Extra crunchy crispy chicken bites served with a rich peanut butter sauce that is savory, aromatic, and sweet. Make your favorite takeout peanut butter chicken at home and get a restaurant-level result in no time! {Gluten-Free Adaptable}
Peanut butter chicken, but crispier
If you’re looking for a peanut butter chicken recipe that gives you the best result, this recipe is the way to go. There are a few different ways to make peanut butter chicken. The most common method is to brown the chicken pieces, then cook them in the peanut butter sauce.
My recipe uses a different approach:
- Lightly batter the chicken
- Pan fry the chicken until golden crispy
- Make the peanut butter sauce separately and only assemble it when you’re ready to eat
Using this method, you can create super crispy and juicy chicken bites that do not turn soggy when served with the creamy peanut butter sauce.
Ingredients
Marinade and batter for the chicken
By using a bit of oil, salt, egg and cornstarch, you will be able to create lightly battered chicken pieces that are suitable for pan frying. You don’t need a lot of oil and the chicken bites will turn golden crispy in a few minutes.
The peanut butter sauce
To create the best peanut butter sauce, the key is to use a few other sauces and a ton of aromatics to add a rich flavor:
- Soy sauce
- Rice vinegar
- Shaoxing wine (can be replaced with chicken broth)
- Ginger, garlic and green onion
By spending a few extra minutes to prepare these ingredients, you will be able to create a super rich peanut butter sauce that is not overly sweet, yet bursting with flavor and super fragrant.
PS. If you want extra sauce for your rice and veggies, feel free to double the amount of sauce!
Mise en place
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Broccoli cut into bite size pieces
- Chopped ginger, garlic, green onion
- Marinated and battered chicken
- Mixed sauce
I prefer to serve my peanut butter chicken over steamed rice with blanched broccoli, but you can serve the peanut butter chicken by itself as well.
Cooking process
- Boil a small cup of water in a skillet and add the broccoli
- Cover the skillet to steam the broccoli for 1 minute
- Pan fry the chicken until golden crispy
- Saute the aromatics
- Add the sauce and cook until it thickens
- Assemble your bowl and pour on the peanut butter sauce right before eating
That’s it!
I really love the homemade version of peanut butter chicken. It is crispy and juicy, and the sauce is so rich and flavorful. It ticks all the boxes and satisfies your craving!
How to reheat peanut butter chicken
If you make peanut butter chicken and want to save it for later, store the chicken and the sauce separately. You can heat up the chicken in an air fryer, toaster oven, or frying pan. Heat up the sauce in the microwave. If the sauce is too thick (it gets thick when it cools down), add a splash of hot water and stir to mix well. Then assemble and serve.
Afterthought
Peanut butter chicken is an American takeout dish and I did not eat it when growing up in China. When some readers requested the recipe, I did my research and I settled on this recipe. I decided to use some traditional Chinese cooking techniques to make the dish more “Chinese” tasting. I ended up loving the result so much and now I understand why this is such a popular takeout dish in the US! Now I can’t wait to introduce this dish to my Chinese friends 🙂
More easy takeout recipes
- Pork Chop Suey
- Orange Cauliflower
- Mongolian Beef (Without Using a Wok)
- Cashew Chicken (腰果鸡丁)
- Rice Cake Stir Fry (炒年糕, Chao Nian Gao)
Crispy Peanut Butter Chicken
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb (450 g) chicken thigh (or breast), cut into 1” (2.5 cm) pieces
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup cornstarch (or more if needed)
Sauce (Footnote 1)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened natural peanut butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or chicken broth)
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
Stir fry
- 1 small head broccoli
- 3 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 2 green onions , sliced
Instructions
Prep chicken
- Combine chicken thigh, vegetable oil, and salt in a big bowl. Add the beaten egg into the bowl with the chicken. Mix well and let marinate for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Right before cooking, add the cornstarch. Stir to coat chicken, until it forms an uneven coating with a little dry cornstarch left unattached. If the batter is too wet, you can add a bit more cornstarch.
Sauce
- Add the peanut butter and water into a medium-sized bowl. Stir and mix until the water is fully incorporated. Add the rest of the ingredients, one liquid at a time, and stir until smooth.
Stir fry
- Heat 1/4 cup water in a large skillet over medium heat until boiling. Add the broccoli and cover the pan. Let steam for 1 minute, or until the broccoli reaches the desired texture. Transfer the broccoli to a big plate and set aside. Wipe any excess water from the pan with a paper towel.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in the same skillet until hot. Add chicken all at once and spread into a single layer. Separate chicken pieces with a pair of tongs or chopsticks.
- Cook without touching the chicken for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bottom turns golden. Flip to brown the other side, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
- If there’s no oil in the pan, add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, along with garlic, ginger, and green onion. Cook and stir a few times until it releases the fragrance.
- Pour the sauce into the pan. Stir and cook until it thickens slightly, 1 minute or so. Transfer the sauce to a medium-sized bowl.
- When you’re ready to serve, pour the peanut sauce over the chicken and serve hot as a main dish. The chicken will remain crispy if you pour the sauce on it right before eating.
Notes
- You can double or even triple the sauce if you prefer some extra sauce to serve with your steamed rice or vegetables. The sauce is so good that it goes on everything! Note, the peanut butter sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. If your sauce is too thick, simply add a splash of hot water and mix well before serving.
Hey! You mention mixing cornflour in the sauce in the recipe instructions but don’t say when to add it and how much. Please do say, would love to make this!
Sorry about the typo! There is no cornstarch in the sauce because the peanut butter will thicken the sauce nicely. I just updated the recipe and now it has the correct instruction. Happy cooking!
Looks delish! Working on making it now. I have a question, so for people with a egg allergy is there a way around the egg part can we use milk or coconut cream?
You actually can totally skip the egg. The oil and cornstarch will give the chicken a thin crust that is crispy once pan fried. The egg makes the crust a bit thicker, but skipping it won’t affect the texture too much. I wouldn’t use milk because the result would be less crispy unless you use more oil to properly deep fry the chicken.
I am very grateful that you posted this recipe; my pulse skipped a beat when I saw it. There was an excellent “Cantonese-American” restaurant on 3rd Avenue near 20th Street named “Yen King” that served an iteration of this dish. It was my favorite. I have been searching for another restaurant, in vain, that serves it. I’ve tried Cantonese restaurants in San Francisco, Vancouver BC, and have enjoyed many more authentic Cantonese food, but “Wor Shu Guy” (one translation: “Wok-Seared Chicken”) has eluded me until now. In the Yen King menu I remember parts of the description that included “pressed boneless chicken coated in waterchestnut flour”. I think I remember the word peanuts in the description which would make sense because even back then I would grab any dish with peanuts. When Kung Pao chicken came along years later at the also excellent “Mandarin” restaurant Shun Lee Dynasty near the UN I dove for it despite the waiters there warning my Parents that the dish would be too spicy for a child. Eventually, I got my way and the rest is history. Sadly, Yen King, which was in our neighborhood, closed in the late Seventies. I still tell people how great it was. I thank you for giving me back this wonderful concoction from my youth.
Another wonderful recipe! I don’t think I’ve ever had this as take out. The crispy chicken and peanut sauce was wonderful.