Modeled after one of the most delicious and popular recipes housed on my site, this firecracker chicken was originally sent to me by my sister, Cerissa, as a sticky-finger type recipe for chicken. I loved the idea, but wanted to change it up to be prepared similar to my beloved sweet and sour. So I did.
And the result is lightly breaded and browned chicken pieces coated in a spicy, sweet sauce and baked to perfection, soaking up the sauce along the way. Be aware that this sauce packs a bit of a punch, thanks to the hot sauce, but the spiciness is offset by the brown sugar and in the end, I absolutely loved the contrast of sweet and spicy. The name? Well, it came about because my 8-year old declared he felt like there was a firecracker going off in his mouth when he took his first bite (which, incidentally, didn’t keep him from eating seconds and stealing three precious bites of tender, flavorful chicken from my plate, the little stinker). If you like the excitement of a little heat in your dinner, this meal’s for you.
One Year Ago: Baked Doughnuts
Two Years Ago: Perfect Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Three Years Ago: Strawberry Cream Puff Cake
Note: This dish packs a bit of a kick and depends mightily on what type of hot sauce you buy. Apparently (thought I haven't tried it), if you buy the buffalo flavor it's a bit more mild and less spicy. Also, I cut down on the sugar by 1/2 cup from the original recipe. If you really want to minimize the spiciness, you can consider adding that extra 1/2 cup back in (I just had trouble bringing myself to use 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a dinner recipe). Either way, the spicy/sweet combo is delicious!
Ingredients
- 2-4 tablespoons canola oil
- 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/3 cup hot sauce (like Frank's brand for hot wings, for instance)
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. While the oil is heating, cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Place the cornstarch in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Put the chicken into the bag with the cornstarch and seal, tossing to coat the chicken. Whisk the eggs together in a shallow pie plate. Dip the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces in the egg and place them carefully in a single layer in the hot skillet. Cook for 1-2 minutes and then flip each piece over to cook on the other side until nicely golden but not all the way cooked through. Place in a single layer in a 9X13-inch baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken in the baking dish. Bake for one hour, turning the chicken once or twice while cooking to coat evenly with sauce. Serve over hot, steamed rice.
Recipe Source: adapted from a recipe my sister Cerissa sent me
YUM! We are a family of hot sauce lovers and we love spicy food, so I know this chicken will be a huge hit in my house!
Sounds incredible!
I would save time and toss the chicken bits with the sauce over low-medium heat on top of the stove for perhaps 10 min.
I am alllllll about the sweet and spicy combo. I think I need this in my life.
I bet these would be awesome with the chipotle hotsauce. So hungry now!
Could we make this the same way you make your Orange Chicken recipe ya think? I love the sauce idea but hate the mess/time of pan-frying before baking and your Orange Chicken tasted just as good without that step
Yum! I am excited to try this.
This looks so tasty! Great recipe!!
I can’t wait to try this as a freezer meal. I made your beef stroganoff into a freezer meal a few weeks ago! Looks so yummy. I love the Panda chicken
I love hot sauce….my hubby is a wimp, though, when it comes to hot food. Oh well – more for me haha
Yumm! I’m making these tonight! My husband will be excited, he loves anything hot!
I make something similar using this recipe as the basis for the chicken:
http://www.thebittenword.com/thebittenword/2011/05/general-tsos-chicken.htmlk
I do use skinless, boneless breasts and omit the sesame oil and soy sauce.
I use this recipe for the sauce:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/12/wingers-sticky-fingers-copycat-recipe.html
I put the chicken in the sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes.
It’s very tasty and I’m sure yours is too!
I had to do a triple-take when I saw my name in your post, ha! Not very often I hear of someone else named Cerissa.
The chicken looks delicious! Might have to give it a try!
My name…in the best food blog that ever was. I’m honored. Love you Mel.
Tara – sure, it’s worth a try although I haven’t done that myself so I can’t guarantee the results.
Hi Mel
I was wondering if I could use boneless chicken thighs in this recipe.
What a cool name! Your son is a genius. Musta got it from his momma! Saving this one fo sho.
Would think this would be good with some bell peppers added in!
Jackie – sure, it’s definitely worth a try!
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. It’s a keeper recipe. It’s just the perfect amount of spice. My daughter who does’t care for spicy loved it. I used Frank’s red hot buffalo wing sauce. I thought I had apple cider vinegar on hand only to find out I was completely out, so in a pinch I used red wine vinegar and it was still delicious! Thank you again Mel. You are my hero! I tell everyone about your site, so your getting quite a following in Canada. Incidentally, my husband is American and grew up in Wisconsin. He also has tons of relatives in Minnesota.
Hey Mel, this looks great. Do you think Sriracha would be good to use too? I can’t wait to try this!
I made this today for the football game. My whole family loved it, we ate every bit. The sauce got a little too brown, maybe 40 minutes would be better for my oven. We ate them without the rice as sweet and spicy boneless wings. I had never used carnstarch this way, it made a great coating. Thank you so much! Tomorrow we’re having basil curry chicken with the other half of the big pack of chicken, another favorite!
Took your advice and made this with buffalo wing sauce last night. DELICIOUS!!
(and the sugar reduction was great – certainly didn’t need that extra 1/2 cup of sugar)
Think this would be good with pork? If so, how would i do it? Same as chicken?
Eloise, I would simply cut the pork into the same size pieces as the chicken and proceed with the recipe. I think the cooking time should be the same.
Rachel, you’d have to experiment with the sriracha. If you like things ultra spicy, I think it would be ok. I think it will pack more of a punch then the hot wing sauce.
[...] So first the chicken. I LOVE spicy food, and this was SPICY! yum! It is so pretty with the spicy glaze once it comes out of the oven. Be advised that as the glaze dries, it hardens and is sticky! Here is the recipe (taken from ) http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2012/10/firecracker-chicken.html [...]
My family loved it! We are huge fans of your sweet n sour chicken so this was perfect.
I made this last night and it was FANTASTIC!!! My husband declared it the best chicken ever and I could drink the sauce it’s so good. Another winner!
Love the idea of using this sauce on chicken and serving over rice! This sauce is the Winger’s sticky buffalo sauce that we love to use on our version of their Chicken Sticky Salad. It is amazing and yes, I could pretty much drink it too!
Here is the salad recipe:
http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com/2010/06/wingers-sticky-chicken-salad-make-it-at.html
Fireckracker Chicken is terrible — how do you saute 1″ chicken parts and then put them in the oven for an hour without killing it !!!!
Yo, Pedro, you just have to try it to believe it. (Did you try it??) The idea is to only briefly brown (we’re talking seconds in hot oil) the chicken in the skillet (not cook it through fully) and then bake in the oven. The sauce needs the hour, or close to it, to thicken and the chicken basks in the sauce and doesn’t dry out. Anyway, it works, I promise. However, if you really did try it and hate it, my apologies! My family will eat enough to compensate!
making this now. i found it odd to dip in cornstarch first then egg….but i trust you!
smells amazing already.
Made with pork tonight, because hubby is allergic to chicken. (its a travesty i tell ya!)
He loved it!! So did my middle son. You did it again Mel! You made me look good:) thank you!
Mel, this was so yummy! my husband declared it his new favorite meal ever!! He loves franks hot sauce so it was right up his alley, i dont like hot sauce very much so i increased the sugar a little and rinsed off the chicken for my littles ones so it wasnt so spicy.
Love it, will for sure make again! wish there was an easier way to cook the chicken before hand but oh well, worth it!
Thanks again, always have the best recipes!
This was fantastic!! Even my pickiest eater loved it and was scrounging for seconds.
Mel-
Thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve lost count of the number of your recipes that have become regulars in my house, I’m a teacher and having a source of yummy and easy recipes at my fingertips is amazing! My hubby is one who will eat dinner and then make ‘suggestions’ over the next few days with ways to ‘improve’ a dish. I’m elated to say that for once he had no suggestion other than to ask later in the week if he could run to the store to get the ingredients we needed to make this again!
Thank you for making me a dinner hero!!!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was great! I love it when my lips and tongue tingle a bit!
Mel-
Just found your site a few days ago and LOVE it!! Tried this recipe today and it is fabulous! Next time I will cut the vinegar just a bit, but regardless of that, it is wonderful!! I get most of my recipes from allrecipes.com, but stumbled upon your site and I am glad I did!!! I have never written a review, and I do mean never! This is worth a review and more!! And on a side note, had the beaten eggs on the stove ready to go and totally forgot!!! It still turned out amazing! Thanks mel! I am going to use more of your recipes!
Sorry Mel, was showing this recipe to a friend, the review/comment was on the sweet and sour chicken. BTW, my husband said it was better than a restaurant!! Win-Win!!
[...] Spaghetti Pie [...]
WOW!!! This was fabulous. This is a keeper and will make time and time again. Great job!
found had just enough bite. family really enjoyed the chicken and will make agai
OMG, this is AMAZING!! I just made this, and it is SOOOO good! Two thumbs up!!
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! This was really yummy. I didn’t give myself enough time, so I started the sauce on the stove top and let it simmer and thicken while I did the chicken. Then I cut the bake time in half. It was great! Thanks for another great one, Mel!
I made this recipe tonight. It was AMAZING!! I am always looking for new recipes to try and my husband I both loved this!
So Easy and Delicious!! Made for dinner and was a Huge Hit!! I just used the Louisiana Hot Sauce that everyone probably already has in their kitchen! Your son was right just like a Firecracker! I think I’ll add some Red Pepper Flakes to kick it up a notch on the next batch! Already craving it again! Wish I’d known to make chicken nuggets this way years ago! So Easy!! Thanks for the delicious recipe!!
Oh and I cooked the chicken in the saute pan and never baked it. Just topped it off with the sauce and tossed it a little. Then had extra on the side for dipping. I’m sure would be even better to bake a little but we couldn’t wait.
We all wanted to lick the plates! Delicious!
DELICIOUS!!!!! We loved it. Too hot with the Frank’s we used, but it was still good.
I made this last night and thought it was delish! I used 2# of chicken and thought there wasn’t quite enough sauce so next time I will try 1.5# …. I wouldn’t want to add any more hot sauce! I saw my sauce was blackening a little at the edges so I only cooked for 40 min but that could have been because I used my lower oven. I will definitely make this again.
OMG!!! This dish ROCKED. We all loved it…will be making it again.
Can you please tell me the nutritional information. So I can figure out what the Weight Watchers points would be for this the next time I made this.
Thanks!!
Hi Michele – there are several free nutrition calculators online but I don’t provide the nutritional information for each recipe. Sorry!
Hi Mel,
This recipe looks awesome! My friends LOVE hot stuff, but I’m more of a medium person myself, so I don’t really know much about hot sauce. Which brand did you use? I’d love to make it super spicy like you, and blow their socks off
Christina, mine wasn’t over the top spicy but if you want a really spicy version, look for a hot sauce that indicates spicy or very hot.
First time at your blog today and I had to make this one.
Insane…crazy good insane. Absolutely love this recipe. I used Texas Pete and it is perfectly spicy for my crew. Now, to go peruse your blog and find some more yum!
Just finished making this one. It is AWESOME!!! Love it. No need to add the extra sugar as it is just the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. Added it to my top recipe list. Thanks!
I came across this recipe and made it for dinner tonight….YUM! The frying is kind of a pain but worth it. Next time I’m going to grill my chicken and finish it off in the oven should be good!
Just finished stuffing my face with this! I was nervous about making it, as I messed up your sweet and sour chicken, but this was delicious! Hubby said it’s a make again meal. He’s a bit of a wimp, so next time I might add a bit more sugar, but I thought it was perfect- – thank you!