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.
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.
I have tried a few of your recipes, they don’t disappoint, for this one, since we like really spiced I will ‘tweet’ it..
If you want to kick the spice up a notch, use Thai Garlic Chili Sauce. I would also add the juice of one fresh lime. Enjoy
Could this be made with Shrimp instead?
Yes, absolutely! But you will have to adjust cooking time as needed.
Would you say halve the cooking time for shrimp?
Unfortunately without further recipe testing, I cannot advise on cooking time. Please use your best judgment.
Has anyone made this using Sriracha instead of Frank’s Hot Sauce or Buffalo Sauce? Do you think it would be too hot?
I do not recommend substituting Sriracha for the buffalo sauce as it may be too spicy to consume. You can always add 1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha though for that extra touch of heat.
I wish that I had read your reply before I made this dish, but it looked so good and I couldn’t wait to try the recipe. I didn’t have buffalo sauce, so I used the Sriracha. WOW . . . it carried some heat!! If you are one of the people that love really, really hot food like my son, then use the Sriracha. Personally, I like a good dose of heat, but it was just too hot for my liking. It was absolutely delicious though. Next time I make it, I will use your suggestion of just adding 1-2 tablespoons of Sriracha to buffalo sauce. Thanks you for your reply!
DELISH! Perfect mix of spicy and sweet and wonderful over white rice. The baking of the chicken and sauce was perfect, thickened up the sauce nicely, 3 out of 3 recipes that I made
From this website have been 5 stars, thank you
I just tried this tonight. I will say it had some kick to it I loved it my boyfriend said it wasn’t his favorite……:-)
Man this looks amazing. I need to try it!
I ended up making a separate buffalo sauce recipe that I found online then adding it into this sauce! I just wanted to say that I made this for my family and they literally all loved it! Were practically licking their plates afterwards. I made it with some pretty generic egg fried rice and it went really nicely with this 🙂 !
Thanks for sharing, this recipe was fantastic. Couldn’t find buffalo sauce in Australia but did find frank’s red hot sauce at my local supermarket. Leftovers were even better the next day. Love your website
Hi Nellie
What supermarket did you find Franks’ Red sauce … I live over in WA …
Thanks
Made this dish last night and it was soooooooo yummy!! I’ll definately be making this again and again! 🙂 Your recipes and pictures are wonderful!
I couldn’t actually find a sauce at the Superstore that said “buffalo sauce”. Maybe it’s because I live in Canada, I don’t know. So just out of curiosity when you say buffalo sauce, do you mean making buffalo sauce and then adding that to this, or actually going out and buying it? I could literally find nothing!
I used Frank’s Red Hot – do you have access to that in your grocery store? If not, you can always purchase it from amazon.
Assuming you mean buffalo wing sauce by “buffalo sauce” , President’s Choice makes it and I buy it at the Superstore all the time.
We used franks buffalo wing sauce. You should find it in the condiment aisle. Look for any wing sauce. Or you can get cayenne pepper sauce and mix with 1/2 a stick of butter to make your own buffalo sauce.
Oh my gosh do I ever need to make this!