Dragon Chicken is an Indo-Chinese appetizer made with crispy batter-fried chicken strips tossed in a super yummy, sweet, and spicy sauce, sauteed with cashews and bell pepper. Can be air-fried or deep-fried.
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What is Dragon Chicken?
Dragon chicken is made with batter-fried crispy, crunchy chicken strips, which are tossed in a spicy, sweet, and sour sauce along with cashews, bell peppers, and onions. You can serve it with Easy Fried Rice or Thai Basil Fried Rice, but you can also enjoy it with plain Jasmine Rice or Basmati Rice. Dragon chicken is a legend in the world of Indo-Chinese food! If you’ve eaten this popular chicken dish at Indo-Chinese restaurants, you will agree with me.
This unique Dragon chicken is one of those classic Indo-Chinese inventions, with no real connection to India or China, yet tastes so good. To make the crispy batter-fried chicken, you can choose to either deep-fry the chicken or Air Fry it, and I much prefer air frying. The Air Fryer chicken comes super crispy and so much healthier. This dish is the perfect side for a cold beer on a hot sunny day!
If you like Asian takeout-style recipes, you have to try my Sweet and Sour cauliflower and General Tso's Cauliflower too!
Why you will love this recipe
- Chicken is fried in the air fryer with just a teaspoon of oil
- Tastes just like Dragon chicken you get at Indo-Chinese restaurants
- A delicious side or main that is best enjoyed with a chilled drink!
Recipe Ingredients
For the crispy Air Fryer chicken, you will need:
- Boneless Chicken pieces, cut into strips
- Rice Flour, All-Purpose Flour, and Cornstarch
- Ginger-garlic paste or minced ginger and garlic
- Oil - I prefer to use peanut or sesame oil, but any vegetable oil will work
- Light Soy Sauce
- 1 Egg
For the Dragon chicken sauce, you will need:
- Bell Pepper - Cut into cubes
- Onions, sliced
- Garlic cloves
- Cashews
- Soy Sauce
- Rice Vinegar
- Sriracha Sauce
- Tomato Paste
How to make Dragon Chicken
Make the batter by mixing together rice flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, ginger garlic paste (or use minced ginger and garlic), soy sauce, red chili powder (use Kashmiri Red chili powder for best results),1 egg and a teaspoon of oil in a mixing bowl.
Whisk these ingredients together until a smooth, lump-free batter is formed.
Add the strips of chicken to the bowl and toss them in the batter until the batter coats each piece well. You can use your hands to mix the chicken pieces well.
To Air Fry the chicken – Set the air fryer to air fry at 400 F for 10 minutes. Once the airfryer completes the preheating cycle (if your airfryer needs preheating), take out the basket and place the chicken strips in a single layer as you can see below. Let the chicken airfry for 7 minutes, then take out the basket and flip the pieces over to cook them evenly. After the cycle is complete, take out the air-fried chicken pieces.
To deep fry the chicken - Heat oil in a frying pan or wok or Dutch oven – the oil should be at least two inches in depth. Once the oil is hot, you can test it by adding a little batter. The batter should bubble and come up to the surface. This indicates it is hot enough for deep frying. Add the chicken pieces one by one. Fry in batches, and do not over-crowd the oil. After the chicken pieces are deep-fried, keep them aside on kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
To make the Dragon Chicken sauce
In a separate wok, add a tablespoon of peanut or sesame oil and add the onions and garlic. Saute until onions are soft. Add bell pepper and cashews and sauté for a few minutes. Add sriracha sauce, concentrated tomato paste, honey, and mix well. Turn off the heat.
Add the batter fried chicken pieces. Toss them well in the sauces in the wok, until the pieces are well coated with the sauces.
Your Dragon Chicken is ready to be served with fried rice or Jasmine rice!
Recipe Tips and Ingredient Substitutions
- While air frying the batter-coated chicken, make sure you are not overcrowding the air fryer basket. The chicken strips should be slightly spaced apart so that the batter crisps up evenly. Air fry in batches if necessary.
- If deep-frying the crispy chicken, make sure the oil is hot before you add the chicken. Deep-fry in batches and do not overcrowd the hot oil.
- Sriracha sauce can be substituted with any hot sauce of your choice. Rice Vinegar can be replaced with apple cider vinegar.
- To reduce the amount of spice in this recipe, to make it kid-friendly, you can skip the sriracha or hot sauce entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is believed that Dragon chicken is named after the fiery red color of this dish, and to some extent, because of the amount of spice associated with this dish.
Chili chicken is another very popular Indo-Chinese recipe. Although they are very similar, the key difference between chili chicken and dragon chicken is that dragon chicken has cashews as an additional ingredient and is spicier and reddish in color as compared to chili chicken. The chicken is also cut into strips instead of into chunks as in chili chicken.
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Dragon Chicken Recipe
Equipment
- Air Fryer or Wok
Ingredients
- 400 grams boneless chicken breast or thighs
For the batter
- 2 tbsp All-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1.5 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste or use minced ginger and garlic
- 1 tsp Rice vinegar
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp Vegetable or peanut oil
For the sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable or peanut oil
- 1 bell peper cut into cubes
- 1 large onion sliced
- 1 tsp Sriracha Sauce
- 1/3 cup cashews
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp concentrated tomato paste
Instructions
Make the crispy batter-fried chicken
- In a large mixing bowl, make the batter by mixing together all the ingredients listed under 'batter'.
- Whisk the ingredients together until a smooth, lump-free batter is formed.
- Add the strips of chicken to the bowl and toss them in the batter until the batter coats each piece well. You can use your hands to mix the chicken pieces well.
- To Air Fry the chicken – Set the air fryer to air fry at 400 F for 10 minutes. Once the airfryer completes the preheating cycle (if your airfryer needs preheating), take out the basket and place the chicken strips in a single layer as you can see below. Let the chicken airfry for 7 minutes, then take out the basket and flip the pieces over to cook them evenly. After the cycle is complete, take out the air-fried chicken pieces.
- To deep fry the chicken - Heat oil in a frying pan or wok or Dutch oven – the oil should be at least two inches in depth. Once the oil is hot, you can test it by adding a little batter. The batter should bubble and come up to the surface. This indicates it is hot enough for deep frying. Add the chicken pieces one by one. Fry in batches, and do not over-crowd the oil. After the chicken pieces are deep-fried, keep them aside on kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
To make the Dragon Chicken sauce
- In a separate wok, add a tablespoon of peanut or vegetable oil and add the onions and garlic. Saute until onions are soft. Add bell pepper and sauté for a few minutes. Add sriracha sauce, concentrated tomato paste, honey and mix well. Turn off the heat.
- Add the batter fried chicken pieces. Toss them well in the sauces in the wok, until the pieces are well coated with the sauces.
- Your Dragon Chicken is ready to be served with fried rice or Jasmine rice!
Notes
- While air frying the batter-coated chicken, make sure you are not overcrowding the air fryer basket. The chicken strips should be slightly spaced apart so that the batter crisps up evenly. Air fry in batches if necessary.
- If deep-frying the crispy chicken, make sure the oil is hot before you add the chicken. Deep-fry in batches and do not overcrowd the hot oil.
- Sriracha sauce can be substituted with any hot sauce of your choice. Rice Vinegar can be replaced with apple cider vinegar.
- To reduce the amount of spice in this recipe, to make it kid-friendly, you can skip the sriracha or hot sauce entirely.