This Sweet Chili Chicken is such a tasty and easy recipe to make. Crispy chicken breast pieces coated in delicious sweet chili sauce. This dish has such amazing flavors, it will surely become your go to meal for busy weeknights!
There’s something so tempting about this recipe that I find just finger-lickin’ delicious! I absolutely love these types of easy dishes that require so little effort, while the result is brilliant. The chicken is first fried to a crispy perfection, then beautifully coated with the most satisfying sweet chili sauce you’d ever tasted.
Sweet Chili Chicken
- Simple Pantry Ingredients
- Easy to Follow Instructions
- Finger-Lickin’ Flavors
- Quick and Ready In Under 30 Minutes
This recipe is one that the whole family will enjoy to the very last bite. The sauce will coat everything so perfectly that every nook and cranny will be filled with the amazing sweet chili taste! I love to garnish it with some sliced chili peppers and green onions to boost up the flavors even more!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken – Boneless skinless breast is what I used but boneless skinless chicken thighs work well too.
- Cornstarch and Flour – This is key to make our chicken crispy while we fry it. Rather than batter our chicken we will toss it till it’s fully coated.
- Sweet Chili Sauce – The staple to our dish.
- Lime Juice – freshly squeezed to combine with the coating sauce.
- Garlic – Lots of freshly minced garlic.
- Onions – Thinly sliced green onions to use for garnish.
- Chili– Thinly sliced red chili to add a bit of spice to our chicken.
How To Make Sweet Chili Chicken
- Prep the chicken: In a large shallow plate, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt together. Dredge the chicken through the flour mixture and set aside.
- Fry the chicken: To a large skillet, add about ½ to ¾ inch of oil and heat it until it’s at 350°F. Add the chicken to the skillet, make sure the pieces don’t touch each other and fry on both sides until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
- Make the sauce: Discard all the oil from the skillet and add the sesame oil and butter and heat until the butter has melted. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until aromatic on low heat. Add the remaining sauce ingredients to the skillet, stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Toss the chicken with the sauce: Transfer all the chicken to the skillet, toss well so the chicken is well coated and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes over low heat or until the chicken is heated through.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with green onions and red chilies and serve.
FAQ’s and Expert Tips
FAQ’s
Definitely! Go ahead and substitute the chicken breast with boneless skinless thighs. You can cut them into strips or into bite size pieces.
It’s actually not spicy at all. The spiciness of the sauce is low to mild, it’s the chili peppers used as garnish that actually add a bit of heat to the dish, so if you can always omit them, if you don’t want any heat at all.
As a side dish to this delicious recipe you can add steamed basmati rice, homemade fried rice, buttery egg pasta or even mashed potatoes.
Tips
- After you fry the chicken, make sure you place a paper towel on the plate to soak up any extra oil and to leave the chicken nice and crispy.
- Don’t overcook the chicken, you just want to cook it until golden brown and crispy.
- Make sure to season to your taste. If you find the flavor to be not as bold as you’d like, go ahead and add more spices to the sauce.
Leftovers
Fridge
Store leftover sweet chili chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Freezer
Freeze this in an airtight containers for up to 3 months! Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge before heating back up in the oven, on the stove, or on the microwave.
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Sweet Chili Chicken
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 lb chicken breast boneless and skinless, cut into long strips, 1-inch wide
- vegetable oil for frying
Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed
- 4 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 2 tbsp honey
Garnish
- 2 green onions sliced
- 1 red chili sliced
Instructions
- Prep the chicken: In a large shallow plate, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt together. Dredge the chicken through the flour mixture and set aside.
- Fry the chicken: To a large skillet, add about ½ to ¾ inch of oil and heat it until it's at 350°F. Add the chicken to the skillet, make sure the pieces don't touch each other and fry on both sides until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
- Make the sauce: Discard all the oil from the skillet and add the sesame oil and butter and heat until the butter has melted. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until aromatic on low heat. Add the remaining sauce ingredients to the skillet, stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Toss the chicken with the sauce: Transfer all the chicken to the skillet, toss well so the chicken is well coated and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes over low heat or until the chicken is heated through.
- Garnish and serve: Garnish with green onions and red chilies and serve.
Recipe Notes
- After you fry the chicken, make sure you place a paper towel on the plate to soak up any extra oil and to leave the chicken nice and crispy.
- Don’t overcook the chicken, you just want to cook it until golden brown and crispy.
- Make sure to season to your taste. If you find the flavor to be not as bold as you’d like, go ahead and add more spices to the sauce.
- Store leftover sweet chili chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
- Freeze this in an airtight containers for up to 3 months! Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge before heating back up in the oven, on the stove, or on the microwave.
Can this made in an air fryer
Hi Sue,
I don’t believe this recipe would work in the air fryer due to the texture and thickness of the sauce.
Thanks!
This was really good! I love sweet chili sauce but usually it’s too sweet by itself. I haven’t been able to find a recipe that was quite right.
This is it!! Adding the soy sauce and lime juice was just what it needed!
The only only thing I did different was to double the sauce and add extra dried chili to spice it up a bit more and served it over rice.
Delicious!
Sounds so good! We are glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have to have the flour or can you use just the cornstarch? I can’t have gluten. If it must be something more, what about oat flour or sorghum flour? Thanks in advance!
Hi Nora,
Yes you can definitely substitute the regular flour with a gluten-free option of your choice.
Let us know how you enjoyed it!
What are “Red Chillies”? All the chillies I see in the grocery store have names. The only “Red” I see in the store tend to have a very high Scoville value.
Thai red chilies, but you can use whatever spicy red chilies you can find, doesn’t really matter.
so yummy!! i love it! i ll definitely try it!!