Extra crispy, full of flavour this Salt and Pepper Chicken tingles the taste buds and keeps you wanting more. They are salty, spicy and super aromatic. I'm showing you how to make this Chinese takeout easily at home.
Another Chinese take out favourite and with that I'm hitting a trilogy with veg manchurian, dragon chicken and now salt and pepper chicken. I swear I didn't plan this, but I'm glad it happened. Because you can never have enough Chinese food!
If you love this moreish dish, you are going to love making it at home even more. Its fast, easy, gives you crispy chicken and takes less than 30 minutes to put it together.
It's a dry chinese chicken dish that needs only a few ingredients, but like so many simple dishes, the flavours are awesome. The salt and pepper, onion and capsicum, ginger and garlic and a few sauces come together to leave your tongue tingling and really wanting more.
Ingredients for Salt and Pepper Chicken
Here are the main ingredients you'll need:
Chicken Thighs: Highly recommend choose chicken thighs over breasts. Thighs withstand the high cooking temperatures from deep frying and don't dry out, leaving you with really juicy bites of chicken. Cut into 1.25 inch square pieces
Batter: The batter is made of cornflour, rice flour, egg, salt and pepper. A combination of cornflour and rice flour gives it a nice crispy coating and makes the batter really light
Aromatics: Ginger, garlic, celery, onions and capsium (green bell peppers). No chillies here, but the caosicum adds some spiciness without the heat
Sauces: Just soy sauce and vinegar for a little umami and acidity. Its just enough to coat the chicken without making it soggy
Step by Step Recipe
1. Add all the ingredients for the batter into a bowl along with the chicken
2. Mix everything together so that the batter coats the chicken pieces
3. Deep fry in medium hot oil for a few minutes, moving the chicken around so that it fries evenly
4. Fry until golden brown and crispy. Then remove it on a tissue lined plate and set aside
5. Heat a wok and add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped ginger, garlic and celery and stir fry on high heat for a few seconds
6. Add the sliced onions and capsicum and stir fry again till they are just starting to soften but still crunchy. About a minute or two
7. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce and vinegar and give it a mix. Don't skimp on the pepper!
8. Add the chicken and toss it together till it's evenly coated and serve immemdiately!
This dish comes together so fast and it's a great way to satisfy those chinese takeout cravings! Because it's deep fried, I recommend serving it immediately. This does not make for great leftovers. But I doubt you'll even have that problem. Because who are you even if you are not picking bits and bobs straight off the wok!
Richa's Top Tips
- Use chicken thighs or chicken wings for this recipe. Because these are deep fried, chicken breast will become dry and stringy
- If you have some time, marinade the chicken for 30 mins-1 hour. If not, you can mix everything together for the chicken and let it sit for 10 minutes while you prep everything else
- There are very few ingredients in this recipe, so use the best and freshest
- Prep everything in advance, before you start cooking. This is a really quick recipe and the stir frying takes less than 5 minutes so you won't have time to chop anything later
- Use any neutral flavoured oil for deep frying - I generally use canola oil, rice bran oil or sunflower oil
- Deep fry the chicken on medium high heat. If you are using a thermometer, deep fry at 180C/356F
And that's it - quick, simple and easy!
Because this salt and pepper chicken is a dry dish, I usually pair it with a gravy like veg manchurian and my popular egg fried rice recipe. You can never go wrong with this combination!
More Chinese Takeout Recipes
Watch the Recipe Video
Salt and Pepper Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade
- 450 Grams Chicken Thigh boneless, skinless cut into 1.25 inch squares
- 1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
- 1-2 Teaspoons Black Pepper freshly ground
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Egg beaten and divided
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Corn Flour
- 1 ½ Tablespoon Rice Flour
- 2 tablespoons Oil for frying
Stir Fry
- 2 Tablespoons Oil
- 1 ½ Tablespoons finely chopped Garlic
- 1 ½ Tablespoons finely chopped Ginger
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped Celery
- 1 Onion sliced
- 1 small Capsicum (Green Bell Pepper) cut into strips
- 1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
- ½ Teaspoon Vinegar
- 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper freshly ground
- Spring Onion Greens chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Add all the marinade ingredients into a mixing bowl. Use a pair of tongs or spoons to mix well. Ensure there are no lumps of flour. Set aside while you prep everything else
- Heat oil in a deep pan, kadai or wok. Heat enough oil for deep frying the chicken pieces. Once hot, carefully add the marinated chicken pieces into the oil one at a time. Allow to fry on medium high heat for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the pan using a skimmer or a slotted spoon and transfer to a towel lined plate. Set aside.
Stir Fry
- Heat oil in a wok on high heat. Once hot, add garlic, ginger and celery. Fry on high heat for 45 seconds to a minute
- Add onion and capsicum and sauté on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, black pepper and the fried chicken pieces.
- Toss to combine and mix well. Sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add chopped spring onions and serve hot.
Video
Notes
- Use chicken thighs or chicken wings for this recipe. Because these are deep fried, chicken breast will become dry and stringy
- If you have some time, marinade the chicken for 30 mins-1 hour. If not, you can mix everything together for the chicken and let it sit for 10 minutes while you prep everything else
- There are very few ingredients in this recipe, so use the best and freshest
- Prep everything in advance, before you start cooking. This is a really quick recipe and the stir frying takes less than 5 minutes so you won't have time to chop anything later
- Use any neutral flavoured oil for deep frying - I generally use canola oil, rice bran oil or sunflower oil
- Deep fry the chicken on medium high heat. If you are using a thermometer, deep fry at 180C/356F
Buwule Francis says
Your dishes are really amazing.
Richa says
Thank you!
Mahnoor Shabeer says
Easy & yummy recipe. Must try it goes well with fried rice & noodles.