Firecracker Chicken
The end result of this firecracker chicken is lightly breaded and browned chicken pieces coated in a spicy, sweet sauce and baked to perfection. Delicious.
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.
What To Serve With This:
Baked Brown Rice
Summer Corn Salad or Grilled Corn Salad
Creamy 5-Cup Fruit Salad or fresh, seasonal fruit
One Year Ago: Baked Doughnuts
Two Years Ago: Perfect Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Three Years Ago: Strawberry Cream Puff Cake
Firecracker Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken:
- 2-4 tablespoons canola oil
- 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Sauce:
- ⅓ 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
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from a recipe my sister Cerissa sent me
Hi Michele – there are several free nutrition calculators online but I don’t provide the nutritional information for each recipe. Sorry!
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!!
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.
DELICIOUS!!!!! We loved it. Too hot with the Frank’s we used, but it was still good.
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!
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!!
I made this recipe tonight. It was AMAZING!! I am always looking for new recipes to try and my husband I both loved this!
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!
OMG, this is AMAZING!! I just made this, and it is SOOOO good! Two thumbs up!!
found had just enough bite. family really enjoyed the chicken and will make agai
WOW!!! This was fabulous. This is a keeper and will make time and time again. Great job!
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!!
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!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was great! I love it when my lips and tongue tingle a bit!
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!!!
This was fantastic!! Even my pickiest eater loved it and was scrounging for seconds.
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!
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!
making this now. i found it odd to dip in cornstarch first then egg….but i trust you! 🙂
smells amazing already.
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!
Fireckracker Chicken is terrible — how do you saute 1″ chicken parts and then put them in the oven for an hour without killing it !!!!
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
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!
My family loved it! We are huge fans of your sweet n sour chicken so this was perfect.
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.
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.
Think this would be good with pork? If so, how would i do it? Same as chicken?
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)
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!
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 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.
Jackie – sure, it’s definitely worth a try!
Would think this would be good with some bell peppers added in!
What a cool name! Your son is a genius. Musta got it from his momma! Saving this one fo sho.
Hi Mel
I was wondering if I could use boneless chicken thighs in this recipe.
Tara – sure, it’s worth a try although I haven’t done that myself so I can’t guarantee the results.
My name…in the best food blog that ever was. I’m honored. Love you Mel.
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!
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!
Yumm! I’m making these tonight! My husband will be excited, he loves anything hot!
I love hot sauce….my hubby is a wimp, though, when it comes to hot food. Oh well – more for me haha
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
This looks so tasty! Great recipe!!
Yum! I am excited to try this.
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 🙂
I bet these would be awesome with the chipotle hotsauce. So hungry now!
I am alllllll about the sweet and spicy combo. I think I need this in my life.
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.
Sounds incredible!
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!
Just made the Firecracker Chicken tonight. It was WONDERFUL!!! Thank you so much for a great recipe. Your website looks SO GOOD, problem is, I don’t know what to try next, everything looks so good! I used thighs instead of breasts since that is what I had and they were great, just cut them into smaller pieces, I also used Frank’s hot wing sauce and it was not too hot at all, may try a hotter sauce next time, but this is a keeper for sure! Thanks again!