Salt And Pepper Chicken | Crispy And Flavorful Fried Chicken Recipe

Hi, welcome to Cook Stacey Cook. In today's episode, I would like to share with you my version of salt and pepper chicken. This is a savory chicken dish that everyone will love. I will show you the tips and tricks to make the chicken crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Let's get started. First, we will prepare the aromatics for this dish. Finely mince some garlic. Put one tablespoon of garlic aside for use at the end. And we will use the rest of the garlic for marinating the chicken. Next, dice a quarter of an onion. And chop up 4 to 5 green onions. We are only using the stem part of the green onion. The last aromatic we need is some peppers. I am using jalapeno pepper here. You can use bell pepper for a less spicy option. Now the chicken. You can use skinless chicken breast or chicken thigh. Cut the chicken into medium thickness slices. Then cut the chicken slices in half. The final chicken piece should look more or less like this. Marinate the chicken with salt, sugar, white pepper powder, minced garlic, and rice wine. Mix everything together. While the chicken is marinating, we will prepare the salt and pepper seasoning. Add some salt, a tiny bit of sugar, garlic powder, black pepper powder, and white pepper powder. We will lightly toast them before we sprinkle them on the chicken. The last thing to prepare is the batter for frying the chicken. For the batter, I use cornstarch, all-purpose flour, baking soda, water, and a little bit of oil. The amount I use for each ingredient is in the video description. After mixing the batter thoroughly, we can add the chicken to the batter. Mix the chicken with the batter so that every piece is evenly coated with a thin layer of batter. Now we are ready to fry the chicken. When it comes to frying, the key to success is good temperature control. Unless you are very experienced in frying, I strongly recommend you get a good cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the oil. We will fry the chicken twice. The first time we will fry the chicken at 320 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can see here, I heat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 320 degrees Fahrenheit. This is because I am using a relatively small amount of oil. When I put the chicken in the oil, the oil temperature will drop. Put the chicken in the oil piece by piece. Make sure you don't overcrowd the chicken. If you have to fry the chicken in batches, don't stir the chicken right after you put them in. It takes about a minute for the batter to take shape. For this first frying, we will fry the chicken for 3 minutes. When the chicken starts to float to the top, you can break up any pieces that are stuck together. Check the temperature of the oil often and adjust the heat as needed. After frying for 3 minutes, remove the chicken from the oil. Now we need to let this chicken rest for at least 15 minutes. While we wait for the chicken to cool down, we can toast the salt and pepper seasoning. Pour the seasoning into a pan over medium-low heat. Stir frequently to prevent burning and toast it for 1 minute. When it's done, remove it from the pan, and it's ready to use. Back to the chicken. After resting for 15 minutes, we can fry the chicken again. For this second frying, the oil temperature needs to be 380 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 195 degrees Celsius. Again, I heat the oil to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above my target frying temperature. We will only fry the chicken for 20 seconds this time. The purpose for the second frying is to make the batter crispy. Stir the chicken occasionally so the golden color will look even. When the 20 seconds is up, remove the chicken from the oil and put it in a large bowl. While the chicken is still hot, sprinkle the salt and pepper seasoning on the chicken. Toss the chicken as you sprinkle the seasoning so that every piece is seasoned evenly. At this point, the chicken is tasty enough to eat, but for a restaurant-quality dish, we can add a final touch. Heat up the pan over medium heat and add a little bit of oil. When the oil is still cold, add the minced garlic we set aside earlier. Stir the garlic constantly as the oil heats up. When the garlic starts to turn yellow, add the onion, green onion, and pepper to the pan. Stir fry them briefly to bring out the flavor. Then pour the aromatic to the chicken. Mix it with the chicken and we are done. This salt and pepper chicken is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It's savory with a hint of pepper. I hope you give this recipe a try. If you like our video today, please share with your friends and family. Let me know your thoughts about this recipe in the comments. Thank you for watching and see you next time.