Bang Bang Chicken
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Amazingly crisp chicken bites drizzled with sweet chili mayo – so good, you’ll want to double or triple the recipe!
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So our move back to Los Angeles has officially begun. The movers came yesterday and after 8 very long hours, they packed everything into a truck and started making their way down south. We will be meeting them at our new place on Monday but until then, we will be cruising along the California coast with our puppy. We’re both so excited since this is our first family trip with Butters!
But before we leave San Francisco, I just had to share this bang bang chicken recipe because it is really the best chicken recipe ever. No joke.
Now it’s a super simple recipe that comes together in less than 30 min. Easy peasy. All that takes time is coating the chicken in Panko and throwing it in the skillet until it gets that wonderfully golden brown crispness. From there, all you have to do is drizzle on that epic sweet chili mayo and you’re set!
The sauce is so good, you’ll want to eat it with a spoon!
Bang Bang Chicken
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 sweet chili sauce
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons Frank’s Hot Sauce
Instructions
- BUTTERMILK MIXTURE: 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 BUTTERMILK MIXTURE, then dredge in Panko, pressing to coat.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat until it registers 360 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer.
- 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.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with sweet chili sauce, garnished with parsley, if desired.
for the sweet chili sauce
- Whisk together mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and Frank’s Hot Sauce in a small bowl.
Video
Notes
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Making this tonight..question about cooking time…is it 2-3 minutes per side for the chicken? Don’t want it to be undercooked. Based on everyone’s comments I can’t wait to make this!
I recommend 2-3 minutes total, but as always, please use your best judgment.
I made this tonight. It was delicious! I crown you Queen of Sauces. They are always so good. And this one was no exception. I made mine with white rice and some crispy rice noodles because I had some to use up and I had the hot oil ready.
Looks amazing! Making it tonight! What would you suggest as a side dish?
Rice, brown rice, or even this quinoa veggie fried rice would be great accompaniments.
We made this tonight with drained, pressed and baked extra-firm tofu cubes and broccoli and used a non-stick pan with just a thin coating of oil. Only change was turning the tofu and broccoli a few times to brown all sides.
My honey was bad and I didn’t add any, but it was plenty sweet using sweet chili sauce. I’d marinate the tofu in some hot sauce for an hour or so next time, but that’s only because I like stuff spicy.
Made this today and it was absolute perfection! Loved it!!! Of course, especially loved the sauce.
I will say that I needed less batter (probably half) and more bread crumbs, but neither of those are a big deal and I’ll just keep that in mind next time I make it. Also, didn’t measure the oil (just went by how deep in the skillet), but pretty sure it was more than 1/2 cup; however, I don’t think I needed as much as I had in there.
Chungah, thank you for another marvelous recipe as well as for how politely you engaged someone as rude and ignorant as Joe on May 27, 2015. That says worlds of good things about you.
Addendum: The leftovers today had lost most, but not all, of their crunch. But they were still wonderful cold on a simple green salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber) with the leftover sauce as salad dressing. Almost as good as when originally made!
we are addicted to that sauce. and yes, it is good for a cold dip too : )
Can’t wait to make. Was wondering if the sauce would work as dip for cold shrimp. I need a chilled appetizer for this week.
It’s hard to say without trying it myself, although I feel that this sauce would really be best with a hot dish.
Just made this tonight and it was delicious. I followed the recipe exactly without changing anything and it was truly awesome! I even doubled the recipe as you suggested because I just knew this would be a huge hit! Thanks for all the wonderfully delicious recipes!
Just made this recipe tonight. Let me tell you something…I have 3 picky kids and I can count on 2 fingers the number of meals that everyone in our house gets excited about! They were all nervously hovering in the kitchen tonight as I was preparing to make this…they know a new recipe is usually bad news for them, well, because they Don’t. Like. Anything! Long story short, they all loved this chicken! I cried tears of joy when everyone gave it a thumbs up. Great recipe…so crunchy and the sauce is amazing!
For the Frank’s is it just regular Frank’s sauce or is it the buffalo? All I have is Frank’s Buffalo Sauce. Will that still work?
Frank’s Buffalo Sauce is perfect!
Okay no one else has mentioned so I’m starting to wonder if anyone has even tried this recipe. But 1/2 cup of starch and 3/4 a cup of flour to go with one egg and a cup of buttermilk?? That’s thick enough to make biscuits! There is absolutely no way you are breading anything with this recipe.
Also the picture doesn’t match the recipe. Which is scummy I gotta say.
Joe, the measurements are correct, and the picture matches the recipe exactly. Perhaps you should give the recipe a try first before commenting? There are also no tricks or “scumminess” as you state – I simply cook the recipe as written, take my pictures and post it for my readers. That’s it! If you also scroll through the 190+ comments here, you’ll find at least a dozen people who have tried this recipe as written. But thanks for your feedback!
I just wanted everyone that sees this recipe to know how awesome it is! I had tried Bang Bang shrimp at a restaurant and knew I had to find a recipe to make it at home. After searching many recipes, yours seemed the simplest and closest to what I had tried. I knew the sauce would be amazing because it is almost identical to my spicy mayo I make for sushi. However, your tempura/Panko chicken was a game changer! I have made tempura chicken before and it always got soggy pretty fast. Yours stays crispy even after pouring the sauce over it. This recipe is now in my Keeper file! Thanks so much!
Made this today, really very good – Crispy & crunchy. Yum! Will try baking it next time as another commenter did. Loved the sauce too. Enjoy your blog & enthusiasm. Have tried a couple of your other recipes, also yummy.
Made this for my kids tonight. Clean plates. Awesome recipe that I will be using again. Thanks for posting. It was definitely easy to make.
Hi, can i substitute heavy cream for buttermilk? Also, do you have an alt to the Frank’s hot sauce? i currently only have heavy cream and tapatio in my fridge and want to make this stat! thanks.
You can certainly try substituting heavy cream and tapatio but without further recipe testing, I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste/texture of the dish. Using a substitution(s) may also result in a mediocre outcome.
Is it possible to keep the chicken in the freezer after dredging in Panko and deep fry on the next day?
If you plan to cook the very next day, it is best left in the refrigerator, not the freezer.
I tried this recipe today & OMG it’s amazing! I used a garlic chilli sauce with garlic hot sauce along with the mayo & honey. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe! Loved it!
SO glad I happened upon your blog! This is the first time I’ve made your Bang Bang Chicken. It was easy to throw together on a weeknight. The chicken was flaky and crisp and OH MAN that sauce!
I made this tonight– HUGE HIT!! Have you reheated the chicken later (next day or the following)? Have you ever tried baking the chicken? I would love to reduce the hands-on time and improve the nutrition! For the record, it is worth the oil! Thank you so much for another fine recipe.
Unfortunately, I have not tried baking the recipe. As you said, it is worth the oil! There were also no leftovers to reheat – we gobbled up every single one of them as it hit the plate!
Great Recipe. Thanks