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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Nummy, quick and ea
sy peasy delicious chicken. I love alone so I ate the WHOLE recipe by myself.
Making today for my daughter’s Sweet 16! Her choice of birthday dinner 2 years in a row!
What exactly do you use for the hot sauce and the sweet chili sauce?
My husbands favorite dish for Super Bowl Sunday!
Loved this recipe s much. My husband and son said “best chicken ever!”
We made a poke bowl with diced avocados,cucumbers, carrots, radishes rice and cashews!
So amazing!
Just an additional note – I am a HUGE fan of your site and made sure my son had it on his list when he moved out!! The next one to leave the nest will also be bookmarking LOL
Thank you!
This was soooo good everyone loved it, I always brine my chicken before I fry and I added a little garlic powder to the batter. We reheated it in the oven the next night and it was still light crispy and jucy.
Do you have a link for the brine?
Great recipe! Picky teens actually didn’t give it the stink eye! Ask for it often. That’s amazing right there! Thank you.
I just made this meal for my family today. AMAZING! My husband loved it! The recipe was super simple and did not require a lot of ingredients. Win, Win, Chicken Dinner 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
FABULOUS!!! Great flavor, really enjoyed. It is a definite keeper. Thank you
Love this recipe! I’ve cooked it many many times!
These are sooooooooo good. However, all the recipes we’ve tried of yours are keepers. What are the little green specks in yours?
I think parsley? You could top with green onions too 🙂
Anxious to try this… does anyone know how long I would cook in air fryer? Thank you!
I read on another recipe for this specifically for the air frys, it says if you cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces, cook them 4-5 minutes on each side at 375 degrees in the air fryer.
This is SOOOO good. Even if you don’t use the sauce.
Excellent really crispy n juicy
Love it. I think I made the chicken bites a little small so they cooked faster but that is home cooking. I did make extra of the sauce as many said you should and we did love it. My other half had the leftovers 2 nights later when I was under the weather. Tonight we are using a new batch of sauce with crusted baked fish. I think it will be awesome.
Truly damn delicious and fun to make.
I made this today. It was fantastic. Myself, my husband and my grandson, loved it. The sauce was fantastic. I made enough bang bang chicken to send home with my grandson for my daughter and her family. However, we had eaten all the sauce I made with our chicken so I had to make more to send to her home. I suggest to everyone, make a double or triple recipe of the sauce. It’s wonderful.
Agreed! I made a double batch of the sauce as well, as I found it wasn’t enough. So delicious!
You this recipe all the time. Very delicious. The sauce can also go with anything 🙂
Really good, tasty and crispy. I cut the chicken breasts into chunks 1 1/2″ to 2″ chunks a bit larger than recipe, which of course takes an extra minute or so. Used coarse sea salt on the raw chicken chunks before dipping into the batter. Also added more Frank’s into the batter. The previous reviews are correct, make double the sauce, it is good (also added more Frank’s). Will definitely keep this recipe. Thanks!
First time making bang bang chicken and it was fantastic. I added half a teaspoon of rice vinegar to balance out the sweetness of the sauce. I also marinated the chicken for 8 hours in the buttermilk to tenderize it before cooking it. I served it on a tortilla with a quick slaw for bang bang chicken tacos. Super easy and super delish!
I’m glad I used chicken tenders, I can only imagine how tedious and time-consuming it would be to use little chunks of chicken! Tasted great tho, everyone loved it.