Who doesn’t like a quick and easy-peasy takeaway recipe for family and friends to try at home? I bet everyone wants such a recipe! Even I was in search of takeaway recipes for years. And, here I’m, back with one of the easiest takeaway recipes you would ever get, the salt and pepper chicken recipe. You can whip up this recipe within a few minutes in the simplest way. It could also be your go-to takeaway dish for both dinner and parties.
The salt and pepper recipe, also known as Chinese salt and pepper chicken, is widely available in all your local Chinese restaurants and is very popular all over America. This recipe yields savory, and flavorsome meals loaded with fresh green vegetables and a ton of spices.
In fact, the crispy, crunchy and bite-sized chicken onions, along with the peppers, are so addictive and offer such a pleasant and distinctive smell that the taste will linger for months! I assure you, with this recipe, you can prepare a dish far better than your local takeaway at your home.
Salt and Pepper Chicken Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken thigh, boneless (150g)
- For starch, cornflour, or potato (1 cup)
- Sweet onion (1 medium-size onion)
- Spring onion (2-3 onions)
- Ginger slice (3 slices)
- Garlic cloves (3 cloves)
- Green or red bell peppers (1 pepper)
- For frying, oil (as per your preference)
To marinate the chicken:
- Black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
- Sesame oil (1/2 teaspoon)
- Garlic and ginger paste (1 teaspoon)
- To taste, salt (1/2 teaspoon)
For the spice mix:
- Chinese five spices (1/4 teaspoon)
- Black pepper (1/2 teaspoon)
- Dashi powder or chicken powder (1/2 teaspoon; optional)
- To taste, salt (1/2 teaspoon)
Swap Ingredients:
- You can swap away black pepper easily and add chilies.
- If you want a hotter or non-spicy finish, you can use Thai chilies.
Salt and Pepper Chicken Recipe Directions
Marinating and coating the chicken pieces:
- At the outset, divide the chicken into small (bite-sized) pieces. Then marinate the chicken pieces with garlic ginger paste, salt, black pepper, and sesame oil.
- Now, take the marinated chicken out and dredge with starch (corn flour or potato) finely. Toss to get rid of the excess flour efficiently.
Preparing the spice mix:
- Chop the onion into thin slices and pepper into thinner, matchstick-size slices. Then make ¼ inch pieces by slicing the spring onions along with garlic. Better if you can cut the ginger into thinner slices.
- Then, in a medium bowl, blend all the spice ingredients. Now set the bowl aside for the time being.
Cooking the chicken slices:
- Start with preheating the wok, after filling with oil to 350-degree Fahrenheit.
- Place the coated chicken on the preheated wok and give it 1.5-2 minutes to deep fry the chicken. When the chicken begins to float, take them down from the wok and set them aside.
Pro tip: Always spread the coated chicken in a single layer. Overlapping will result in partially cooked chicken. I recommend going for if need be, two or more batches.
- Now turn off the wok and clear the oil by taking out the remaining crumbs from the coated chicken. Again, turn on the wok and reheat to 350-degree Fahrenheit. Place the chicken pieces on the wok and keep cooking until they turn golden brown, and become crispy.
- When you have fried all the chicken pieces again, remove them from the wok after straining the oil properly. Set aside into the cooling rack.
- Now, in a pan or wok, drizzle oil (1 tablespoon maximum) and, stirring continuously, add up the garlic and ginger slices. Then stir for a few more seconds and then add up the pepper and onion slice into the pan/wok. Fry for 1.5-2 minutes, stirring continuously.
- Then add up the already fried chicken to the pan/wok and mix them well with the present ingredients. After that, finish the cooking process by adding the spring onion and sprinkling the mix of spices.
- At last, transfer the cooked chicken pieces to your serving plate.
- If you have any black pepper and sea salt left, sprinkle them (optional) over the chicken and they are ready to serve.
This salt and pepper chicken can be served as a separate or main meal, or with other ingredients. But all you need to do is serve the dish as soon as possible.
Try more fast and simple chicken recipes
Air fryer frozen chicken tenders
Air fry chicken nuggets
Air fryer frozen chicken tenders
How to Serve
It goes fine with steamed rice, or you can stir fry noddle in the chicken as well. But I have served it a bit differently a few times, which has turned out to be divine every time: Serve this dish with a little peri peri mayo after wrapping with salad leaves.
You can also serve this meal by making it a part of the Chinese Banquet by utilizing the following ingredients/meals:
- Prawn toast
- Chicken fried rice or special fried rice
- Plum sauce with crispy duck
- Spare ribs, preferably oven-baked
Recipe Notes
- Please be aware that it is a very salty dish, which is why it is totally moreish. But if you don’t like it this much salty, you can use low sodium salt. Another trick is to serve it as a side dish in small portions instead of serving as a main meal in big portions.
- You can utilize a small amount of chicken powder to make taste-alike restaurant-made salt and pepper chicken.
- You can use skinless chicken thighs if you want, but they must be boneless for the optimal result.
Tips and Tricks
You can reduce the recipe to half or make it double with the same amount of ingredients, except the oil for frying.
- To reduce the recipe to half, you may use a little less oil.
- But for doubling the recipe, which is, of course, 3-4 batches. You will need at least 1 cup of oil.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, you can make it ahead but for only a day, up to 20-24 hours at most. Although it is best to eat the recipe when cooked and hot, when it remains most crunch because of the chicken coating; yet, reheating won’t compromise the taste much.
To reheat, use a little oil on the cooking pan and fry for 6-7 minutes, till the chicken become hot throughout.
So, to conclude, the salted pepper chicken recipe just requires you to slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and you are halfway ahead! Then marinate the chicken pieces and keep following the institutions along with pro tips. This recipe is so easy to make that, you would want to prepare it again and again in your comfort zone.
So why waiting? Get the ingredients ready and get set to treat your family and dearest ones within minutes. And let me knew if you have any concerns regarding this recipe!