If you’re a fan of our famous Mongolian Beef recipe, it’s time to add this Mongolian Chicken to your repertoire as well! Crispy chicken pieces in a lightly sweet, savory sauce? What’s not to like?
With a bowl of white rice and a vegetable, this restaurant-quality recipe is a winner of a chicken dinner.
WHAT IS MONGOLIAN CHICKEN?
Mongolian Chicken consists of sliced boneless chicken breast or thighs with a crispy coating of cornstarch, tossed in a sweet, savory sauce with scallions.
Mongolian Beef is a bit more well-known. It’s one of America’s favorite Chinese dishes. Crispy, salty, sweet, and spicy, it perhaps was popularized by P.F. Chang’s. Since then, we’ve created our own Mongolian Beef recipe. Not to pat myself on the back *too* much, but people who have tried our recipe swear by it!
But the fact of the matter is, some people just prefer chicken over beef. Also, there comes a time when you start craving something new instead of the same old Orange Chicken, Sesame Chicken, and General Tso’s Chicken.
This Mongolian Chicken will do the trick. Like our Mongolian Beef, many of you have made it and loved it.
Also like Mongolian Beef, Mongolian Chicken has nothing to do with Mongolia! It is American through and through.
Recipe Notes
For a recipe that sort of involves frying, you’ll be surprised at how easy this is to make.
- You won’t have to deep-fry the chicken. Instead, you’ll just need about 1/3 cup oil to shallow fry it in your wok. A regular pan also works, though you may need a bit more oil. Then you can scoop the excess out with your spatula, and continue cooking the dish. (You can reuse this oil to cook other dishes by the way!)
- In this recipe, we call for sliced boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, but we highly recommend using thighs, which are harder to accidentally overcook.
- The key to this tasty Mongolian Chicken is the salty sweet sauce. It’s packed with flavor, which means that we can eliminate the step of marinating the chicken (a typical step in many of our stir-fries). Just give the chicken a light cornstarch dredging, and then shallow fry it to crispy perfection.
- When you also fry the aromatics, all that flavor gets infused into that legendary sauce (that, again, has very little to do with Mongolia).
- You can also try this by oven frying the chicken. See directions in our Sesame Chicken – Baked, Not Fried. (I suggest using chicken thighs if you want to bake, as the chicken breast may dry out too much in the oven.)
- This recipe is gluten-free, as long as you use gluten-free soy sauce!
Toss that crispy chicken into the sauce, and wham. Winner, winner, Mongolian Chicken dinner!
Mongolian Chicken: Recipe Instructions
Mix the sliced chicken with 1 tablespoon of oil.
Dredge all of the chicken in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess until the chicken is just lightly coated.
Heat ⅓ cup oil in a wok over high heat. At this point, if the chicken has absorbed the cornstarch and gets moist again, dredge the pieces again before frying.
Just before the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken pieces evenly in the wok, and fry for 1 minute, or until browned and crispy.
Turn the chicken, and let the other side fry for another 30 seconds, or until browned and crispy. Transfer to a sheet pan or plate lined with paper towels. The chicken should be fried on all sides with a crusty coating.
Drain the oil from the wok, leaving 1 tablespoon behind, and set over medium high heat. Add the ginger. Fry for 20 seconds, until fragrant.
Add the dried chili peppers, if using, along with the garlic and the white portions of the scallions / green onions. All of these aromatics add flavor to this tasty sauce!
Stir-fry for another 15 seconds, and add the soy sauce, brown sugar, and chicken stock (or water).
Bring the sauce to a simmer, and stir constantly until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
Let the sauce simmer for another 2 minutes, and slowly stir in the cornstarch-water mixture until the sauce coats the back of a spoon.
Add the chicken and the green portions of the scallions. Toss everything together for another 10 seconds.
There should be almost no standing liquid. The sauce should cling to the chicken. If you still have excess sauce, add more of the cornstarch slurry, and increase the heat slightly. Stir until thickened.
TIp!
For more detailed information on the many ways to use cornstarch to get authentic results at home with our recipes, see our post on How to Use Cornstarch in Chinese Cooking.
Plate and serve your Mongolian Chicken with lots of steamed rice!
When it comes to leftovers, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and reheat in the microwave. But we’re not sure there’ll be any leftovers here!
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Recipe
Mongolian Chicken
Ingredients
- 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs (pat dry with paper towels and cut into ¼-inch/6mm thick slices)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (plus ⅓ cup/80ml for frying)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon ginger (julienned or minced)
- 5 dried red chili peppers (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 3 scallions (cut on a diagonal into 1-2 inch / 5cm slices)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ¼ cup hot water (or low sodium chicken stock)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 2 tablespoons water)
Instructions
- Mix the sliced chicken with 1 tablespoon of oil. Dredge all of the chicken in the cornstarch, shaking off the excess until the chicken is just lightly coated.
- Heat ⅓ cup oil in a wok over high heat. At this point, if the chicken has absorbed the cornstarch and gets moist again, dredge the pieces again before frying. Just before the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken pieces evenly in the wok and fry for 1 minute, or until browned and crispy.
- Turn the chicken, and let the other side fry for another 30 seconds, or until browned and crispy. Transfer to a sheet pan or plate lined with paper towels. The chicken should be fried on all sides with a crusty coating.
- Drain the oil from the wok, leaving 1 tablespoon behind, and set over medium high heat. Add the ginger fry for 20 seconds, until fragrant. Add the dried chili peppers (if using), the garlic, and the white portions of the scallions. Stir-fry for another 15 seconds, and add the soy sauce, brown sugar, and water/chicken stock. Bring the sauce to a simmer, and stir constantly until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.
- Let the sauce simmer for another 2 minutes, and slowly stir in the cornstarch-water slurry until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Add the chicken and the green portions of the scallions. Toss everything together for another 10 seconds.
- There should be almost no liquid; the sauce should cling to the chicken. If you still have excess sauce, add more of the cornstarch slurry, and increase the heat slightly. Stir until thickened. Serve.
Nutrition Facts
Note: This recipe was originally published on December 10, 2017. We have since updated it with clearer instructions and metric measurements. The recipe itself remains the same. Enjoy!
