Easy Chilli Chicken {Chinese Takeout-Inspired}

This Easy Chilli Chicken offers a lighter spin on your favourite Chinese takeout, with the perfect blend of sweet and spicy  flavours!

How to make chilli chicken

1. Marinade the chicken.
2. Sauté the chicken in a large frying pan until browned.
3. Add in the green pepper and onions and cook until softened.
4. Make the stir fry sauce.
5. Toss the chicken mixture in the sauce and let it thicken.
6. Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

Ingredients and substitutions

• Chicken breasts – turkey, pork or beef would also be great in this recipe.
• Cornstarch – arrowroot or potato starch could be used instead.
• Baking soda -you could also use baking powder, but it's a lot milder than the baking soda.
• Canola oil – or any other neutral oil like olive, grapeseed or avocado oil.
• Yellow onion – white or red onions would also work.
• Green pepper – you could also substitute for red pepper (or any other colour bell pepper).
• Green onions – chives or shallots can be used, or you can leave out the green onions.
• Dried chillis – optional.
• Soy sauce – tamari or coconut aminos are the next best alternatives.
• Sweet chilli sauce – if you don't have any on hand, hot sauce and honey can be used in a pinch.
• Sambal oelek (chili sauce) – Sriracha will still give you the right amount of heat.
• Garlic – you can use fresh or jarred minced garlic. I find that fresh minced garlic has the best flavour.
• Jasmine rice – use your favourite kind of rice, quinoa or rice noodles instead.
• Butter – you could also use a little bit of olive oil or margarine to make the rice moister.

What to serve with chilli chicken

I like serving this chilli chicken recipe with Jasmine rice, but you can use whatever kind of rice you have on hand. Rice noodles and quinoa are also good options! The dish is super filling, so you won't need to serve it with anything else on the side.

Chillli chicken sauce

It’s easy to make your own stir fry sauce with a few pantry items! Here's what you need to make the sauce for this chilli chicken:

• Soy sauce (or tamari/coconut aminos if you need it to be gluten free)
• Sweet chili sauce (Made from a base of red chili peppers and rice wine vinegar, this is a common Thai condiment and takes the edge off the heat in my version of this recipe)
• Sambal oelek (This is made from a variety of chili peppers. Sriracha is good alternative if you have trouble finding sambal oelek in your local store.)
• Minced garlic

Whisk the ingredients well to combine.

Why marinate chicken in baking soda?

The first step of this chilli chicken recipe is to allow the chicken to sit in a mixture of cornstarch and baking soda for about ten minutes.

Baking soda raises the pH level of the chicken, which jump starts the browning process. The chicken pieces will get browner and crisper after a quick baking soda soak then they normally would. You’ll have chicken with a crisper coating without using flour.

While it ensures that the exterior will be crispy, it keeps the interior of the meat super moist.

The cornstarch will act to thicken the sauce during cooking and provide a kind of “breading” for the chicken.

Storing and reheating

You can refrigerate chilli chicken for about five days, so it's perfect for meal prepping for the week!

You can reheat it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, but it will lose the crisp edges from pan frying the chicken. If it’s available to you, the best way to reheat this is to warm it in a pan with a little bit of oil, just like you cooked it.

If you love your new homemade stir fry sauce, you can make a larger batch of it and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks in a mason jar. Use it to spice up any meat or veggie you have on hand!

Freezing chilli chicken

You can freeze this chilli chicken recipe too! If you plan to use it as a freezer meal, undercook the veggies so they don’t get mushy in the freezer.

You’ll want to freeze the chicken and rice separately. The chicken will last for three months in the freezer. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

Rice is fantastic in the freezer. It should be used within a month. Rice is so easy to make in a large batch on the stove or in the Instant Pot. So don’t be afraid to make extra and freeze what is left. You can reheat rice directly from the freezer. Pop it in the microwave, sprinkle it with a bit of water and cover it with a paper towel to keep in the moisture.

You can also freeze just the stir fry sauce. Store it in an airtight container or bag and freeze for up to three months. Let it thaw completely before tossing with your chilli chicken.

More stir fry recipes

• Korean Bibimbap 
• Sweet Chili Chicken Bowls
• Easiest Beef Stir Fry

Meal prep tools for this recipe

• Order some dried chillies here
• Order some sambal oelek if you have trouble finding it in stores
• Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into your weekly lunches.
• I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
• Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months