Chinese Lemon Chicken

Chinese Lemon Chicken

This often requested Chinese lemon chicken recipe is a delicious, refreshing alternative to the usual crispy sweet and sour chicken.

Important Lemon Chicken Cooking Tips: 

When making this acidic sauce, make sure you use a non-reactive or stainless steel pan.

Make sure you wait at least 5 minutes after the first fry before the second fry. This allows the chicken to cool, giving time for moisture to escape, resulting in crispier results.

If making this Chinese lemon chicken recipe ahead of time, you can fry the chicken, make the sauce, and store them separately. Once ready, you can refry the chicken and reheat the sauce, then do a final toss before serving. 

If you have lots of other dishes, it is best serve the chicken and the sauce separately. When ready to eat, pour the sauce over the chicken just before enjoying. If you do this, feel free to double the sauce recipe so it does not run short! 

If you like black pepper, you can try topping your lemon chicken with some freshly ground pepper for a tasty lemon pepper flavor!

Garnish with sesame seeds.

Prep: 40 minutes 

Cook: 20 minutes 

Total: 1 hour 

Serves: 4  

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

Half kg. boneless skinless chicken breast (or thighs—cut into chunks)

2 tsp white grape juice or white wine

Quarter tsp garlic powder

Quarter tsp cooking oil

1 tbsp cornstarch

Salt and white pepper powder as per taste

Oil for frying (such as peanut, vegetable, or canola oil)

Batter option:

Half cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

Pinch turmeric powder (optional)

Quarter tsp teaspoon baking powder

Salt and white pepper powder as per taste

Quarter tsp  oil

Half cup cold beer club soda

Crispy coating option:

Half cup cornstarch

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

Pinch turmeric powder (optional)

Quarter tsp oil

Salt and white pepper powder as per taste

For the lemon sauce:1-2 fresh lemon juice, Half lemon for slices, and 1 teaspoon lemon zest)

Quarter cup water

1 & Half tbsp  cornstarch (mixed into a slurry with 1 Half tbsp water)

Salt and sugar as per taste

Method:

Marinate the chicken:

Toss the chicken in the wine, garlic powder, oil, cornstarch, salt and white pepper. Set aside for 20 minutes (or overnight, if marinating in advance).

 

Fry the chicken:

For the batter fried version, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, white pepper, and turmeric (if using). Just before you’re ready to fry, mix in the water or club soda and oil, just until the batter is smooth. Dredge the chicken in the remaining flour. Heat a small pot of oil. Drop 5-6 pieces of the marinated, dredged chicken into the batter, and use chopsticks, a fork, or your fingers to coat the chicken, placing each carefully into the oil. Adjust the heat to maintain the oil temperature (dropping the chicken into the oil will immediately lower the temperature).

For the crispy coating option, heat 2 cups of oil in your wok for shallow frying. Combine the cornstarch, flour, salt, white pepper, turmeric, and oil. Dredge the chicken in the dry mixture, and drop them into the oil, in batches of 5-6 pieces.

Use chopsticks or a slotted spoon to carefully turn the chicken pieces occasionally (in either case!), so all sides are uniformly fried. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until the chicken is light golden brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon, and let any excess oil drain off before placing onto a rack or paper towel lined plate. Repeat until all the chicken has been fried.

Make the lemon sauce & assemble the dish:

Juice the lemon(s) until you get quarter cup juice. Slice a few thin rounds of lemon, and zest the remainder so you have about 1 teaspoon. Add the juice, zest, and slices to a non-reactive/stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat, along with the water, sugar, and salt. Bring to a simmer.

While the sauce is coming up to a simmer, reheat your oil. Fry your chicken into the oil in 2 batches, re-frying each batch, maintaining the heat at least for 2 minutes, or until crispy.

With the lemon sauce still simmering, slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry (what is a slurry - it is a liquid mixed with a solid (like flour or cornstarch) to create a smooth, lump-free liquid that thickens sauces, soups, gravies, or acts as a coating for frying. It's made by whisking starch with cold liquid (water/broth) to prevent lumps, then gradually adding it to hot food, bringing it to a simmer to activate the thickening) until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. If the sauce thickens to this point before you add all of the slurry, don’t add the remainder; just discard it! You can do this while the chicken is frying for the second time.

Once all the chicken is fried, toss it into the sauce, and fold it in with 3-4 scooping motions, until the pieces are lightly coated.

Plate and serve, pour sauce over it just before eating immediately! If you like, you can garnish with additional fresh lemon slices.

Garnish with topping your lemon chicken with some freshly ground pepper for a tasty lemon pepper flavor!

Garnish with sesame seeds.

Best served with fried noodles or fried rice or hot steamed rice.

Enjoy!