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 made this tonight, and it is delicious. I used the Frank’s Red Hot Sweet & Fiery Wing Sauce mixed with Buffalo Sauce. There was no need for sugar so I left that out. Amazing. I’m a fan.
I LOVE spicy food, but my husbands “baby mouth” as I call it does not do too well with foods that are too spicy. He always requests all sauces to be on the side – how would you rate the spiciness of this dish? Thanks! 🙂
It’s not all that spicy. There’s actually a great balance with the sweetness to offset the heat.
Added cubed canned pineapple chunks before baking. Amazing! Thanks.
I am in Australia and we dont have Buffalo Sauce. What could I use as I am dying to try this. We have a Hot Chilli Sauce would that do. If not what.
Wajan, you can certainly try making homemade buffalo sauce as I do not recommend using a hot chili sauce as a substitute.
What about Franks Red Hot Sauce. I have found my local Woolworths stock this. Would I have to add anything else to it.
Frank’s Red should work just fine! No need to add anything else.
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I tried this recipe a few weeks back and it was ahhh-mazing!! I’m making it again tonight and doubling the sauce because it’s just soooooo good!
I’m having trouble frying the chicken. The eggs keeps slipping off when I throw it into the saucepan. Any tips on this?
Tyler, it is best to completely shake off all excess egg drippings before throwing it into the skillet.
Thank you for your help with the honey. I made this tonight and I am always skeptical when I read comments and everyone says their family loved it. I have picky eatters and guess what….my family loved it. I made my buffalo sauce by melting butter and mixing it with hot sauce. It was a no name brand hot sauce but looked like Franks. I just melted a half stick of butter and poured about 1/3 cup of sauce and then just tweaked it till it tasted good. I will definitely make a double batch of sauce next time because there was no sauce in my dish after baking and I think it would be good oozing onto the rice. Chopped green onions, which are shown in the picture were the perfect touch too. Thanks for sharing this great recipe. P.S. I did find the process to be long and messy, but it was worth it.
I made this last night and used Franks Red Hot Pepper Sauce as that’s all I could find in a store in the UK.
Absolutely amazing and I have enough left for a generous sized portion this evening and I can’t wait to tuck in to it again! YUM!
I love the idea of swapping out the sugar for honey, but can you be more clear as to how much honey I shuold use instead of the sugar. I am super bad in math so the ratio 1:4 means nothing to me.
Thanks!
Daria, the general ratio of honey to sugar is 1:4. Now the recipe calls for 3/4 cup sugar so by following this ratio, you will be using 1/4th (or 25%) of 3/4 cup for honey.
I made this last week and was so excited to try it that I popped a straight-from-the-oven chunk of chicken in my mouth and promptly burned the roof of my mouth. The blister was painful but it was so worth it. Absolutely delicious! This is definitely a keeper!!
ps. I went with the sugar, as stated in the recipe, but think I’ll try swapping it out with honey as you’ve indicated above.
My husband said the word “sensational” more than once during dinner tonight!!! This one is a keeper!!!
This was AMAZING. I think I’ll make it for dinner every night. Seriously.
I’m really excited to try this recipe! One question though.. can I swap out the sugar for some honey and, if so, what amount would you suggest?
Yes, you can certainly use honey in place of sugar. The general ratio of honey to sugar is 1:4.
Thank you, that’s great to know!
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confused on the third step. What am I stirring my cornstarch into? A bowl of seasoned chicken? Could I sub flour rather than cornstarch?
Amanda, as the recipe states, you are stirring the cornstarch into the bowl of chicken that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.
“In a large bowl, season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornstarch and gently toss to combine.”
It is best to use cornstarch to obtain the best results possible.
I’m not a good cook usually at all. I just cooked this and WOW!!! Sooo so good! It’s really simple and not many ingredients at all! I’ll definitely start making this more often! Thanks a lot!!
I like to think I’m good at handling spice, so I used extra wing sauce and doubled the amount of red pepper flakes because I thought I could handle it. Whoops.
But delicious nonetheless, I’m making this (exactly how the recipe reads) for my girlfriend as a “Congrats on Finishing Finals” meal on Friday. Thank you.
Hey Chung-Ah!
I frequent your blog and don’t often comment on blogs in general, but I just felt compelled to do so today 🙂 I have made many of your recipes and just tried firecracker chicken tonight and OH MY GOD it was unbelievably delicious!!! My sister and I gobbled up the entire batch we made (we halved the recipe). I just wanted to say that I have NEVER had a bad recipe from this website (and I have made quite a few) You are one of the most consistently innovative cooking bloggers I have found with recipes that are easy for the average cook to make and perfect! Keep up the awesome posts, you will always have a reader in me!
Wow! This recipe was incredible! Not only was it easy to make, with very few required ingredients, but the taste was so delicious as well! Perfect amount of spice — Will definitely make again! Thanks! 🙂
I love a recipe with just a few ingredients. My cupboards and frig are already too crowded.