a Indian grocery store. 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 flavour. 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.

     

    Hot Hot Hot?

    The type of hot peppers you use in this dish will be your preference, depending on how spicy you like your food.

    For a milder spicy, go for the bigger green chillis. I found they have a mild spiciness to them if you use about 3-4 of them and you can kick it up to medium easily by increasing the amount to about 7-8 of them.

    Chilli Chicken

    If you are into the very spicy foods, then I'd say go with the smaller green thai chillis. Don't say I didn't warn you, these peppers are POTENT. 😛 Rule of them is usually, the smaller the chilli peppers the spicier they are.

    I like to use about 6 of the larger green chillis combined with 1-2 of the smaller thai chillis. This gave me a medium spiciness that was just right since I am personally not a huge fan if making my foods so ridiculously hot that I can't taste anything except for heat.

     

    How To Make Chilli Chicken

    Spicy Chilli Sauce

    To make the chilli sauce, you essentially combine all the ingredients (except the corn starch slurry thickener) and let it sit out to 'marinate'. You want the heat from the chillis to meld into the sauce.

    Chilli Chicken

    When adding in the corn starch to the sauce, create a slurry with it first with a few teaspoons of cold water - then pour the slurry into the soy sauce and mix. Corn starch is a funny ingredient that doesn't always want to play nice when mixed with sauces directly so the easiest way to deal with it is to mix it with a small amount of cold water first, then add it to the sauce. (You can put the corn starch slurry in the sauce at the very end right into the pan when the sauce is cooking but I find it easier to just combine it to the sauce in the beginning. One less step to worry about.)

     

    Deep Frying Chicken

    What makes this dish delicious is the deep frying step. There is honestly no way around it. You can do a shallow fry in a pan with less oil but you will still need to deep fry it to a certain extent to create a crispy exterior.

    Deep fried chicken on news paper for Chilli Chicken

    I personally LOVE crispy foods, but find it slightly irritating when it when it is 60% batter and 40% chicken. This dish is lightly coated and therefore has a very light crispy exterior. This makes for a less greasy end product as well. 🙂

    Hakka, Indian Chinese chilli chicken made with crispy chicken chunks and lightly tossed in a spicy chilli sauce.

    The flavour in the crispy marinade is mainly ginger, garlic and onion. Traditionally in chilli chicken, there isn't any onion in the marinade/batter but I find adding the onion gives it a little something-something. Caramelized onion is honestly the secret weapon here. Traditions are always broken around here anyways 😉

    More Takeout Recipes You May Like

    • Crispy Chicken Pakora
    • Sweet and Sour Pork
    • Sweet and Sticky Crispy Beef
    • Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

     

    Looking for Something Loaded with Spices but Baked Instead?

    If you're not up for deep frying and you're looking for something baked but still loaded with flavour and spices, then definitely head on over to The Hungry Bites and try his 'Moroccan Baked Chicken with 11 Spices'! 🙂

    Hakka, Indian Chinese chilli chicken made with crispy chicken chunks and lightly tossed in a spicy chilli sauce.

    Did You Make This Chilli Chicken Recipe?

    If you made this chilli chicken recipe leave me a comment to let me know how it went! I also want to see! Follow Pups with Chopsticks on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @pupswithchopsticks and #pupswithchopsticks. I love to know what you are making!

    Stay connected and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all of my latest recipes!

    Recipe Card

    Chilli Chicken

    A popular and delicious Hakka, Indian Chinese takeout dish, chilli chicken is made with lightly battered crispy chicken chunks lightly tossed in a spicy chilli sauce.
    Print Pin Email Rate
    Course: Main, Takeout
    Cuisine: Chinese, Hakka, Indian
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour
    4 Servings
    4.99 from 81 votes
    Made with ♡ by Joyce

    Joyce's 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 flavour. 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.
    • This is a dry chilli chicken recipe. If you want to make the gravy chilli chicken, double the sauce ingredients and it will make it saucier for the gravy version of chilli chicken! 🙂
    • This is a spicy dish. For a less spicy dish use 2-3 chili peppers, instead of the 5-6 in the recipe card.
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
     

    • 1 ½ lbs boneless chicken (preferably dark meat)
    • ½ green pepper
    • ½ onion
    • 2 tablespoons garlic-ginger-onion mix (reserved from marinade)

    Chicken Marinade

    • ½ small onion
    • 3-4 slices ginger
    • 2-3 cloves garlic
    • 1 teaspoon black pepper
    • ½ tablespoon chilli powder (or cayenne pepper, see notes below)
    • 1 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
    • 3-4 tablespoons water
    • 6-7 tablespoons corn starch (mix this in with the chicken after you are done marinating, right before deep frying)

    Sauce

    • 5-6 green chilli (or green thai chillis if you like it spicier), use 2-3 for a less spicy dish
    • 1 ½ tablespoon dark soy
    • 2 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
    • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
    • 1 tablespoon honey
    • 2 teaspoons corn starch (mixed with 4 teaspoons of water)
    • 1 ½ teaspoon chilli powder (or cayenne pepper, see notes below)
    • ½ cup water

    Instructions
     

    Preparation

    • 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 green 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.
    • Chop the green peppers and remaining onion into bite-sized pieces and set aside

    Making the Sauce

    • Chop up the chillis in the slices (keep the seeds) and add it to a small bowl
    • Add in the rest of the ingredients in the sauce ingredient list except the corn starch
    • 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

    Putting it Together

    • Add in 6-7 tablespoons of corn starch to the chicken and mix until combined and chicken is coated lightly
    • In a wok, frying pan or deep fryer set the oil to 350F (177C).
    • When the oil is hot, add the chicken into the oil to cook in batches (careful not to over crowd the oil, which can drop the oil temperature)
    • Cook the chicken for about 5-6 minutes and set aside on a plate with paper towel or newspaper when it is done
    • 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 1-2 minutes. Careful not to burn it.
    • Add in the onions and green pepper chunks and cook it for about 2 minutes. We want to keep the veggies somewhat crisp still, so do not overcook the peppers.
    • Give the sauce a quick stir (the corn starch likes to settle at the bottom) and add it to the pan.
    • Keep stirring the sauce until it thickens and becomes thick.
    • Once the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat.
    • Add in chicken and mix everything together until the chicken is coated with the sauce
    • Enjoy it with some rice! 🙂

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Serving | Calories: 574kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 53g | Fat: 25g | Sodium: 2129mg | Sugar: 10g

    *Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

    Did you try this recipe?I'd love to hear from you! Let me know how it was and consider giving it a rating! Tag me on Instagram with @pupswithchopsticks to show me!

    Disclaimer: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no costs to you. These earnings help maintain and keep our little blog running.  While I appreciate the support – please always try to buy your items locally to support your local shops (chances are they are cheaper locally as well!) 🙂

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Joycelyn says

      December 20, 2020 at 3:23 am

      Could you let me know how much oil is needed to fry the chicken? Couldn't seem to find it in your ingredient list. Thank you

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        December 22, 2020 at 11:21 am

        Hi Joycelyn,

        I usually use a deep fryer to deep fry, but if you are using a pan and frying over the stove, then I would be enough oil the cover the meat when you are putting the meat in the pan. Just make sure you don't put all the meat in at once, or it will clump together. Deep fry each piece separately and don't over crowd the pan. Hope that helps!

        Reply
        • Joycelyn says

          December 22, 2020 at 1:37 pm

          Yes, I will be using a pan on the stove as I don't have a deep fryer so appreciate you taking the time to respond.
          Best of the season to you
          Stay well

          Reply
    2. Raymond says

      December 11, 2020 at 2:32 pm

      5 stars
      Made this tonight. It was fab-u-lous!! Made a couple of substitutions. Ground ginger as I didn't have fresh. Chilli flakes instead of fresh. CBA to go out on a wet, cold December night so used store cupboard ingredients. The result was still excellent. Thanks for the recipe x

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        December 22, 2020 at 11:08 am

        Hi Raymond,
        I'm so happy this turned out for you and you liked it! 😊 I'm very happy to share! I wouldn't go out on a wet cold December night either so I totally get ya! haha!

        Reply
    3. barbie says

      November 23, 2020 at 4:04 am

      5 stars
      Thank u so much for sharing this recipe. It came out to be very tasty.

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        November 24, 2020 at 3:18 pm

        Hi Barbie!
        Yay! I am so happy you enjoyed it!!

        Reply
    4. Aleeza says

      August 19, 2020 at 7:56 pm

      5 stars
      Amazing recipe!

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        September 29, 2020 at 3:39 pm

        Hi Aleeza!
        Yay, so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂

        Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        September 29, 2020 at 4:08 pm

        Hi Aleeza!
        So happy you enjoyed these!

        Reply
    5. Rashida says

      July 03, 2020 at 9:59 am

      The best I’ve had in ages

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        September 29, 2020 at 3:38 pm

        Hi Rashida!
        I'm so happy you liked it!

        Reply
    6. Rashida says

      July 03, 2020 at 9:49 am

      I loved it

      Reply
    7. Mo Purk says

      June 27, 2020 at 4:40 pm

      5 stars
      This is the best chili chicken recipe I have come across. The dark soy sauce is a game changer 💯. Thank you do much for sharing!
      Also, I add one tsp fish sauce to the main sauce. Gives it a nice touch of flavour.

      Reply
      • Joyce Lee says

        July 03, 2020 at 2:27 pm

        Hi Mo Purk,

        I'm so happy you liked it!! Amazing idea about adding the fish sauce! I need to try this next time I make it! 🙂

        Reply
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