Salt and Pepper Chicken
Salt and pepper chicken is a must have recipe in your fakeaway recipe rotation. It’s time to make tasty salt and pepper chicken thighs the maplewoodroad way!
Servings: 2
Calories: 1354kcal
Ingredients
- 15 ounces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 2 hot peppers, finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 5 scallions, chopped in ½-inch pieces
- Basil (optional)
Instructions
- Before heating the pan, have all the ingredients measured, chopped, and ready to go.
- Chop the onions, hot peppers, garlic, and scallions.
- Mix the Five Spice and cornstarch in a bowl.
- Chop about 15 ounces of boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. Make sure they’re dry so the spice/cornstarch mixture will be evenly distributed.
- Add the chopped chicken to the bowl with the spices and toss in the mixture. Use your hands to really rub the mixture into every nook and cranny of the chicken pieces.
- Heat about one cup of neutral vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat. The idea here is to have enough oil that it covers the bottom of the pan by about ¼ inch.
- Fry the chicken in batches if necessary. You don’t want them to touch each other in the pan. Depending on the size of the chicken pieces, it takes about 5 to 7 minutes to be fully cooked. If you’re not sure if they’re done, take one out and cut it in half. Better to check than to guess.
- When the chicken is done, place on a plate with a paper towel.
- Drain excess oil from the pan, but leave about one tablespoon. Bring to high heat.
- Add onion and hot peppers to the pan and stir for two minutes.
- Add the garlic, scallion, and a pinch of salt (⅛ teaspoon) to the pan for one minute.
- Finally, toss in the cooked chicken, mix it all together, and you’re done!
Notes
- Grinding spices: The easiest way to grind all the ingredients is to use a coffee bean grinder, which works fantastic. And after grinding the spices - but before cleaning the grinder - immediately grind some coffee beans to make a very intriguing batch of five-spice coffee grounds. Absolutely delicious. Tip: If you don’t have a coffee bean grinder at home, you can also use a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients, but this will take a little longer.
- Hot oil: How do you know when your oil is hot enough to start frying, without using a thermometer? Stick the end of a wooden spoon in the oil. When bubbles start to form around the wooden handle, it’s ready.
- Peppers: If you don’t like it spicy, replace the hot peppers with bell peppers.
- Suggestion: If you enjoy this, then you're gonna love our Chinese beef and broccoli!
Nutrition
Calories: 1354kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 119g | Sodium: 3692mg | Potassium: 938mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 805IU | Vitamin C: 77mg | Calcium: 107mg