[Chinese Recipes] Sticky Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken

Sticky gum in hair – bad. Sticky permanent glue sticking fingers together – very bad. Sticky situations – very, very bad. Sticky Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken – good…very good…amazingly good!

Sticky Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken is one of those meals that is soamazingly delicious I would love to eat its leftovers 7 days a week. But that would never happen because with this chicken there are never any leftovers. In fact, Patrick couldn’t even wait for me to finish taking pictures before he had polished off almost the entire meal. This is a 100% candid shot of him caught in the act…

And I don’t blame him when Sticky Honey Lemon Ginger Chicken means a sweet honey sauce with a splash of citrus and a slight zing from the fresh ginger smothering crispy, spiced and breaded baked chicken morsels.

I used my favorite technique for breading Chinese chicken as in my Skinny General Tso’s Chicken and spiced the flour/cornstarch breading with with ginger, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and paprika (the paprika is why the chicken is slightly red) then baked and broiled until crispy. Every bit as delicious as fried – evenmore delicious.

Add the sticky lemon ginger sauce to the crispy ginger breaded chicken…

And mix, and keep mixing, even when it doesn’t look like the sauce will cover…

It will…its honey lemon ginger deliciousness will stick and coat every crevice of chicken.

Sometimes sticky is a good thing…

A very good thing…

Aka so amazingly delicious there will never be any leftovers.

STICKY, CRISPY HONEY LEMON GINGER CHICKEN

PREP TIME: 25 mins
COOK TIME: 15 mins
TOTAL TIME: 40 mins

Author: Jen@CarlsbadCravings.com
Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, pounded thin, cut into bite size pieces
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon coconut oil (may sub. olive oil)

Chicken Breading
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Honey Lemon Ginger Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 teaspoons freshly grated ginger*
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
lemon zest from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
sriracha (Asian hot chili sauce) to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for easy cleanup) and place a cooking rack on top; lightly spray cooking rack with cooking spray (if you don’t have a cooking rack, you can place chicken directly on foil that has been greased).

In a large bowl, whisk 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons water together. Combine Chicken Breading ingredients in large freezer bag. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg wash, let excess drip off (dabbing with paper towel if necessary) then place chicken in the flour mixture and shake until evenly coated. Evenly space chicken on cooking rack and lightly spray chicken with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes then move baking sheet 8-10 inches away from broiler and broil to desired crispiness (approximately 3-5 minutes). For extra crispiness, flip chicken over and broil the other side of chicken to desired crispiness, being careful not to burn chicken.

While the chicken is baking, heat 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute for 30 seconds, Add the remaining Honey Lemon Ginger Sauce ingredients EXCEPT for the sriracha and whisk to combine. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens (approximately 2 minutes). Taste and stir in sriracha if desired.**

In a large bowl, toss baked chicken with Honey Lemon Ginger Sauce using a spatula until evenly coated. It will seem like not enough sauce, but keep mixing until it covers all the chicken.

NOTES

*Use 2 teaspoons for a more mild ginger kick - as for our house, we love 3t :)
**I don't add any sriracha to this dish but if you feel the sauce is too sweet, then add sriracha to taste.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Carlsbadcravings.com. Thanks so much!