Are you in need of easy party appetizer ideas for the busy fall and holiday season? This crispy and sticky garlic chicken recipe is just what you’re looking for!
Who loves a good appetizer?! I most definitely do. Here, I’m breading nuggets of chicken breast to fry in a skillet. Then I’m covering them in a sweet Asian inspired glaze with garlic, honey and soy sauce – so, so good!
Also, just as an aside… I say appetizer, but really? They work just as well for dinner over rice!
Tips and tricks
make sure to bread the chicken exactly as outlined in the recipe below – this is the BEST way for a crispy coating that actually sticks.
if you’d rather bake the chicken, feel free to follow the steps in my baked chicken nuggets (click here for the recipe). Then, coat the baked nuggets in the sauce from this recipe!
if you’re put off by fish sauce, just skip it! You can also use a little bit of Worcestershire sauce in its place, if you want.
Serving suggestions
If you serve these as a party appetizer, you don’t need much with them! Sprinkle them with chopped cilantro or chopped green onion if you like.
For dinner, we enjoy these with a big salad and rice. Click here for my Coleslaw recipe, or here for my cucumber salad.
More appetizers
Sticky BBQ Slow Cooker Meatballs
Crockpot BBQ Little Smokies
Baked Honey Wings
Bacon Wrapped Dates with Pecans and Goat Cheese
PSIf you try this recipe, please leavea review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along onPinterest,FacebookorInstagram.
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Crispy Garlic Chicken
Crispy chicken is tossed with a sticky and garlicky sauce to make a better-than-take-out dinner!
1poundboneless skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks
½cupflour
3eggs
½cupbreadcrumbs
Oil for frying
Instructions
To Make the Sauce
Add all sauce ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until starting to thicken. Set aside until all the chicken is done.
To Make the Chicken
Pat the chicken dry. To a shallow dish add the flour. Whisk the eggs together in a second dish and put the breadcrumbs into a third. To bread the chicken coat it first with flour, then with eggs and finally with breadcrumbs. (For a more thorough tutorial on how to correctly bread chicken to give it a nice crispy coating check out this post.
Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium high heat. Add oil and cook the chicken in batches for 6-8 minutes or until golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through on the inside.
To Assemble
Add all the cooked chicken into the pan and pour the sauce over it. Toss until everything is coated and the sauce has thickened to a syrupy consistency.
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About Nora When I got married to my professional chef husband, I realized I had to step up my game in the kitchen. Now I share my favorite foolproof family recipes here on Savory Nothings: Chef-approved, kid-vetted and easy enough for everyday home cooks like you and me! Learn more.
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Comments
KRHsays
Thanks for the great recipe! I have been looking for a good crispy garlic chicken and I think this is the one I’ll be using for a while. I did make the chicken a little differently (baked instead of fried) but it turned out wonderful and the sauce was great!
Try Fontana's method for “blanching” fried chicken: Heat oil to 250 degrees and cook chicken breasts for about five minutes, or bone-in chicken for about 12 minutes. Let them rest for 15 to 20 minutes, then fry again, two to three minutes for breasts or five minutes for bone-in.
My not-so-secret tip to the best fried chicken is a combination of FLOUR, CORNSTARCH, and BAKING POWDER. When mixed with the flour, the cornstarch makes the flour coating crispier and gives it that golden brown color! (It has to do with prevention of gluten development.)
That trick is a sprinkling of baking powder, and it'll get you the crispiest, crackliest bites of fatty, salty skin imaginable, whether you're cooking just one thigh, a plate of wings, or an entire bird. Baking powder, it turns out, is good for quite a lot more than baking.
Low Temperature: Baking chicken at too low a temperature can result in a lack of crispiness. To achieve crispy chicken skin, bake the chicken at a higher temperature, typically between 375°F to 425°F (190°C to 220°C), depending on the recipe and the size of the chicken pieces.
The baking powder raises the pH of the surface, allowing it to crisp better*), and tossing in plain cornstarch to absorb some surface moisture and create a rougher texture for the batter to adhere to. *See more on the science of baking powder and chicken wings in this article on oven-fried buffalo wings.
It may sounds unappealing, but coating chicken wings in seasoned baking powder is what makes the skin super crispy. You won't taste it in the end results, so long as you use aluminium-free. To be clear, make sure you use baking powder, NOT baking soda, because there is a big difference!
Both flour and cornstarch are used to coat chicken, fish, and vegetables before deep-frying. Cornstarch typically makes for a crispier finish than flour. Cornstarch absorbs moisture from the food and expands, giving deep-fried foods a crispy coating.
If you already have a favorite fried chicken recipe, try replacing a quarter of the flour with cornstarch. For example, instead of 2 cups of all-purpose flour use 1 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of cornstarch. If you are looking for a good recipe, we highly recommend this one.
Substitute each teaspoon (5 grams) of baking powder in the recipe with 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) vinegar. Summary: Each teaspoon (5 grams) of baking powder can be replaced with a 1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) baking soda and a 1/2 teaspoon vinegar.
Cornstarch: not baking powder and certainly not baking soda – read why below. Kosher Salt: or fine sea salt. Chicken Wings: drumettes and flats separated (look for 'party wings' at the grocery store)
Tossing your meat or vegetables in cornstarch (and maybe a little bit of flour) can help ensure a crunchy exterior when pan-frying, and when deep-frying, cornstarch creates a perfect golden color that flour alone can't accomplish.
One of the things I like best about a roasted bird is the crispy skin. You won't get crispy skin if you cover the chicken with foil. Doing so will trap moisture, giving you pale soggy skin. Most chickens aren't so large they won't cook completely without burning on the outside.
Chicken skin will be crispy if you roast it uncovered at 450 degrees until it's done (about an hour depending on size). If you want it to taste really good then do as Adam says and put pats of butter underneath the skin and then salt and pepper the whole thing, inside and out.
I like to cool any leftover chicken completely and then store in a paper towel-lined airtight container in the fridge. The paper towel absorbs condensation and keeps that chicken crisp for midnight snacking.
Both substances pull moisture out of the skin. But baking powder has additional powers. It prods some of the skin's proteins and fat to break down, which, combined with its alkalinity, accelerates the Maillard reaction, for skin that browns and crisps more quickly.
The chicken is then air-dried for 10 to 12 hours before being flash-fried, then oil-poached. The skin gets its signature crispiness from 10 to 12 minutes of basting with scalding hot oil right before serving.
The secret to succulent fried chicken starts with a marinade or brine, which keeps the chicken at its peak juiciness. Fried chicken traditionalists generally choose a buttermilk marinade while others swear by a brine, which is a mixture of sugar, salt and sometimes spices dissolved into water.
Introduction: My name is Jeremiah Abshire, I am a outstanding, kind, clever, hilarious, curious, hilarious, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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