Firecracker Chicken
The most amazing combination of sweet and spicy flavors that tastes a million times better than take-out!
I’ve been seeing this “firecracker chicken” all over Pinterest, and you know how much I love recreating take-out dishes, so I just had to give this a try. I honestly wasn’t expecting much since I’m not the biggest fan of buffalo sauce but boy, was I wrong.
This firecracker chicken has the most amazing combination of and sweet and spicy flavors, with a hint of tanginess and zing from the buffalo sauce. And if you’re not the biggest fan of heat, you can certainly add more sugar to balance it out.
And it’s so easy to whip up! The method is just like my baked sweet and sour chicken – a quick cook in hot oil and then into the oven for about 45 minutes to let all those amazing flavors soak right in. You can serve it over rice or even some quinoa. Either way, this will be in constant rotation at our house because there’s no way that take-out can beat this!
Firecracker Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 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
For the sauce
- ¾ cup Imperial Sugar Light Brown Sugar
- ⅓ cup buffalo sauce, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9×13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- To make the sauce, whisk together sugar, buffalo sauce, vinegar, salt, red pepper flakes and 1 tablespoon water in a large bowl; set aside.
- 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 saucepan. 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. Top with buffalo sauce mixture. 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.
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar. All opinions expressed are my own.
I just cooked this recipe and it was amazing ! I was scared it might be too spicy for me -since I was making this specifically for my father- but it turned out I liked it better than him. Might try with more buffalo sauce next time. Thanks !
Wow! This was such a yummy meal. I broiled the meat instead of baking it for 45 mins because the prep time took longer than I anticipated. It turned out great!
I made this last week. I forgot the buffalo sauce when I went shopping, so I used sriracha chili sauce instead. It was AMAZING! Making again tonight.
Made this the other night — crazy, crazy good. We are gluten-free and loved this dish, as well as many others you have posted. Thanks for all the great recipes –love your site!
Hi ! This sounds great I was just wondering, as a vegetarian. if the cornstarch-egg method would work on vegetables ? thanks!
I actually haven’t tried it myself but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
This looks fabulous, and completely adaptable to my lo-sodium diet. Question is… do you think this could be made ahead of time and frozen? Maybe coat and fry, and then freeze in the sauce so all you have to do is thaw and bake?
Mandy, unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself. I recommend using your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I will let you know! 🙂 Thanks for the quick response!
I’ve made this twice in the past week!! Family loves it. I added a little extra apple cider vinegar though the 2nd time to make a little more sauce.
Just made it, came upon by luck. My lucky day for sure. It was delicious, easy, and delicious again. Family loved it too. Thank you.
I made this tonight, I loved it! The sauce has perfect amount of heat. I used two chicken breasts and I doubled the amount of sauce. It is a bit time-consuming dipping the pieces and then frying them a few at a time, but it is worth it! I love your site, the design is beautiful, I will be trying more of your recipes for sure!
This is the most amazing and delicious chicken dish i make these days. It’s a staple in my house, and I have to triple the recipe so there are leftovers. The only thing I do different is I cook with boneless chicken thighs because they are the best and most flavorful (says Gordon Ramsey…and I agree with him totally). Thanks for this!!!! Love love LOVE it
I made this for dinner and my youngest son ate the whole pan practically by himself! This was after watching me make the sauce and saying he didn’t think he would be eating any. Chinese isn’t his favorite food. Well he loved this and so did everyone else. Thank you! Julie
This is amazing. While making it I told myself I wouldn’t do it again because it’s a bit putsy (And I don’t have a dishwasher) but I take it back. I would totally do it again. I love the “fake fried” aspect and the sweet/spicy. It’s so tasty! Thank you!
This recipe is a keeper!! I did tweak it slightly. I just chopped up chicken and placed it in a large ziplock bag with flour and shook to coat all the pieces. Then pan fried I’m a little oil until browned. I added a quarter cup apple cider vinegar and a water cup water to sauce. This gave me more of it and balanced out the flavors I think. The vinegar cooks out you don’t taste it. Then I baked at 375 for 30 minutes. Pieces browned up nicely this way. Oh and I used Frank’s red hot that’s what i had. Fantastic flavor! Just enough of a kick. Definately worth a try.
This was so easy to make and the flavor was awesome! My husband and I have had to move to a tiny town and the Chinese food in town is awful, so happy to be able to create some fabulous recipes right at home! Can’t wait to try another!
I’ve made this dish 2x now – and it’s absolutely delicious!! I did have a tough time finding Buffalo Sauce – but I found that Walmart carries it. Great stuff! Never cooked with Buffalo Sauce before — Great dish!! Great recipes! Keep em coming.
Made this recipe just as you instructed, no substitutions, and it was soo good!! My boyfriend loved it, definitely going in the recipe box! Thanks, thanks!!
Thank you for this great tasty recipe. My whole family loved it. Will be making it again.
Made this today and it was delicious! I ate so much that I’m miserable!
Yum! Spicy and sweet–what’s not to love? Teenage son absolutely loved this but hubby wanted more sauce when I served it on white rice. Will double the sauce next time and both should be pleased. Thanks for a great tasting recipe with easy instructions.
You’ve done it AGAIN! I can’t say enough how perfect the flavors are in this dish. I got a little nutty and used a mix of plain Greek yogurt and skim milk instead of the eggs before frying, and while it didn’t turn out as crispy as traditional take-out, the flavor did not suffer. Two thumbs up from our house!
This was so damn good!! My husband and I love it!!!