Easy Chilli Chicken {Gluten Free}

A tasty and easy Chilli Chicken recipe with step by step instructions and images. This Indian Chinese comfort food is the perfect weeknight dinner when craving a Chinese takeaway because it’s ready in only 20 minutes. It is suitable for people following a gluten-free diet.

If you are looking for the easiest and best EVER Chilli Chicken recipe then you have come to the right place. I will show you a simple straightforward recipe with step-by-step images that gives you perfect results every single time.

Want to know the best part?

This easy Chilli Chicken is ready in only 20 mins. Yeap, you heard that right. 20 mins and some pantry staples to make this restaurant quality takeaway dish from the comfort of your own home. Plus, you know what is in it and you get to season it to your taste. So…….

What is Chilli Chicken?

Chilli Chicken is one of those stunning Indian Chinese Chicken Recipes in which fried golden crispy chicken pieces are coated in a sweet chilli chicken gravy that is just indescribably moreish. Great for when you want some a quick weeknight dinner, Asian comfort food or when you’ve got guests coming round for a well deserved Chinese takeaway treat.

This dry Chilli Chicken recipe can be adapted to add more veg like broccoli to your taste. I adapt and change it every time I cook it – it all depends what food I have in the larder.

However, the basic bits remain. Deep fried chicken, battered with nice Indian and Chinese flavours; some veg and a delicious chilli sauce, flash-fried at the end and coating the chicken and veg. And chilli of course.

Chilli Chicken Tools

So gather all your ingredients and let me show you…..

How To Make Chilli Chicken

Stage 1. The Crispy Chicken

Beat the egg lightly with a fork, and mix in the soy sauce and the sweet chilli sauce.

Then pour it over the chicken pieces and let them sit in the mixture for 20 minutes or so to absorb some of the flavours.

Then lay out the flour onto a plate and roll the egged chicken onto it, to coat the chicken pieces.

Meanwhile, you will have brought the oil for deep-frying up to the right temperature (when a piece of batter dropped in goes brown in only a few seconds).

Cook the chicken pieces till they are golden brown. (If this golden chicken appeals to you, try my Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe too.) Do this in batches so that the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop too much (the cold chicken always reduces the temperature a bit and if you deep fry too cold, the food gets very oily). Drain and set aside.

Stage 2. The Veggies

Cut the onions into half rings, and the pepper into slices.

Fry these in a pan (or wok) together for about ten minutes, until the onion is soft. Set aside.

Stage 3. How To Make Chilli Chicken Gravy

Heat up a spoonful of oil in your frying pan (or wok) till it is almost smoking hot.

Then throw in the garlic, ginger, chilli and spring onion and stir-fry for 30 seconds.

Then pour in the other gravy ingredients. They will start to bubble almost immediately.

Stage 4. The Chilli Chicken

Once the sauce bubbles then quickly add the veg and chicken to the chilli chicken gravy and stir till the sauce covers them, and the dish is heated through. You are done.

And – The output

Writing this makes me think that this is a whole load of work. But it isn’t. The whole dish is done and dusted within 20 minutes – that’s the same length of time your rice takes to cook, so it is pretty efficient.

And this is actually a pretty versatile dish.  So if you take out the lemon you get a sweeter dish (still good), or if you take out the sweet chilli sauce you get a slightly sharper dish (again, still good).

Chilli Chicken Recipe Tips

• You can also use leftover chicken for this but in that case please do skip the batter bit as you would end up with overcooked meat.
• Try and cut the chicken pieces to the same size so that they cook at the same rate.
• Fry the coated chicken pieces in small batches so that they fry fast, rather than bring down the temperature of the pan or wok and start steaming.
• Different soy sauces have a different flavour profile so you may need to change play around with the amount you add to the dish.
• My Indian inlaw sometimes brines the chicken before she pan fries it like this to preserve maximum moisture. You might want to try that too.

Chilli Chicken Gravy

This is a Chicken Chilli dry recipe where the chicken is coated in a little bit of gravy. If you prefer a more Chicken Chilli gravy version, then simply double or triple the spicy chilli sauce and you are good to go.

Spicy Chilli Chicken recipe

You can make a spicy Chilli Chicken depending on the amount or type of chilli you add in. If making it for the kids I tend to just add the milder sweet chilli sauce. If however making it for adults you can add both the chilli sauce and the green chillis. Use the milder larger green chillis for less heat or the smaller hotter chillis for more heat add more to your taste.

To Serve With Chilli Chicken

You can serve this Chilli Chicken dry recipe with some

Instant Pot Brown Rice

Instant Pot Sweet Potato.

Instant Pot Rice (4 ways).

Garlic Green Beans.

Chilli Chicken Stir-fry

Making Chilli Chicken stir-fry instead is a great idea and is super easy. Double or triple the spicy sauce and add some quick cooking stir-fry vegetables like mangetout, baby sweet corn and matchstick carrots in the final few mins of cooking the peppers and onions.

Thank you for reading my Chilli Chicken dry recipe. And please come visit again as I continue dreaming up recipes, traditional African recipes, African fusion recipes, Sierra Leone recipes, travel plans and much more for you. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, UK food blog.

Originally published in October 2017.

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5 from 8 votes

Easy Chilli Chicken Recipe

An easy Chilli Chicken recipe with step by step instructions and images. This Indian Chinese comfort food is the perfect weeknight dinner when craving a Chinese takeaway because it’s ready in only 20 minutes. Gluten-free.

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Main

Cuisine: asian, Chinese, Indian

Servings: 4

Calories: 247kcal

Author: Bintu Hardy

Ingredients

The chicken

• ▢ 450 g (1 lb) chicken thigh cut into 1-2cm pieces
• ▢ Marinade
• ▢ 1 egg beaten
• ▢ 2 tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• ▢ corn flour for dusting
• ▢ Oil for deep frying

Vegetables

• ▢ 2 tsp oil
• ▢ 2 onions peeled and sliced
• ▢ 1 pepper deseeded and sliced

Sauce

• ▢ 2 spring onion scallions, sliced
• ▢ 1 tsp green sliced green chilli or to taste
• ▢ 1/2 tsp garlic paste
• ▢ 1/2 tsp ginger paste
• ▢ 2 tbps lemon juice
• ▢ 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• ▢ 2 tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 1 tsp honey
• ▢ 2 spring onion sliced

Instructions

• Add the chicken pieces into a large bowl and set aside.
• Mix the marinade ingredients aka egg, soy sauce and chilli sauce in a small bowl, and add to the chicken and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.
• Then lay out the corn flour onto a plate and roll the egged chicken onto it, to coat the chicken pieces.
• Heat the oil in a pot for deep frying.
• Cook the chicken pieces till they are golden brown. Do this in batches so that the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop too much, which results in oily chicken. Drain and set aside somewhere warm.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan or wok and fry the onions and pepper for about 10 mins, until the onion is soft. Remove and set aside.
• Heat 1 tsp of oil in your frying pan till it is almost smoking hot. Then throw in the garlic, ginger, chilli and spring onion and stir-fry for 30 secs. Then quickly mix together the rest of the sauce ingredients and pour in the pan, and stir as these will start to bubble almost immediately.
• Once the sauce bubbles then quickly return the veg and chicken to the pan and stir till the sauce covers them, and the dish is heated through. You are done.

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Notes

Chilli Chicken Recipe Tips

You can also use leftover chicken for this but in that case please do skip the batter bit as you would end up with overcooked meat.

Try and cut the chicken pieces to the same size so that they cook at the same rate.

Different soy sauces have a different flavour profile so you may need to change play around with the amount you add to the dish.

My Indian inlaw sometimes brines the chicken before she pan fries it like this to preserve maximum moisture. You might want to try that too.

To Serve With Chilli Chicken

You can serve this Chilli Chicken with some

Instant Pot Brown Rice

Instant Pot Rice (4 ways).

Garlic Green Beans.

Nutrition

Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 147mg | Sodium: 1282mg | Potassium: 457mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 205IU | Vitamin C: 12.1mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 1.8mg