Crispy fried chicken coated in a sweet and savory lemon sauce. This quick and easy Chinese lemon chicken is made with simple ingredients. Saving you money and beating takeout! Great as a main dish for the family on busy weeknights!
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Chinese Lemon Chicken features crispy fried chicken tossed in a sweet, savoury, tangy sauce made of lemon juice, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce.
It's a popular dish served at many Chinese restaurants and best served with white rice and vegetables. Originating from Hong Kong becoming very popular in North America, like it's sister recipe Orange Chicken.
The best part about this chicken recipe is it's shallow fried so no wasting tons of oil. There's also no wet batter, just cornstarch, and it's all made in one pan!
I also share how to air fry the chicken in the FAQ section or Notes sections of the recipe card.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements.
- Skinless Boneless chicken thighs: or substitute with chicken breast for a leaner alternative but please reduce the cook time by a 1-2 minutes or it'll be dry.
- Cornstarch: or substitute with potato starch
- Neutral oil: like avocado oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil or canola oil. Avoid olive oil or heavy scented oils.
- Salt & Black Pepper
- Sesame seeds: optional garnish
- Lemon slices: optional garnish
- Green onions: optional garnish
Lemon Sauce
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice: avoid using the kind sold in those yellow plastic lemons! The artificial kind just doesn't taste the same.
- Brown sugar: or substitute with white sugar or coconut sugar. I recommend brown sugar as it gives the sauce a more molasses taste.
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Lemon Zest: do not skip this as it offers great flavor to the sauce.
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce.
- Chicken broth: ideally low sodium kind
- Cornstarch
Note: The Asian grocery store will carry the Asian-specific ingredients.
Expert Tips
- Don’t skip on the lemon zest. This zest is so aromatic that it will take your lemon chicken from a level 8 to a 10!
- Use chicken thigh for best taste as it has a higher fat content and it won't dry out in the frying process.
- Prepare ingredients ahead of time as the cooking process is fast.
- Do not pat dry the chicken! You need some moisture on the chicken so the starch can adhere to it.
- Evenly dice the chicken so they evenly fry.
- Use a heavy bottomed pan if possible as this maintains the oil temperature.
- Make sure oil is hot enough before frying, around 325-350 degrees F. To check if oil is hot, use a digital instant read thermometer or insert a wooden chopstick into the oil and look for bubbles. If you see bubbles, the oil is hot.
- Fry in small batches and do not overcrowd the pan because this reduces the oil temperature leading to less crispy chicken or possibly undercooked chicken.
- Spread chicken apart after tossing into pan. This allows for each piece to develop a crust.
- Avoid stir frying the chicken. This prevents it from getting crispy.
- Drain the fried chicken on a wire rack or paper-towel lined plate to remove excess oil which leads to soggy chicken.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make Chinese lemon chicken:
In a small bowl, combine your sauce ingredients as listed. Set aside.
Dice chicken thighs into bite size pieces, about 1.5-inch pieces. Transfer diced chicken to a large bowl. Do not pat the chicken thighs dry as moisture is needed for the next step.
Add cornstarch to the bowl of diced chicken and evenly coat each piece in the cornstarch with tongs. Or toss the diced chicken in a Ziplock bag with the cornstarch.
Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Carefully lower coated chicken and spread apart quickly. Fry chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Remove fried chicken from oil and transfer to a wire rack or paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess oil.
Discard any excess oil from pan. Heat pan on medium heat and pour in sauce. Keep stirring sauce until it bubbles and thickens.
Toss in chicken. Optional, garnish with sesame seeds, lemon slices or green onions. Enjoy!
Storage
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat: microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot or reheat in a pan on medium heat.
- Freezer friendly? Yes, store the sauce and fried chicken in separate freezer friendly bags and it can be frozen for up to 3 months. I recommend laying a Ziplock bag on a baking sheet to freeze chicken pieces in a single layer so they don't stick. To reheat, defrost both sauce and chicken and reheat the sauce in a pan and toss in the chicken.
Pairing Suggestions
Chinese lemon chicken serves well with:
- starters like egg rolls, crab rangoons, egg drop soup, hot and sour soup
- white or brown rice, cauliflower rice, fried rice, chow mein, lo mein, or plain noodles
- cooked vegetables like bok choy, spicy garlic bok choy, choy sum, gai lan, garlic green beans or stir fried snow pea leaves.
- protein dishes like Mongolian Beef, Bang Bang Shrimp, Gochujang Chicken, Soy Garlic Tofu, Chinese Braised Tofu and more!
FAQ
Yes, you can air fry the chicken by following these instructions:
Lightly spray air fryer basket with vegetable oil or any neutral oil. Lay coated chicken into air fryer basket in a single layer giving each piece enough space. Lightly spray oil over coated chicken.
You may need to air fry in small batches if needed depending on the size of your air fryer.
Air fry at 400 F for 12-14 minutes until golden crispy brown. The amount of time depends on your air fryer.
This can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To enjoy, reheat it in the microwave or in a pan on the stovetop on medium heat.
Yes, substitute the chicken with extra-firm tofu for a vegetarian version or diced pork loin, jumbo shrimp or even a sturdy white fish like cod, halibut or haddock.
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📖 Recipe
Quick & Easy Chinese Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lbs skinless boneless chicken thighs
- ⅓ cup cornstarch or potato starch
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil or any neutral oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Sauce:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon ginger grated
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- ½ cup chicken stock low sodium
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch or sub with potato starch
Optional:
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds garnish
- lemon slices
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine your sauce ingredients as listed. Set aside.
- Dice chicken thighs into bite size pieces, about 1.5-inch pieces. Transfer diced chicken to a large bowl. Do not pat the chicken thighs dry as moisture is needed for the next step. Season diced chicken with salt and black pepper.
- Add cornstarch to the bowl of diced chicken and evenly coat each piece in the cornstarch with tongs. Or toss the diced chicken in a Ziplock bag with the cornstarch.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Carefully lower coated chicken and spread apart quickly. Fry chicken for 5-6 minutes on each side until golden and crispy. Remove fried chicken from oil and transfer to a wire rack or paper towel-lined plate to soak up excess oil. (To air fry the chicken, see the notes section below).
- Discard any excess oil from pan. Heat pan on medium heat and pour in sauce. Keep stirring sauce until it bubbles and thickens.
- Toss in chicken. Optional, garnish with sesame seeds, lemon slices or green onions. Enjoy!
Rebecca
Superb recipe. Did it as stated and served with jasmine rice and broccoli. Excellent.
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for the positive feedback and for making my recipe! Glad you enjoyed it!
Lynn
Made this recipe and my 3 and 5 year old grandkids loved it, as well as all the adults!
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making it and glad the whole family enjoyed it!
Elsine
I tried it tonight with vegetable fried rice and stir fried carrots and snow peas. My teenagers even liked it!
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and so glad the whole family liked it!
Alice Rutherford
Delicious i airfried and it was delicious
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for making my recipe and so glad you liked it!
Andy M.
This was yummy, and was easy enough for a novice.
I air fried my chicken for 14 minutes as listed, shaking up the basket (to flip over the pieces) once when the fryer told me to.
I have a miniature fryer and it took me two batches to cook the ~1lb of chicken.
The chicken came out crispy, and after adding it to the sauce it looked as good as takeout.
I did notice one minor issue: The recipe never specified what to do with the salt and pepper. Since they're listed with the chicken portion, I added them to the cornstarch before using it to coat the chicken.
Christie Lai
Thank you so much for sharing your positive review and for making my recipe! So glad it all worked out well. Thank you for flagging the minor error, it has been now corrected in the recipe card 🙂
Steph
looks great, I want to confirm is it 5-6 minutes in total or on each side?
Christie Lai
Thank you! Around 5-6 minutes on each side or until you notice the chicken pieces have become golden brown.