Ohhh those Firecracker Chicken Bites. . .

Firecracker Chicken Bites

Well I love sticking to my weeknight menu plan. I love it even more when the meal prepared turns out beyond expectations. Having been craving hot wings lately but bot having wings on hand and not seeing them available on my grocery delivery apps I needed to come up with a solution. Making larger chicken parts with hot wing sauce doesn’t work for me and although I do love a spicy, crunchy cauliflower hot ‘wing’ I really wanted the chicken. I always have boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer so that would have to work. The recipe I came up with would work well with boneless chicken breasts as well. To make this more enjoyable Firecracker Chicken Bites became not only part of my week night menu plan but became the recipe being made in my private zoom cooking class on Tuesday afternoon. The class was fun and the results were just so on point; spicy, crispy, sweet all in little bites of yum. the recipe is attached below for you to try. PLEASE let me know how it turns out in your kitchens!

Firecracker Chicken Bites

The Out of Town Cook

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/3 cup Cornstarch

2 Eggs beaten

3 tablespoons Grapeseed/ Vegetable Oil

1/3 cup Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo Sauce

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Rice Vinegar/ Cider Vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes or more to taste

1/4 cup Scallions sliced

cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with vegetable oil spray.  Put the cubed chicken into a 1 gallon Ziploc baggie and season with the salt and pepper.  Shake to distribute seasoning.  Add the corn starch to the bag, seal and shake to coat the chicken.  In a bowl beat the eggs.  Put the 3 tablespoons of oil into a large frying pan.  Dip the chicken pieces into the egg wash to coat and then fry in the hot oil until golden on all sides.  Fry the chicken in batches as to not overcrowd the pan.  When all of the chicken is browned evenly place it in a single layer in the prepared baking pan.  Set aside momentarily.  In a small bowl mix together the Sweet Baby Ray’s Buffalo sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar and red pepper flakes.  Pour this evenly over the chicken and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes. Stir once or twice while baking to ensure all of the chicken pieces are coated with sauce.  Serve over rice with the chopped scallions scattered over the cooked chicken.

*Note*

To sweeten the chicken and have a slightly milder dish add pineapple chunks to the pan with the chicken before you pour the sauce over it.