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).
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar. All opinions expressed are my own.
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!!!
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.