Firecracker Chicken
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Better-than-takeout firecracker chicken! Juicy crisp-tender chicken tossed in an irresistible sweet and spicy sauce (can also make it mild!).
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Why you’ll love firecracker chicken
- Faster and cheaper than takeout. Making this takeout favorite at home costs a fraction of restaurant prices using fresh, better-quality ingredients, requiring just 15-20 minutes of prep time.
- Bold, explosive flavors. Firecracker chicken has the most amazing combination of sweet and spicy flavors with a hint of tanginess and zing from the buffalo sauce. And it’s baked in the oven for about 45 minutes to let all those amazing flavors soak right into the juicy, tender bites of chicken.
- Ultra-crispy and tender chicken. The chicken pieces are coated in cornstarch and eggs first, creating a crunchy crust that stays crispy even after baking!
- Incredibly versatile recipe. You can easily adapt this recipe to make it mild or more spicy. You can also serve over a bed of vegetables, steamed rice, fried rice, or chow mein. No matter how it’s served, this will be a guaranteed family-favorite!
What is firecracker chicken?
Firecracker chicken is a popular Chinese-American takeout dish featuring crispy bite-sized chicken pieces coated in a sticky glaze that is sweet, spicy, and tangy. The dish is typically finished with sliced green onions and served over rice, noodles, or chow mein.
Key Ingredients
- Chicken: boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- Coating: cornstarch and beaten eggs
- Sauce: brown sugar, buffalo sauce (ex. Frank’s RedHot), apple cider vinegar, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes
- Garnish: green onions
How to make firecracker chicken
- Coat the chicken. Dice the chicken breasts or thighs into uniform 1-inch pieces and season with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken pieces with cornstarch until lightly coated, then dip each piece into the beaten eggs.
- Cook the chicken. Working in batches, cook the chicken in vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat until golden and crispy. Set aside with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Prep the sauce. Mix together the brown sugar, buffalo sauce, apple cider vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes, and water.
- Bake and stir. Place the chicken in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish, stirring in the sauce until each piece is well coated. Bake at 325°F for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the chicken is completely cooked through (internal temperature should reach 165°F).
- Serve. Sprinkle with green onions and serve warm over rice or noodles.
More asian takeout recipes to make at home
Tools For This Recipe
Firecracker Chicken: Frequently Asked Questions
The firecracker sauce is made from a blend of brown sugar for sweetness, buffalo hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot), apple cider vinegar for acidity, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Yes! Boneless, skinless chicken breasts will be leaner whereas chicken thighs will be much more forgiving and stay extra juicy.
This dish consists of a vibrant mix of sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors. It is similar to sweet and sour chicken with noticeably more of a spicy kick of heat.
Firecracker chicken does have a kick of heat to the dish but you can control the spice level by reducing the amount of hot sauce or omitting the red pepper flakes for milder flavors.
Pair with starches and vegetables that can soak up the sweet, spicy, and tangy glaze such as white rice, chow mein, or steamed broccoli and green beans.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, gently reheating on the stovetop with a splash of water or in the oven at 350°F until heated through.
Firecracker Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
For the firecracker sauce
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup buffalo sauce, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornstarch and gently toss to combine. Working one at a time, dip the chicken into the eggs.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Working in batches, add chicken and cook until golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; discard excess oil.
- Add chicken to prepared baking dish. Stir in the firecracker sauce until well combined. Place into oven and bake until the sauce has thickened, about 45 minutes, turning over every 15 minutes to evenly coat the chicken.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions, if desired.
For the firecracker sauce
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, buffalo sauce, vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon water.
Equipment
Notes
- Adjust the heat level. The signature firecracker sauce balances heat (hot sauce and red pepper flakes) with sweetness (brown sugar). Adjust the spice level by reducing or increasing the amount of hot sauce and red pepper flakes as needed.
- Stir every 15 minutes. The periodic stirring during baking will serve as a natural basting-step, evenly coating every piece of chicken with the sticky glaze.
- Pair with rice or noodles. Serve over steamed white rice, brown rice, or noodles (such as chow mein) to soak up the extra sauce.
- Reheat in the oven or stovetop. Gently reheat the leftover chicken on the stovetop with a splash of water or in the oven at 350°F until warmed through (to restore some of its crispness).
Did you make this recipe?
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar. All opinions expressed are my own.
My kids love this meal. It’s thier number one request. I altered a bit by using Siracha in place of the Buffalo suace. This adds some heat!!
Tried this for the first time and it is simply amazing. Now one of our firm favourites. Will be cooking this for our Christmas Eve buffet.
By far our favorite!! Always looking to try something new and this beats the restaurants !!
I made this for dinner last night and it was amazing! I have been craving Chinese food and this hit the spot! I have also used Damn Delicious recipe’s for sweet and sour chicken and orange chicken in the past. You seriously can not go wrong using any of her recipes! Everything turns out perfect and is always damn delicious!
My suggestion to anybody making this, is start it at least 2 hours before you want to have dinner. Frying the chicken took me about an hour, I think it would have been less time if I used a larger sauce pan though.
Thank you!!
I love the flavor. I just fried some chicken tenderloin in olive oil then put it in the sauce and let boil for a few minutes served over rice and some green onions as an experiment. Definitely would eat again!
We really enjoy this recipe. We have had it several times and always love it. But I have recently discovered an allergy to eggs. Does anyone know of a way to adjust this so it is egg free? Perhaps I could just omit them, but if there is another good replacement, I’m open to that! Thanks for any help you can give.
Quite delicious!
Made for the first time. It was amazing.
My hubs and I LOVE this recipe!!! It’s so so good – a great balance of sweet and spicy. We usually make it at least once a week!!! Thank you!
This recipe was amazing, and when I saw the looks on my families faces after I made this delicious treat it just lit up my day. Thank you for this recipe, and this was actually my first ever dinner that I made for my family. It takes a long time to make but boy was it worth it. It had the perfect contrast between sweet and spicy. I only for twenty minutes though because we were on a tight schedule. I’m not sure if it would have turned out better if I baked it for longer but it seemed perfect at twenty minutes to me.
I have made this recipe and it’s wonderful! Has anyone instead of frying in a pan can an air fryer for this stage .
Could you swap buffalo sauce for siracha or sweet chilli sauce?
I tried it, added about 3/4 siracha and 1/4 sweet chilli.. it is divine!
Ive got the dish in the oven now, but quick question. What did I do wrong with the chicken and oil. I had to grab a shield and eye wear!! The chicken was dry I have no idea what happened it was popping hot oil everywhere.
Hi Marlo,
I am curious if maybe you missed the dipping the chicken into the whisked egg?
I think the corn starch on the chicken might cause the oil to pop if the egg was not on it?
Honestly do not know, just wanted to try and help if I can.
This was great! I did not want to spend time dipping each piece of chicken in the eggs so I dumped the cornstarch coated chicken into the bowl of beaten eggs and stirred lightly . I can’t imagine it hurt the dish .
I did the same and worked great every time.
Made it tonight. I doubled the chicken, but I tripled the sauce (we like it saucy). Nothing Was left, I repeat, nothing. I even heard, “this is the best chicken I ever had.” So if you’re reading reviews to see if it’s worth making-just do it.
This has literally been my signature dish ever since making it for the first time over a year ago! I love to serve it with cashews and green onion on top along with rice and peas 🙂 Amazing recipe and everyone I’ve made it for absolutely loves it!!
My 16 year old son suggested we try this recipe just for something new. I was reluctant since I don’t love buffalo sauce but I have to say – this is INCREDIBLE tasting. It’s a fair amount of work (I’m an incredibly lazy cook) but it’s well worth it.
Absolutely delicious. so crispy. have never cooked chicken with cornstarch before this. Will make again and again.
Love this recipe. Both my boys think it’s better than any carryout they have had. At first the frying in batches, was going to be long and time consuming, I was wrong. They don’t take long at all and the outcome is damn delicious. Another hit Chungah, this one goes right up there with the lettuce wraps. Thank you
Can leftovers be frozen?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
A family favorite!