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
Been seeing this dish all over Pinterest for some time now and decided to try it. It’s really good. Husband loves it. It has heat but it’s a very flavourful heat. Husband said it’s a definite keeper! I baked it in 325F oven for 45 minutes, turning it over halfway through. Chicken was not dry at all. I wasn’t too sure if I would like it because I don’t like my food too hot/spicy but it is good. You get the heat at roof of the mouth with a great flavor and the heat doesn’t stay stuck there whereas you can’t taste anything else anymore LOL It’s a great change from sweet & sour chicken. Thanks!
FANTASTIC!! Better than take out and so easy to make!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Hi Mel, thanks for another great meal! I would echo everyone who said to double the sauce, and because my kiddos aren’t fans of hot stuff (unlike their dad), I used just a couple tablespoons of what was admittedly a pretty spicy hot sauce. And because I was a bit under the gun, I cooked them through a little longer in the skillet, turned up the oven to 450 and cut baking time down to 45 minutes. Anyway, they were awesome—another to add to our already lengthy list of Mel’s favorites!
I just wanted to comment and let you know – my family and I love it!
I’ve made a couple changes, mainly doubling the sauce, because my family likes to mix the extra with the rice. We served it to my cousin the other day, and she loved it too – my brother is constantly begging me to make this one.
Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Followed this recipe almost exact. Used less brown sugar just cause I couldn’t take the smell of it, lol. Came out really good. I’d use one egg next time though. Or dip the chicken a little less before putting it on the skillet. Love this recipe.
Is it possible that if I use orange marmalade instead of brown sugar it will work too?
I’m not sure since I haven’t tried it, good luck experimenting.
Hi Mel!
I was wondering – I don’t have a thick hot sauce – just Tabasco…I am thinking that just tabasco may be too hot so should I mix it with bbq sauce to sweeten it? What do you think? Thanks!
BBQ sauce might change the flavor a bit – but I think you are right, the straight Tabasco might be too much. Mixing it with ketchup or BBQ sauce could be a start (or just decrease the amount overall).
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I just made this using Sriracha. It. was. so. good. It was way better and way healthier than takeout and not difficult to make at all! Thank you! I’ll definitely try more of your recipes! 🙂
thanks for great ideas in the making, this recipe will be on its way to my kitchen in Indonesia very shortly with one small alteration, SAMBAL instead of hot wing sause, yes the Indonesian people have a liking for seriously hot spice, much hotter than i can handle dare i say. However, your original recipe i will make as a treat just for me, Mmmm yummy.
Wonderful recipe. Made a mess, but I have a remedy for that. First, I buy chicken in bulk. I cut it into diced, chunks, strips…….etc, and freeze in meal size portions. I found I didn’t need anywhere near 1C of cornstarch. Also, someone warned about the baking dish being hard to clean once the sauce dries up. It’s super easy to clean if you rinse it off shortly after removing from the oven and serving the chicken. Since this recipe is going into my regular rotation, I will probably make the sauce ahead of time and store in the freezer as well. Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this tonight, I did use Siracha and added about a tbslp or two of Tamari (gluten free soy sauce) to the sauce mixture. Was DELICIOUS~ Lots of leftovers for another dinner too! Had it with the rice and fresh asparagus. Will be on the regular menu rotation! Husband loved it too! Thanks for the recipe!
I have made this twice in the past two weeks and love it! Thanks for posting such yummy and simple recipes, Mel!
I just made this! It was deeelicious, except for my family’s taste I halved the brown sugar (it was still slightly too sweet) but nevertheless wonderful and I made vegetable stir fry to go along with it! Thank you Mel!
Thought I would mention this since you weren’t a big fan of the full amount of sugar…. I’ve been making this sauce for a while (it’s the closest thing to wingers sauce), but we do equal parts hot sauce (we use franks) and sugar. I let it simmer for a bit checking the flavor but you can cut the sugar back even more than you are! It’s still so yummy! We use the chicken in a salad with homemade ranch, cranberries, red onion, and cheese, it’s so good!
The whole family loved it! Especially the boys. Hubby did say it was too hot so the next time I make it I will try the buffalo sauce.
I need to apologize for being such a stalker. ;]
I made your skillet spaghetti the night before last and I am going to be making this one tonight. I made your sweet and sour chicken recipe (it was the first thing I tried from your blog and the reason I can’t stop myself from visiting your site) and we all loved it. I just know this is going to be amazing. As for the doubters regarding dipping in the egg mixture AFTER you coat the chicken, don’t fret. This is how I have made my breaded chicken for years. In fact, you can use flour if you don’t have cornstarch on hand. My only suggestion is to not let the chicken swim in the egg. Literally just give it a dip.
Thanks again Mel for all of your recipes. I haven’t been disappointed yet!
Hi Shellice – thanks for your comment! I hope you like this recipe as much as the sweet and sour (thanks for the tips on dipping)!
Seriously delicious. Restaurant quality dish (or maybe I’m just that good?!) Nah! Your recipe made me look like a star in the kitchen! 🙂
Do you think this would be good with Tapatio hot sauce?
Sharma – It wouldn’t have the same level of flavor/sweetness (might be much more spicy, too) but it’s worth a try if you are willing to experiment. Good luck if you try it!
I decided to tear myself away from my tried and true Tiny Spicy Chicken recipe (which is prepared exactly as above except for a different sauce) and try this Firecracker Chicken. It’s in the oven now and it smells wonderful, I can hardly wait.
If anyone would like to change it up a bit, here is an alternative sauce recipe that I normally use. It is to die for! You can prepare the chicken same as above.
Tiny Spicy Chicken
Sauce:
2 t. Sambal chili paste
1 c. ketchup
dash salt
8 T. brown sugar
2 c. sugar
4 t. soy sauce
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. white vinegar
Simmer the sauce until it begins to thicken then add to chicken and place in oven as above.
made this and LOVED it, reminded me of a spicy sweet and sour chicken, i added a bit more sugar as i was afriad it would be too spicy. My husband who loves spicy food however, thought it tasted fishy….i will be making it again, even if its just for me!
Oh boy! We made this with sriracha sauce….HOT, HOT, HOT…we like spicy, but we started sweating, our noses were running and we had to steel ourselves to get in the last bites! Our lips are burning, but it was really good, just a little less spice would do.
I thank you for all of your recipes,but this one even had our picky grandchildren coming back for seconds and my grandson and husband had thirds. My husband says to make this one of our regular dishes!
Made this tonight and it was amazing! I made it exactly as written using Frank’s hot sauce and it came out perfectly. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful recipes with us!
Thanks for the recipe. I made it tonight for supper and we really enjoyed it. A bit spicy but not overly so. I used Frank’s Red Hot Wings Buffalo Sauce and added a little more than 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
We had this last night and LOVED it! I used pork instead of chicken because that is what I had on hand and it turned out great. I am such a fan of the cornstarch/egg/frying technique, it makes the perfect crust/coating.
Loved, loved, loved this! Servedwith homemade fried rice and everyone gobbled it up. I was skeptical about the 1 hour cooking time, but the meat didn’t dry out and was super flavorful. Thanks Mel!
So, I’m always trying to make recipes healthier, and I made this without frying it…DELICIOUS! Just cut up chicken breast into small pieces, put in a baking dish with the sauce/glaze mixture, and baked for about an hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Served over white rice, and boy, was this a hit! Thanks for the inspiration.
This was soooo good! Definitely restaurant quality! I did find it a little sweet for my taste but I’m not big on sweet in the first place. I will probably reduce the sugar to 1/2-3/4 cup next time. I did find it kind of weird that you dip it in egg after the cornstarch but trust me it works! I didn’t get a scrambled egg effect like a couple people had described. The sautéing was kind of a pain but we’ll worth it! Thanks for amazing recipe!
is there any way to make this only spicy, instead of spicy-sweet? i’m not really a big fan of spicy-sweet so could i reduce the sugar in half?
Mary – I haven’t tried that so you’ll have to experiment. Good luck!
I finally tried this tonight and it was fantastic! I only had 1lb of chicken, so I also added 1lb of shrimp, dark brown sugar instead of light brown (ran out while baking!) and white wine vinegar instead of ACV. I have had many attempts at making homemade Chinese takeout food and none has ever been quite right. When I taste tested the sauce while making this recipe, I knew you were definitely on to something! It was a hit with my family; even my 20 month old ate an entire bowl. Thank you!
I read all the previous comments and took ideas from the others and made a crock pot version! Lightly browned cut up boneless, skinless chic thighs ( they have soooo much more flavor than breasts ) threw em in the crock pot with onion and green bell pepper cut in pretty nice size chunks. I doubled the sauce recipe to have extra for the rice and turned it on low for 4 hours. It was AWESOME! And I didn’t have to heat up my kitchen using the oven for an hour : ))
Did you do any breading on the chicken? Thanks for working out a slow cooker version! Loved your post and your name. I’m a Soileau.
I tried this, and it is SO good, I did make extra sauce though because I wanted to pour it over the rice.
Made this tonight and family loved it. We have food restrictions so I used garbanzo bean flour and no eggs. Thank you for the yummy recipe.
Just made this tonight!!! So good:) my husband loved it too. Definitely need to try the sweet and sour chicken too. Was wondering if the chicken pieces would dry out with an hour bake time but they were very moist and so flavorful!! Loved it and found many more recipes I will be trying soon. Thanks for a great website!
Fantastic recipe! Almost like sweet-n-sour chicken in a way, but oh the flavor… !!! We used Cholula hot sauce, our favorite. Definitely a winner! Thanks for posting.
Mike
Cris – I haven’t tried this in a slow cooker. Good luck if you decide to experiment!
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
Amazing!!! I’m a college student working on campus for the summer. I’m not an experienced cook at all but really wanted to try something new that would be inexpensive and relatively easy. My friend and I only had to buy one ingredient that we didn’t already have in our kitchen cabinet. We followed the directions exactly as written and it came out deliciously!!! I can’t wait to go home to cook it for my family! I will definitely try out some of your other recipes. Thanks so much, Mel (:
Phenomenal! Better than any “Chinese” food that we have found since moving to New Hampshire! I doubled the sauce and served over brown rice and a side of steamed broccoli.
Made this tonight and it was so good! Not as spicy as I thought it would be, but so tasty. And like others, I burnt a bit of the sauce so I’ll have to watch that next time.
Made this today and it was awesome! I definitely thought it ranked up there with take out Chinese except better. I actually only used a half cup of brown sugar and a little extra hot sauce and it was the perfect heat! My eggs somewhat scrambled a bit on my chicken when I pan fried it but once baked it was fine so I definitely want to make this again to work on my technique. Thanks for a great recipe!
Great recipe! Made this yesterday with boneless skinless thighs. When putting the sauce together I decided instantly that it wasn’t hot enough for my tastes though (with just the Frank’s), so I poured some Heartbreaking Dawn’s 1498 Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce into the mix. 🙂 Perfect!
I did find it a tad too sweet (maybe my sweet and spicy taste buds are off), so I’m going to try and notch the sugar down to 3/4 cup next time.
Just wondering why you would coat chicken in cornstarch and THEN into eggs and fry? I just did this and now the chicken is coated in scrambled eggs. Yuck! the sauce does taste good though. Surely you mean to do eggs first and then put into cornstarch.
Hi Kim – the recipe is written correctly (it’s the same method as the sweet and sour chicken). I’ve never gotten the scrambled egg effect and I’ve made this recipe and the sweet and sour probably 50 times combined. My guess is that your oil might not have been hot enough. It should be rippling and hot enough to brown the chicken within a short amount of time on both sides. I can see if the temperature wasn’t high enough it could cook the chicken slowly and get a scrambled egg effect.
It would have been helpful if you’d mentioned the oil needed to be rippling. I just wasted a ton of money on ingredients, including, $15 on natural chicken breasts. Now I have chicken with scrambled eggs to throw away.
No need to blame Mel for your mistake. She is so generous with all of her wonderful recipes and doesn’t deserve that negativity!
This is a family favorite, my teenage son begs me to make it! I double the sauce and reduce the baking time to 40-45min, and serve it over rice, which is fantastic with the extra sauce. Thanks for this incredible recipe!
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! 🙂
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 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!
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!
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.