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Crispy Chinese Lemon Chicken is garnished with green onion and chopsticks

Crispy Chinese Lemon Chicken

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Crispy Chinese Lemon Chicken is a classic Chinese takeout recipe. Chicken breast is deep-fried twice and coated with a sweet and sour lemony glaze. It's gluten-free!
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Chinese
Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose
Keyword chinese lemon chicken, chinese takeout style lemon chicken, crispy chinese lemon chicken, gluten-free, gluten-free asian recipes, gluten-free chinese recipes, lemon chicken, lemon glaze
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4
Author Holly Ford

Ingredients

For chicken

  • 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast diced
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sweet rice wine (mirim)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 egg beaten lightly
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • oil for deep-frying
  • 1 green onion sliced to garnish
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds to garnish

For Lemon glaze

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1/4 cup chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp lemon zest
  • 4 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp ginger paste
  • pinch salt
  • 1-1/2 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

  • Put chicken pieces in a bowl and add the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, and egg; mix well.
  • Put cornstarch in a plastic bag, add 1/2 of the chicken and shake to coat. Add another 1/3 of the chicken and shake. Repeat again to coat the chicken with cornstarch evenly.
  • Heat oil in a wok or deep skillet. Drop the chicken pieces one at a time to hot oil. Do not crown the chicken (It is better to deep fry small batches at a time). Deep-fry until lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Shake off the access oil and transfer to a plate. Repeat the deep-frying to finish all the batches.
  • Once all the batches are deep-fried, do the second frying until chicken is golden. Shake off excess oil and set aside.
  • To make the lemon glaze; combine chicken stock, soy sauce, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, honey, salt, ginger, and cornstarch in a small bowl; mix well
  • Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet over high heat until very hot. Pour the lemon sauce and bring to boil. It will thicken very soon and turn into glaze. Add the chicken pieces and toss well to coat with the lemon glaze. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with green onion and sesame seeds. Serve immediately

Notes

To make sure this recipe to be gluten-free, use gluten-free soy sauce and chicken stock.