Dry Chicken Chili

Discover the bold flavors of Chinese cuisine with our Dry Chicken Chili recipe, marrying tender marinated chicken with vibrant bell peppers, onions, and aromatic spices, creating a harmonious and fiery dish that’s perfect for spice enthusiasts and food lovers alike.

Elevate your culinary experience with this zesty and satisfying Chinese classic and make some delicious restaurant-style Chilli chicken at home to snack on like finger food with some beer, or serve as a complete dinner with some buttery rice.

Dry chilli chicken is considered to be an Indo-Chinese dish (very popular in India and Pakistan) with a perfect crisp of fried chicken, spicy kick from chili, and flavors from aromatic sauce and Asian staple ingredients like ginger, garlic, soya sauce, and topped with some sliced green onions.

There are a dry version and a recipe with gravy, and I’ll share how to make both, but also, how to make this recipe kid-friendly since the kids are not always good with spicy food but they love chicken nuggets and this is a hell of delicious take on crispy fried chicken bites!

Chilli or Chili?

First of all, both one and double L are the correct spelling of this dish name. Chili is a more American English version (chile being the Spanish word for the chili pepper), while chilli with two Ls is a British English spelling.

Ingredients Notes

The ingredients for this recipe mostly come from the Asian aisle of the supermarket, but trust me – it’s all worth it.

Besides, all the sauces we are going to use in the sauce mixture, you can use again in marinades and for stir-frying!

Chicken Marinade

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed or chicken julienne (sliced). Thighs are more tender than breasts but you can still use boneless chicken breasts, also cubed, or even pounded beforehand to make them softer.
• Soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is best to use as it gives that dark brown color to the cooked chicken, but it is also higher in sodium. If you need to watch your salt intake, swap it with lite soy sauce or use a mixture of both. I would highly recommend marinating chicken cubes in soy even beyond this recipe – you don’t need to add any salt and the flavor is just amazing, while the marinating time can be very short!
• Oyster sauce is actually optional, but I love adding it. It is made from oyster juices and has a sweet and salty, very unique taste, which is perfect for marinades.
• Seasoning: Chinese five-spice powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, and black pepper to taste. Fresh minced garlic or garlic paste has a stronger garlicky flavor if you prefer that. I would be very careful with added salt as all sauces are quite salty! Instead of pepper, you can also use a black pepper powder called Kali mirch powder. Fresh ginger is ok to use too, slice it for cooking.

Dry Chicken Chili

• Use vegetable oil to cook both marinated chicken pieces and peppers with sauce. Pick milf or flavorless oil to fry the chicken, like canola oil.
• Minced garlic or garlic paste. If I can I always add garlic to anything I make. I love the garlic flavor.
• Red bell pepper and Green bell pepper, thinly sliced. I make a non-spicy version of this dish with regular bell peppers. They are super flavorful, a bit sweet, and compliment the sauce perfectly.
• Onion, thinly sliced, adds tons of flavor, you can use white or red onion or even shallots – they are very common in Asian cuisine.
• Soy sauce can be substituted with Tamari.
• Hoisin sauce reminds soy sauce but has some added flavors like garlic or five spices, and sometimes also vinegar. It can be omitted, although I love how fragrant and packed with flavors the sauce mixture ends up.
• Rice vinegar really tenderizes the chicken and adds a distinctive tang to the dish. You can even use it for marinade.
• Sugar, optional, but I highly recommend adding it. The sweetness balances all the flavors and just works in this recipe. Trust me on this.
• Crushed red pepper flakes to a little spicy touch.
• Cornstarch slurry. It is 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water (for thickening).
• Green onions (spring onions), chopped, for garnish
• Sesame seeds, for garnish

Kitchen Equipment

• A wok is the best pan for stir-frying and deep-frying, but you can also use a large frying pan or a skillet.

How To Make This Dry Chicken Chili Recipe

1: Marinate The Chicken

1. Combine the chicken with soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese five-spice powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Stir well to coat the chicken evenly.
2. Cover and refrigerate to allow it to marinate for at least 15-20 minutes.

2: Fry The Chicken

1. Heat vegetable oil in a wok (just 1 tbsp) or large skillet over medium-high heat. The oil is hot enough when you insert a wooden spoon and it forms bubbles around it. If using a wok, the oil should cover around 1 cm (roughly 1/2 inch).
2. Add the marinated chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through. 
3. Remove the fried chicken from the pan using a slotted spoon and set it aside.

3: Cook The Dry Chili Sauce

1. In the same pan, add another tablespoon of vegetable oil. 
2. Add minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir-fry for one minute or until fragrant.
3. Add sliced red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and onion. Cook, stirring constantly, until the vegetables are tender yet crisp.

4: Assemble The Chilli Chicken Dish

1. Add fried chicken pieces back to the pan. 
2. Stir in soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar. Mix well to combine all the flavors.
3. Add the cornstarch-water mixture to thicken the sauce, stirring quickly to coat the chicken and vegetables evenly. Cook till the sauce thickens, usually for an additional minute.
4. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary. If you prefer a spicier dish, you can add more red pepper flakes at this point.
5. Transfer the Chinese Dry Chicken Chili to a serving dish. Add chopped green onions and sesame seeds for garnish and serve immediately.

What To Serve With Dry Chili Chicken

Serve hot over steamed rice, fried rice, or Hakka noodles.

• Chow mein noodles can be a good pairing.
• My instant pot cilantro rice.
• Stir-fry vegetarian noodles.
• Corn soups.

Storage

The dry chili chicken is perfect the day of but it can store well in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Unfortunately, dry chicken chili can not be frozen, it loses its texture.

Recipe Substitutions

• Firstly, you can easily swap chicken with beef strips for this recipe and it will be phe-no-me-nal! Sprinkle some spring onion on top and serve it.
• Add some sesame oil to the sauce. It has a nice earthy flavor and is very common in Chinese sauces.
• Try using red chili powder, ginger garlic paste, Kashmiri chilli powder, sichuan peppercorns, or tomato sauce in this recipe to change up the heat and flavors.

Dry Chicken Chili Recipe Variations

I made a dry chilli chicken version without using real green chili but the beauty of this recipe is that it is easy to customize and adjust the level of heat.

Chinese style is dry chili chicken, the Indian style may have bone-in chicken pieces, the Thai version

Chilli Chicken Without Frying

You can make chilli chicken without frying with less oil and cook it in batches in an air fryer at 375F for 8 minutes, shaking regularly, or in the oven at 400F for 25 minutes until crisp and golden on each side (you can turn them around and bake for another 5-8 minutes).

Extra Crispy Chicken Pieces

You can make the chicken crispier in 2 ways:

• You can make a very basic batter for chicken pieces to make them crispy on the outside. Just add cornstarch, flour, and some baking powder to the marinade mixture. Or mix some cornstarch, flour, and eggs in a small bowl and dip the cubed chicken after marinating it.
• Or you can double-fry it. It is literally mean frying it once, draining the oil, and frying the second time.

Spicy Dry Chilli Chicken With Chili

The base recipe will be the same, but we need to introduce green chilies and the heat. You can use:

• slit green chillies instead of green bell peppers. Green chilies are very healthy and depending on the variety can be mild or spicier, for ex., Poblanos are mild, jalapenos are quite spicy, and serrano peppers are extra hot. Keep the seeds to make the chilies hotter.
• red chili sauce
• dry chili powder
• chili oil

Gravy Chilli Chicken Gravy Version

gravy chilli chicken follows the same steps for frying chicken, but then instead of making just the sauce to toss the fried chicken in, we make gravy.

For gravy, we use all the same ingredients and stir fry them, but then we also add 1 full cup of water and cornstarch slurry to cook down the sauce and thicken it till it resembles a gravy.

Once it is thickened, we add fried chicken back, and cook for a few more minutes. Then serve as usual.

So the gravy version is much more saucy, that’s all the difference.

Chicken Marinades

• Spicy marinade: egg white, dark soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine or vinegar, ginger, garlic, baking soda (adds crispiness when you deep fry), chilli sauce, cornstarch or all-purpose flour. You can use both green or red chilli sauce, depending on the type of chili green can even be more spicy and it also has zero calories.
• Simple marinade: beaten egg, soy sauce, corn flour, salt, and pepper to taste.

Tips To Make The Best Dry Chicken Chili

• You can thin the sauce while cooking with a splash of chicken stock.
• To make the chicken extra tender you can try velveting technique – coat the chicken with baking soda and leave it for 20 minutes. Wash, pat dry, and start marinating.
• Egg whites help make the batter for deep frying the chicken pieces thicker and crispier. They also keep the chicken tender and moist.
• If you want a dark reddish color but use light soy sauce, you can mix in some paprika as a natural food coloring.
• To make sauce sweeter, you can mix in some regular tomato ketchup.
• When stir-frying chicken for chili, make sure to first heat oil in a wok.
• If you want to make it taste like real Asian street food, add a pinch of MSG.

Popular Questions

Soy Sauce vs. Hoisin Sauce vs. Oyster Sauce

So many sauces are often used in Chinese food and Asian cuisine in general. How are they different?

Soy sauce is made from fermented soya beans and salt and is mainly salty, oyster sauce is made of oyster juices, sugar and salt, and is much sweeter than soy sauce, and hoisin sauce is also salty and dark like soya sauce, but it has more flavors – garlicky and spices.

What Is The Chinese Name For Dry Chili Chicken?

Dry chili chicken is called Laziji in Chinese, but it is also known as firecracker chicken and Chongqing chicken.

What Is The Difference Between Chicken Chilli And Chicken 65?

Both chicken chili and Chicken 65 are Indian-Chinese dishes with deep-fried chicken cubes but Chicken 65 uses a lot of curry leaves and doesn’t have a soy-based sauce.

What Is The History Of Chilli Chicken?

There are no concrete facts, but chili chicken is a spicy Hakka-Chinese dish and it was probably first made in 1975 in Calcutta, India, and one man stands out as the recipe developer – Nelson Wang, an Indian restaurateur, who tried to marry Indian spices and Chinese cooking in one dish.

Is Chilli Chicken Healthy?

Chili chicken is high on sodium and is deep fried in oil, so it is not the healthiest takeout or home-cooked food. However, you can always make it healthier by using low-sodium sauce and using air fryer to fry the chicken to reduce the amount of oil you use.

If you love this easy dinner recipe, you’re going to love these other dinner favorites too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Spicy Dishes

Spicy Mac and Cheese

Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders

Green Chili

Hot Honey Chicken Wings

---

---