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.
Winner, winner very tasty will make again. I doubled the chicken recipe and tried your sweet and sour on the other batch. You know, us girls get bored. Both were great.
Does the chicken get soggy? Just wondering if it stays crispy. Can’t wait to try.
Not really – it should stay nice and crisp if served immediately. 🙂
Your Amazing, I use your recipes to feed my 3 kids and they dont like alot of food but they love all your foods. You Rock!
Just made this. It is DELICIOUS! This is a keeper. Love your site 🙂
Loved this recipe!! So easy to make and it was soooo good. Thanks for sharing 🙂
This was so so yummy!! My whole family loved it, even my 4 & 7 year olds gobbled it up. It’s a tad on the spicy side for the kiddos, but a drizzle of honey before serving tamed the spice on theirs. I also made 1 1/2 times the sauce because we like lots of sauce. Wonderful recipe!!!! It will definitely be a repeater! Thank you! I can’t wait to try some of your other Asian recipes.
Love this recipe! Had it out at a restaurant with my girlfriend but there’s a better satisfaction of making it at home and enjoying!
I made this tonight and it was amazing. The only changes I made was I used chicken thighs and doubled the sauce. I served it over white rice and the whole family loved it.
Our son found the recipe online. The Firecracker Chicken is simply delicious!! My husband even likes it, however I have to make him whole grain rice. I am making a double recipe this weekend. I follow the recipe listed. Making the chicken is a little labour intensive…So I made my chicken ahead of time. Now I just have to make the sauce and pop the pan in the oven. Thank you for such a lovely recipe.
I wondering if this is something I can make in my crock pot?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide: http://www.thekitchn.com/5-tips-for-converting-recipes-to-the-slow-cooker-189343.
Love this recipe! I’ve made it four times. When I don’t have a lot of time I skip the egg and cornstarch steps and just fry the chicken in a pan and then put it in the oven with the sauce. Still tastes great!
I make this about once a week using siracha sauce instead of buffalo sauce. Sooooo good. I actually can’t even imagine eating it with buffalo sauce. That seems weird to me. I also use the Skinny Taste’s chicken nugget recipe for the chicken and then top the chicken and some steamed broccoli with the sauce over white rice. It’s amazing. I have tried quite a few of your recipes and have yet to be disappointed!
I just had to write and let you know how AWESOME this dish is!! Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!!!! I am learning to cook and my husband hasn’t loved anything I have made yet…(we’ve been married for a year and a half) but tonight he was so excited and had multiple servings! He told me to put this recipe on rotation. Yay! Thanks again!!!!!!
P.S. We won’t have to order takeout ever again-this is SO much tastier!!!
Hey! I love your recipes! I was wondering if I could use less sugar in this one to make it low carb friendly. I’m already using cauliflower rice instead. How could I balance out the flavors? Thanks!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot advise how to change the recipe by using less sugar. Please use your best judgment.
Made this for Chinese New year for my hubby and I using only two chicken breasts. Prob for that reason it took the sauce a little lonģer to thicken up. I also only had franks hot sauce. Even with all that, this was absolutely gorgeous. The perfect balance of sweet and spicy. I aldo added in some soy sauce which I loved. This is definitely how I’m going to cook chinese chicken dishes from now on. I think this type of dish is also great for entertaining as you can do all the prep work in advance and have it in the oven as guests arrive!
We made this last night and OH. MY. GOD. it was delicious!!! I’m the worst cook ever and I could manage this dish. The family was so impressed! We did add extra red pepper for a little extra kick. So yummy! Thank you!
Made this tonight it was AMAZING!!! Little sweet little spicy kick. So SO Good!! Worth the time it took to make!! Even my husband said he loved the sauce and we should have it again. Maybe do this with wings for the Superbowl this weekend!! Love this website!! It’s finally got me cooking at home and not grabbing fast food
Hey boo,
What are the nutrition facts on this? Love your recipe index! Made several dishes from it
Nutritional information is provided only for select and new recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, it is best that you use free online resources at your discretion (you can gooogle “nutritional calculator”) to obtain such information.
I tried this recipe about two months ago and it is now a house favorite!! I make this once a week for myself and my husband and it is so unbelievably delicious! I am not a huge fan of spicy foods but you can hold off on the red pepper or add more if you love hotter foods. Thank you, Damn Delicious for a yummy dish!
I cooked this recipe on Friday night and it went down an absolute treat! We like our food pretty spicy so i added half Franks Buffalo sauce and half Franks Original Sauce – it was delicious! I honestly can’t rave about it enough. Thank you for introducing the recipe into my life!