Quick & Easy Salt and Pepper Chicken

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Quick & Easy Salt and Pepper Chicken

Crispy tender chicken packed with salt and pepper flavors stir-fried with fragrant aromatics. This easy Chinese salt and pepper chicken is ready in 20 minutes! A great main that is restaurant quality. I also share how to air-fry the chicken in the Notes section below.

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Servings

Calories per serving 250 kcal

Ingredients

1 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs or chicken breast
4 garlic cloves minced
1 large red chilli chopped
1 teaspoon ginger thinly sliced
1 green onion finely chopped
½ teaspoon white granulated sugar or cane sugar
¾ tablespoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or dry sherry, dry white wine, cooking sake or chicken broth
⅓ cup vegetable oil or any neutral oil
¼ cup cornstarch or potato starch or arrowroot starch

Chicken Seasoning

1 tablespoon Shaoxing Cooking Wine or dry sherry, dry white wine, cooking sake or chicken broth
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper or white pepper

Instructions

Dice chicken thighs into 1.5-inch wide pieces. Transfer diced chicken to a large bowl and mix in the seasoning ingredients: shaoxing wine, salt and black or white pepper. Optional: if you have extra time, you may marinate the chicken for 10 minutes.
Add cornstarch to the seasoned chicken and toss until each piece is evenly coated in starch.
Heat vegetable oil in a large pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot and shiny, fry chicken for a total of 7-8 minutes until golden and crispy, flipping over halfway.
Remove fried chicken from the pan and transfer to a wire rack or a paper towel lined plate.
Reserve 2 teaspoon of the oil in the pan and discard the rest. Reduce to low heat, sauté ginger, garlic, red chili, green onion, and sugar for 30 seconds.
Add fried chicken and deglaze with shaoxing wine. Toss everything together. Remove off heat and enjoy! Feel free to add more salt and pepper to taste if needed.

Notes

To Air Fry the Chicken

First lightly spray the air fryer basket with vegetable oil, neutral oil or cooking spray.

Place the seasoned and coated chicken in a single layer into the air fryer basket without overlap giving each piece enough space. You may need to air fry in small batches depending on the size of your air fryer.

Lightly spray oil or cooking spray over the chicken.

Air fry at 400 degrees F for 9-12 minutes until golden and cooked with an internal temperature of 165 F with a digital instant read thermometer. No need to flip half way.

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