Crispy Honey Chicken
Ingredients
For the chicken
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
1⁄2 cup cornstarch
1⁄4 cup all purpose flour
For the sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1-2 teaspoons sriracha (I used 1 teaspoon, which was nice.)
1⁄4 cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon sesame oil
1⁄4 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Oil for frying (Peanut oil and vegetable oil both work well.)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
Instructions
1. Toss chicken with egg in large bowl. Mix salt, pepper, cornstarch, and flour in a small bowl and add to chicken mixture. Stir well to coat chicken.
2. Heat 1-inch of oil in large pot over medium-high heat. (I use a Dutch oven for this.) Once oil is hot, working in batches, fry chicken until cooked through and crisp, about 8-10 minutes per batch. Be careful not to crowd the chicken in the pot and allow the oil to heat fully between batches. (My chicken took 5-6 batches.) Drain chicken on paper towels or sieve and set aside.
3. Mix all sauce ingredients, stirring well to dissolve sugar and incorporate cornstarch.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté, stirring, until onions have started to soften. Stir sauce to recombine and add to saucepan. Stir until thickened and add chicken. Stir until chicken is well coated and serve over rice and/or vegetables, as desired.
Note: If serving with stir-fried vegetables, cook the veggies between steps 3 and 4. Once vegetables are cooked, remove to bowl. Add vegetables back to sauce when you add the chicken in step 4.
Comments
This is another great recipe inspired by the fantastic Crepes of Wrath. The flavors in the dish, thanks to the honey, remind me of the sesame chicken I’ve gotten in restaurants. The recipe came together very easily, the frying is the most time consuming part of the meal.
I make a number of recipes that start off with frying coated chicken. I know, from my earlier experiments with Orange Chicken, that I can fry the chicken the day before and keep it in the fridge until ready to use with no degradation in flavor. I’m beginning to wonder if I could fry up a large batch of chicken and freeze it in recipe-sized containers. Then I could just pull out a container and skip right to the sauce/vegetable part of the dish. Hmm..
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