Everyone Who Tastes “Bang Bang” Chicken Demands the Recipe

It can be hard to serve dinner that pleases everyone at the table. Even as a professional recipe developer, many of the meals I make are outright rejected by my family’s most skeptical critics before I’ve even taken a seat. When dinner gets rave reviews from all parties in attendance, I feel like I’ve won the lottery.

My most recent winning gamble came in the form of Bang Bang Chicken. I started with homemade chicken nuggets — a dish that can do no wrong — and made sure they were extra crispy when shallow-fried with a coating of seasoned panko breadcrumbs. The crunchy chicken bites are then tossed in a creamy sweet-and-spicy sauce that’s so good I ended up making more for an extra drizzle on top. If you’re in need of a guaranteed dinner win, Bang Bang Chicken is the one I’d put my money on.

• You’ll want to put the sauce on everything. Transform mayonnaise with just two ingredients: Sriracha hot sauce and sweet chili sauce. The sauce has the perfect balance of spice and sweetness.
• It’s so crispy! You don’t have to rely on deep-frying for a satisfying crunch. The panko breadcrumb coating gives juicy bites of chicken an irresistibly crispy bite, and you only need to pan-fry them.

Bang Bang Chicken originated in a small town in the Sichuan province of China over 100 years ago. It gained popularity as it moved from village street food vendors to capital city restaurants. Sichuan’s Bang Bang Chicken is named for the banging sound made during the dish’s preparation. Chicken is pounded in order to absorb the guai wei or “strange flavor” sauce made with the region’s signature tingly peppercorn, sesame, chile oil, and black vinegar. Once pounded and sauced, the chicken is tossed with cucumbers, scallions, and fresh herbs, and served cold. The recipes for deep-fried chicken dressed with spicy mayonnaise found on some American restaurant menus go by the same name, but bear no resemblance to the original dish.

This version of Bang Bang Chicken was inspired by Bonefish Grill’s Bang Bang Shrimp^®. With its origins in a corporate kitchen, this crispy shrimp dish began as a special appetizer before earning a permanent spot on the chain’s menu. The popularity of Bang Bang Shrimp^® spawned copycat recipes for making the dish at home, and evolved into Bonefish-style crispy breaded and fried chicken served with a sweet and spicy mayonnaise sauce. That’s the recipe that I’m sharing here.

• Chicken breasts: You’ll need to cut 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces.
• Panko breadcrumbs: This style of breadcrumbs has a light and crackly texture that gives these chicken bites a big crunch.
• Sriracha hot sauce: Add spice to the mayonnaise sauce with Sriracha hot sauce. Remember that you can adjust the heat level by adding more or less of this ingredient to the mayonnaise.
• Sweet chili sauce: This sweet sauce is made with pickled red chilis and flavored with vinegar and garlic.

1. Make the sauce. Stir mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, and Sriracha hot sauce together in a large bowl. Transfer half of the sauce to a smaller bowl and reserve for drizzling or dipping later on.
2. Prepare the breading. Set up a shortcut breading station with eggs, all-purpose flour, and some Sriracha in one shallow dish and seasoned panko breadcrumbs in a second. There’s a lot less waste of excess eggs and flour when you whisk a smaller amount of each together to form a “glue” that the panko can adhere to.
3. Coat the chicken. Coat the chicken pieces in the egg mixture first, then coat in the panko breadcrumbs. It’s best to use one hand (or set of tongs) to handle the chicken when it is wet and another hand for the breaded chicken.
4. Shallow-fry the chicken. Heat oil in a high-sided pan (like a cast iron skillet) and fry the chicken in batches until golden-brown and cooked through. Don’t overcrowd the pan, as that will cause the oil temperature to drop.
5. Toss with sauce. Drain the chicken on a rack or paper towels, then toss in with the spicy mayonnaise in the large bowl until coated. Serve with more sauce for dipping.

• The sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container.
• Stash leftover chicken and sauce separately in airtight containers for up to 4 days. The breading will soften upon storage and refrigeration.

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• Buttery Garlic Rice
• Roasted Broccoli
• 3-Ingredient Cilantro-Lime Slaw
• Mango Sorbet