Bang Bang Chicken with Roasted Zucchini
chicken, nuggets, easy, kid friendly
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil (or grapeseed oil) or more, as needed
- 2 cups buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, no worries! 2 cups of milk + 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, let sit for 10 minutes and VOILA – buttermilk!)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 large eggs
- 1-2 tablespoons Siracha (depending on how spicy you like it!)
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts), cut into bite size chunks
- 1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs you can find in the Asian section of your grocery store)
SAUCE:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 teaspoons Frank’s hot sauce
Instructions
- For the sauce, in a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and Frank’s hot sauce. Taste for heat. If you want it spicier, add more hot sauce; if you want it milder, add more mayonnaise and honey
- In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, Siracha, salt and pepper. Pour the Panko into a shallow dish. Working one at a time, dip the chicken pieces into the buttermilk mixture, then dredge through the Panko. Press the Panko to the chicken to make sure it coats each piece. WARNING: This process is messy! If you’re squeamish around raw chicken, wear gloves. You can find latex ones at the market. Or you can get your kids to form an assembly line – which it was usually happens in my house. Make sure they don’t lick their fingers, though! Supervision may be necessary depending on the age of your kids to make sure you don’t have raw chicken all over your kitchen.
- Place the breaded chicken on a parchment lined sheet pan. Continue with the dip and dredge until all the chicken is coated in Panko and ready to go!
- In a large deep skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium high heat until it begins to shimmer. Working in small batches, add the chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. You want to make sure you don’t crowd the pan, or the chicken will be soggy instead of crispy. I usually add about 5-6 pieces at a time. Use tongs to gently turn the chicken over, so it browns evenly on all sides.
- Transfer chicken to a paper towel-lined platter and continue cooking chicken until all the pieces are done.
- Serve immediately, drizzled with sweet chili sauce.
Time Saving Tips:
- Make the sauce and dice the chicken the day before.
- Prep the chicken in the batter and Panko, arrange the pieces on a sheet tray and store in the refrigerator. Cook the chicken the same day.
- Adapted from Damn Delicious, Jo Cooks
Have you made this recipe?I’d love to know! Leave a comment or recipe rating and tag me @amenuforyou on social media!
