Just to be clear: this is a fried chicken recipe. The sauce is a glaze. It doesn’t touch the chicken until after it has been fried and is fully cooked. To be even more specific, there is order in the prep and cooking that I suggest you follow so that the chicken is served while it is at its best.
- Season and marinate the chicken.
- Toss the marinated chicken in flour.
- Fry the chicken and make the sauce while the chicken is in the oil.
- Toss the fried chicken in the sauce.
Yes, it’s a flavorful sauce. So rich and so dreamy. But that sauce will only coat the surface of the chicken. Because real cooks know that good fried chicken is tasty all the way to the bones, don’t skip the marnating.
Why flour the chicken? Two reasons. It means less oil spatter when the chicken is lowered into the hot oil. It also means creating a crust that will make the sauce stick better.
A tip for flouring the chicken evenly but lightly: Place the flour in a large bowl with a tight lid (or use a Ziplock bag), add the chicken, snap on the lid and shake to coat the chicken pieces with flour. Remove the chicken and shake out the excess flour.
Now, about the cooking temperature. Because the chicken is floured, if the heat is too high, the flour will burn before the chicken is cooked through. What I do is to start with very high heat to seal the chicken upon contact with the oil, then I lower the heat to medium.
Fried chicken with chili honey sauce
Ingredients
- legs, thighs and wings of a 1.5 kilogram chicken - (reserve the other parts for another dish)
- salt
- pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 to 3 cups cooking oil
- 6 tablespoons chili sauce
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Rub the chicken pieces with salt and pepper very generously. Place in a bowl and marinate in the fridge for at least two hours.
- Toss the chicken in flour and shake off the excess.
- Heat the cooking oil until thin wisps of smoke start to float on the surface.
- Fry the chicken until golden brown, flipping halfway through.
- While the chicken fries, make the sauce by mixing together the chili sauce, honey and melted butter.
- When the chicken pieces are done, scoop out and transfer to a bowl.
- Pour in the sauce. Cover the bowl and toss the chicken to coat evenly with the sauce.
- Sprinkle in the sesame seeds, cover the bowl again and give the chicken pieces a few more tosses.
- Transfer your fried chicken with chili honey sauce to a platter. Sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish (I love cilantro!) and serve.
