Bang Bang Chicken
by Chungah
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This bang bang chicken is a family-favorite dinner! Made with super crispy chicken bites and the dreamiest sweet and spicy bang bang sauce!
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Why you’ll love bang bang chicken
- 30 minute recipe. This recipe comes together in 30 minutes or less, making this an ideal candidate for quick, weeknight dinners for the whole family.
- The bang bang sauce is everything. The sauce is a simple mix of four ingredients – mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey, and hot sauce, yielding a creamy, sweet and spicy sauce to coat the perfectly crispy, golden brown chicken. The sauce is so good, you’ll want to eat it with a spoon!
- Can be served in so many ways. This is one of those great dishes that can serve so many purposes. For example, it can be served over steamed white rice, as a crowd-favorite appetizer, or even as tacos.
What is bang bang chicken?
This is a popular dish made with ultra-crispy bite-sized chicken tossed in a signature bang bang sauce.
The bang bang sauce consists of:
- Mayonnaise
- Sweet chili sauce
- Hot sauce (Frank’s RedHot or Sriracha)
- Honey or lime juice
How to make bang bang chicken
- Make the bang bang sauce. Whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey, and hot sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
- Prep the coating. Combine the buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, hot sauce, salt, and pepper.
- Coat the chicken. Dip each chicken piece into the buttermilk mixture before dredging in Panko, pressing to coat and shaking off any excess.
- Cook the chicken. Cook the Panko-coated chicken in a Dutch oven until golden brown, working in batches to avoid an overcrowded pan. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain the excess oil.
- Toss or drizzle. Toss (or drizzle) the cooked chicken with the bang bang sauce, adding as little or as much sauce as desired.
- Serve. Lastly, garnish with parsley, serving over a bed of steamed white rice or arrange on a platter with toothpicks.
Deep-frying tips to cook the chicken
Deep-frying chicken may seem a bit daunting, but with some attention to detail and these easy-to-follow tips, you’ll be making restaurant-quality (if not better!) bang bang chicken in no time.
- Use the right oil. Use vegetable or peanut oil, a neutral oil with a high smoke point.
- Maintain a consistent oil temperature. Use a clip-on deep-fry thermometer to monitor the oil closely, maintaining a steady temperature between 325 and 375°F.
- Work in small batches. Cook the chicken in small batches, about 5-6 pieces at a time.
- Let it rest on a wire rack. Let the chicken rest 5-10 minutes on a wire rack for even air circulation, achieving that perfect, shatteringly crispy coating.
How to serve bang bang chicken
Appetizer
Arrange the crispy chicken on a platter with toothpicks, serving the sauce on the side for dipping, if desired.
Bowls
Serve over white rice or jasmine rice with steamed broccoli.
Tacos or wraps
Spoon the chicken into warmed tortillas or bib (or butter) lettuce for lettuce wraps.
More bang bang recipes
Tools For This Recipe
Bang Bang Chicken: Frequently Asked Questions
Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store. While both panko and breadcrumbs can be used as a coating for fried foods, panko is much flakier and yields a crunchier, crispier texture.
Yes, there is a mild to medium kick of heat from the hot sauce. For milder flavors, reduce the amount of hot sauce, to taste.
Absolutely! The recipe works well with both chicken breasts or chicken thighs. Breasts are leaner whereas thighs will be juicier.
Store the chicken and the sauce separately in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-4 days, reheating the chicken in the oven or air fryer at 350°F until warmed through.
Bang Bang Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 cup Panko
- 3 cups vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
For the bang bang sauce
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons Frank’s Hot Sauce
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste.
- Working one at a time, dip chicken into the buttermilk mixture, then dredge in Panko, pressing to coat.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven to 350°F. Working in batches, add chicken to the Dutch oven and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; discard excess oil.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with bang bang sauce, garnished with parsley, if desired.
For the bang bang sauce
- Whisk together mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and Frank’s Hot Sauce in a small bowl.
Equipment
Notes
- Cut the chicken into similar-sized pieces. Whether you’re using chicken breasts or thighs, dice the chicken into similar bite-sized pieces (about 1-inch chunks) for even, consistent cooking throughout.
- Panko yields a flakier crust. Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb made from crustless white bread with much larger flakes than traditional breadcrumbs, yielding a crunchier, crispier texture.
- Check the temperature. Use a clip-on deep-fry thermometer to maintain a consistent oil temperature (about 325-375°F). If the oil goes past 375°F, the exterior will burn before the inside of the chicken is cooked, and if the oil is too cool, the chicken will absorb most of the oil, resulting in soggy, greasy chicken.
- Cook in batches. Cook the chicken in multiple batches as needed to avoid an overcrowded pan. An overcrowded pan will result in a drop in temperature, yielding soggy chicken instead.
- Sauce just before serving. This is crucial to avoiding soggy bang bang chicken. Toss or drizzle the cooked chicken with the bang bang sauce just before serving for maximum crispness.
- Prepare for leftovers. Store the chicken and bang bang sauce separately if preparing for leftovers to preserve the crisp texture of the chicken bites.
Did you make this recipe?
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This dinner is on repeat EVERYSINGLEWEEK! I absolutely love this chicken. SO crispy and yummy!!! Comes out perfect every time!
Do you think this would work in an air fryer?
I have used an air fryer to cook these and it works great!
What type of mayo did you use for this recipe?
Our new favorite chicken recipe! So different, yet easy as can be with delicious flavors.
What do you think about serving these cold for a picnic? Do you think they’d be good?
This was my first time making it, and it was absolutely amazing!
It did take me a while to get the chicken prepped for frying…but the end result was perfectly crispy chicken.
My son said the sauce tastes exactly like the one in the bang bang shrimp he had at a restaurant, and raved about.
Definitely will make again, and fry up some shrimp for my son.
Can i make the batter and put the chicken in it tonight if im making it tomorrow?
I was wondering this myself! It seems like you should be able to do that – I may give it a shot and see how it turns out!
Yes
I double checked the ingredients again to make sure those were the amounts I used. The sauce to dip the raw chicken was like paste. I had easily more than the amount of chicken called for, but I wound up rinsing a lot of it down the sink. It was so thick, the panko barely covered it. I’ll make half of the pre-dredge next time.
Making this with nugget-size chicken was SO tedious. Next time, I’m going to cut the breasts into thin cutlets.
All that aside, this was outstanding. Hubs went back for seconds, and it was hard not to eat as it came out of the coconut oil I used to fry it!
Can you cook this in an air fryer?
From what I’ve looked at a few recipes, if you do it smaller it should be air fried at 400. When it’s preheated, cook it for 10 minutes, then flip it and cook it for another 5 minutes.
This was so good! Crispy. The sauce was delicious! If you have no buttermilk on hand, use 1cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let stand 5 minutes before using.
I’ve never left a comment before, but this was truly “Damn Delicious”. I’ve made several of your recipes (always with my own twist) and they have all been so good. Thanks for all you do.
Family favorite!
Now I know the reason behind why Bang Bang chicken is so popular. That sauce! I want it literally on everything that I eat!
Tried this recipe tonight, and it came out great! Super crispy and tasty. Family loved the sauce as well. You definitely need more than a cup of panko breadcrumbs. Ran out, and needed to use plain breadcrumbs
Great recipe and it was delicious, but it took me an hour to both prep and cook everything. I’m not a novice at cooking, I was limited by my air fryer not having enough space for all the chicken. I used my kitchen scale to measure exactly 1 pound of chicken. I would make this again, but I would allow a lot more time from start to finish.
How long did you cook it in the air fryer? And at what temp?
Bang bang, WOW! This is an incredible dish – disappeared in minutes! Delicious with just the right kick. Thanks.
Tried this recipe. It was amazing. No problem getting the chicken crisp with this method. My fault, I over seasoned. It was still good!
I would like to know which of the Frank’s hot sauces did you use? Original, Spicy, Thick, Buffalo, so many to choose from. Thank you!
I made these last week with boneless chicken thighs, I doubled the sauce as recommended. These are the best, I’m going to make again this week. I am going to experiment and fry some and bake some to see what the difference is. I had left overs from last weeks and reheated in the air fryer and they were still great.
An update. I just made these again today, but I baked them instead of frying. I sprayed the bottom of the pan, I also put a little butter on a few pieces and some butter on the bottom of the pan. Baked at 425 degrees for 15 minutes flipped them over and baked for another 10 to 12 minutes. They turned out great.