Crispy Salt and Pepper Chicken
Crispy Salt and Pepper Chicken is a popular dish that you can easily prepare at home. Spice up your life with this sizzling salt and pepper chicken recipe. It’s a perfect blend of heat and flavor with a colorful kick of red and green chilies!
I’m not sure if the best part of this dish is how quickly you can make it, or how amazing it tastes!
This chicken stir-fry meal is super easy and ready in under 30 minutes! The seasoned chicken is fried until crispy perfection.
This is one of my favorite things to order at Chinese restaurants, but you can have this crispy chicken on the table in less time than it takes to order Chinese takeout!
This chicken recipe is perfect for busy weeknights. Serve it with rice or noodles. For a low carb meal, try it with zoodles or cauliflower rice.
Ingredients
This is meant to be a brief overview of this great recipe. For step-by-step instructions and a full printable recipe card with ingredients, please scroll down to the teal box below.
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- Cornstarch: This makes the chicken extra crispy. And, since you’re not using flour, it’s gluten-free.
- Chinese five spice: This is a blend of sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and bitter flavors. This seasoning is usually fennel seed, star anise, cloves, and Chinese cinnamon. Some mixtures contain ground ginger while others have white pepper. The mixture is ground together to create a powdered seasoning blend. This is what give the dish it’s signature flavor profile.
- Chicken: Both chicken thighs and chicken breast will work for this recipe. Either way, use boneless, skinless chicken meat.
- Oil: I use vegetable oil, but refined avocado oil or canola oil also work because they have a high smoke point. If you love the taste of sesame oil, add 1 tablespoon to the vegetable oil.
- Onion: White or yellow onions both work. Personally, I prefer sweet onions.
- Chili Peppers: The addition of red chili pepper and green chili pepper adds a nice heat to this dish (and it looks pretty!). I prefer to use a serrano pepper, but if you’d like it to be less spicy, I recommend using a jalapeno pepper instead. You can always substitute a bell pepper to temper some of the heat as well.
- Garlic: I highly recommend fresh garlic for the best flavor.
- Scallions: These are also sometimes called spring onions. This adds a nice fresh and mild onion flavor to the dish that’s not as sharp as regular onions.
👉 Out of something you need? Check out our free ingredient substitutions printable!
Make It Your Own: You can add other fresh vegetables to the skillet if you like. Carrots and broccoli are my favorites. You could also add sugar snap peas, mushrooms,. water chestnuts, baby corn, or even asparagus.
Ang’s Tips
✔️ If you don’t have Chinese five spice, you can make your own. Here’s how: mix 1 teaspoon each of the following: ground cinnamon, ground star anise, and ground fennel. Then add a pinch of ground white pepper and a pinch of ground cloves.
✔️ Anytime you’re deep frying, be sure to take great care around the hot oil. Be sure to turn your skillet handle toward the back of the stove. Place food gently into the oil so it doesn’t splash.
✔️ Note: the USDA recommends chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165F. You can use a meat thermometer to check if you’re not sure.
Storage
To Store: Leftover Salt and Pepper Chicken should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container. (These are my favorite airtight containers.)
To Reheat: Microwave individual portions in 30-second intervals until heated throughout.
Serving Suggestions
I love serving this with white rice or brown rice. It’s also delicious with my citrus rice. My husband sometimes prefers noodles. Either way, I think this crispy chicken will be a big hit at your house, too!
Not ready to make this salt-and-pepper chicken recipe yet?
When you do make it, please come back and comment and leave me a 5-star rating below! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Salt and Pepper Chicken
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Ingredients
- ½ cup corn starch
- ¾ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice
- 1½- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 red chili diced
- 1 green chili diced
- 2 cloves fresh garlic minced
- 3 green onions (also called green onions or scallions) chopped
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with a paper towel; set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and cook the onion and peppers for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.1 medium onion, 1 red chili, 1 green chili, kosher salt and black pepper to taste, 2 cloves fresh garlic
- In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients.½ cup corn starch, ¾ tablespoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice
- Toss the chicken in the dry ingredients to coat.1½- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- Add the oil to a large frying pan over high heat until hot.1 cup vegetable oil
- Carefully add the chicken to the pan one piece at a time. Fry until golden brown turning occasionally, about 5-7 minutes. Do not crowd the pan. You will most likely need to cook the chicken in 2 batches.
- Place the cooked chicken onto the prepared pan to get rid of the excess oil.
- Add the cooked chicken to the skillet with the onion mixture. Add the green onions and toss to mix everything.3 green onions (also called green onions or scallions)
Notes
Similar Recipes
These recipes are all about making your life easier without sacrificing flavor—or your sanity. If you’re short on time (who isn’t?), the quick and easy picks like instant pot orange chicken, teriyaki chicken skewers, sesame chicken, and chicken and broccoli stir fry come together in about 30–35 minutes. They’re perfect for weeknights when you need something fast but still family-approved. For even less effort, the slow cooker favorites like honey garlic chicken, teriyaki chicken, beef and broccoli, and sweet and sour meatballs let you toss everything in and come back to a delicious, stress-free dinner. And if you’ve got leftovers hanging out in the fridge, don’t sleep on steak fried rice—it’s the ultimate way to turn what’s left into something seriously crave-worthy. These are the kind of meals that help you juggle less and savor more.
Meal Planning
Want to add this recipe to your meal plan? Download our free printable meal plan here.
This crispy salt and pepper chicken recipe is included in Meal Plan 13 along with:
- strawberry poppyseed salad
- easy orange chicken
- hamburger potato casserole
- lemon shrimp scampi
- oven roasted pork tenderloin
… and more!
Be sure to check out all our meal plan ideas here.
