Sweet Chilli Chicken

Sweet chilli chicken is the perfect weeknight dinner that tastes like takeout but comes together in your own kitchen in under 30 minutes! With tender chicken pieces coated in aromatic spices and smothered in a sticky, sweet-spicy glaze, this dish delivers restaurant-quality flavor with minimal effort.

Love More Chicken Recipes? Try My Mexican Street Corn White Chicken Chili or this Chicken Pillows With Creamy Parmesan Sauce next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Bold flavors, a gorgeous glossy sauce, and tender chicken that practically melts in your mouth. The combination of sweet chilli sauce with smoky paprika and a hint of heat creates the most irresistible glaze that clings to every piece. Plus, it’s made with pantry staples and comes together faster than you could drive to get takeout.

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Ingredient List

For the Chicken:

• 600 g chicken breast, cut into rough cubes
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (for coating)
• 1 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1 teaspoon onion granules
• ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust to heat preference)
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• Salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For the Sauce:

• 60 ml (4 tablespoons) sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely grated
• 200 ml chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon cornflour (for slurry)
• ½ tablespoon rice vinegar
• Fresh chives (for garnish)

Substitution Notes:

• Chicken: Thighs are cheaper and honestly taste better, I use those half the time
• Sweet chilli sauce: I grab whatever’s on sale, though I do like Mae Ploy best
• Fresh ginger: Tried ground once when I ran out, wasn’t the same but worked in a pinch
• Rice vinegar: Regular white vinegar from under the sink works fine
• Cayenne pepper: Those crushed red pepper packets from pizza delivery? Yeah those work

Why These Ingredients Work

Okay so here’s what the cornflour does. When you cook the chicken it makes the outside kind of crispy, not like fried chicken crispy but better than just plain chicken. Then when you add the sauce, it actually sticks instead of sliding off into a puddle at the bottom. Smart right? The garlic and onion granules save you from chopping which is great when you’re tired or your kid needs help with homework while you’re cooking.

Smoked paprika is why this looks so good. Regular paprika is fine I guess but the smoked kind makes it dark red and gives it this flavor that’s hard to describe. Just trust me on this one. Now the fresh ginger, okay I know it’s annoying to peel and grate. I get it. But the jarred ginger tastes like medicine and kind of kills the whole vibe. Fresh ginger is bright and zesty and wakes everything up. My aunt showed me the rice vinegar trick years ago. She’s Vietnamese and knows her way around sauces. That tiny splash at the end stops everything from tasting flat and one-note. Game changer.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Nonstick frying pan or wok
• Wooden spoon or spatula
• Small bowl for making the slurry
• Grater for fresh ginger
• Measuring spoons and cups

How To Make Sweet Chilli Chicken

Step 1: Coat the Chicken

Throw your chicken chunks in a bowl. Add the garlic granules, onion granules, 2 tablespoons of cornflour, cayenne, and paprika. Get in there with your hands and mix it all up. Every piece should be covered. Now if you’ve got time before dinner, stick this in the fridge for an hour. The flavors sink in more and the coating gets stickier. But look, I skip this step constantly when I’m rushed and it’s still delicious. Don’t stress about it.

Step 2: Sear the Chicken

Get your pan hot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. When the oil starts shimmering a bit, dump in all your chicken. Spread it out in one layer if you can. Now here’s where I messed up for years – I used to stand there poking at it with my spoon constantly. Don’t do that. Walk away for 3 or 4 minutes. Let it sit there and get golden brown underneath. Then give it one good stir and leave it alone for a few more minutes. That’s how you get the good crispy bits.

Step 3: Add the Aromatics

Toss in that grated ginger and a good pinch of salt. Stir it around for maybe a minute. The smell is incredible. This is when my dog comes running into the kitchen because he knows something good is happening. Your whole place will smell like an actual restaurant.

Step 4: Create the Glaze

Grab a small bowl and mix the last tablespoon of cornflour with maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons of water. Whisk it with a fork until there’s no lumps at all. Pour in your sweet chilli sauce, the chicken stock, and that cornflour water. Stir everything together in the pan. Watch it go from thin and watery to thick and shiny. Takes maybe 2 minutes, 3 tops. You’ll know it’s ready when it coats the spoon.

Step 5: Finish and Garnish

Add the rice vinegar and give it one more stir. Taste a little bit – does it need salt? Add some if it does. Sprinkle those chives over everything and get it on plates immediately. This is best eaten hot right out of the pan.

You Must Know

Don’t even try to make perfect uniform chicken cubes. I wasted so much time doing that before I realized irregular pieces are way better. The skinny bits get extra crispy. The fat bits stay juicy. The weird jagged edges catch all that sauce. Just cut them up fast and messy and move on with your life.

Personal Secret: One Sunday I was bored and mixed up a huge batch of the spice combo – garlic granules, onion granules, cayenne, paprika. Put it in an old spice jar. Now when I’m making this I just grab the jar and dump some on the chicken. Probably saves me 30 seconds but those 30 seconds count at 6pm on a Wednesday.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

• If you crowd the pan everything steams and gets soggy instead of getting those crispy bits. I cook in two batches now if I’m making a lot. Worth the extra minute
• Cold chicken works better than room temp. Something about the coating sticking. Just take it straight from the fridge
• Whisk that cornflour slurry really good or you’ll get weird lumps in your sauce and that’s annoying to fish out
• Start with less cayenne if you’re nervous about spice. Half a teaspoon is pretty mild. My kids eat it no problem
• Line everything up on the counter before you turn on the stove. Once you start this goes quick and you don’t want to be hunting for the stock while your chicken’s burning

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Honey Garlic Twist: Do half honey half sweet chilli sauce and throw in some extra fresh garlic

Sesame Version: Add sesame oil when you add the regular oil, sprinkle sesame seeds on top at the end

Orange Sweet Chilli: Grate in some orange zest and squeeze in the juice with the sauce

Veggie Loaded: I throw in bell peppers or those sugar snap peas from Costco when I add the sauce

Extra Sticky: Use way less chicken stock, like half. Makes it almost like candy

Make-Ahead Options

Coat the chicken the night before if you want. Leave it in the fridge covered. Actually gets better that way because the spices have more time to do their thing. I do this Sunday nights sometimes for Monday dinners.

You can make just the sauce ahead too and keep it in a jar for a few days. Just heat it up when you need it.

Freezing: The finished chicken doesn’t freeze great. Sauce gets watery and weird when you thaw it. But I freeze the coated raw chicken all the time, especially when chicken breasts go on sale. Lasts 2 months easy. Just move it to the fridge the night before you want to cook it.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

• Getting the cornflour water mix right matters more than you’d think. Too much cornflour and your sauce turns into library paste. Not enough and it stays thin and watery. The ratio I gave you works every time
• Medium-high heat is the sweet spot. Hot enough for color and flavor, not so hot you burn the paprika and make everything bitter
• I cannot stress this enough – fresh ginger is worth buying. It costs like nothing and makes such a difference
• If your sauce gets too thick just splash in more stock. Too thin, let it bubble longer. Not rocket science

Serving Suggestions

White rice is my go-to. Soaks up every drop of that sauce and nothing gets wasted. Sometimes I’ll make fried rice if I’ve got leftover rice in the fridge. My sister does this over rice noodles which is really good too. One time I did cauliflower rice when I was trying to be healthy and it was fine I guess but not as satisfying.

Side of steamed broccoli is classic. Or I’ll shred up some cabbage with lime juice and cilantro for a quick slaw. Something fresh and crunchy next to all that sticky sweet chicken just works. If I remember I’ll throw some crushed peanuts on top. Spring onions are good too but I always forget to buy them.

How to Store Your Sweet Chilli Chicken

Refrigerator: Stick it in any container with a lid. Good for 3 days, maybe 4 if you’re pushing it. The sauce gets really thick when it’s cold so when you reheat it add a splash of water or stock to loosen it up.

Reheating: Pan on the stove is best. Medium heat, add a spoonful of water, stir it around until it’s hot. Microwave works if you’re in a hurry but do short bursts and stir between or the chicken gets rubbery and sad.

Freezing: Cooked chicken doesn’t freeze well. Raw coated chicken freezes great though. Done it tons of times.

Allergy Information

Contains:

• Gluten (depending on your cornflour brand)

Common Allergens:

• Gluten-free: Buy the gluten-free cornflour, most stores have it now
• Soy-free: Check your sweet chilli sauce bottle because a lot of them sneak soy in there
• Low-sodium: Get the low-sodium stock and go light on the salt you add

Nothing in here has dairy, eggs, or nuts so that’s easy at least!

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My sauce didn’t thicken – what went wrong?

Probably your cornflour had lumps in it or you didn’t get the pan hot enough. Really whisk that cornflour and water together until it’s totally smooth. And make sure your sauce is actually bubbling and boiling for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Still too thin? Just mix another teaspoon of cornflour with water and add it in. Easy fix.

Can I make this in the air fryer?

Yeah totally. Put the coated chicken in your air fryer at 200°C for about 12 to 15 minutes. Give the basket a shake halfway through so it cooks evenly. Then make the sauce in a pan like normal and toss the cooked chicken in it. Comes out extra crispy this way which is amazing.

How spicy is this recipe?

With half a teaspoon of cayenne it’s really pretty mild. My kids eat it and they’re wimps about spice. The sweet chilli sauce adds a little more heat but nothing crazy. It’s more flavorful than actually spicy. Start with less if you’re worried and you can always add more next time once you know your tolerance.

Can I use bottled ginger instead of fresh?

I mean you can but I’m begging you not to. Bottled ginger paste tastes bitter and weird. Fresh ginger is so cheap and it’s not hard to grate. But okay if you absolutely cannot get fresh ginger for some reason, use about one and a half teaspoons of the paste stuff. Just know it won’t taste quite as good.

Why add rice vinegar at the end?

My aunt taught me this and it changed how I cook a lot of things. The vinegar brightens up all the flavors. Without it everything tastes kind of heavy and flat. With it everything pops and tastes more interesting. It’s like when you add lemon to something and suddenly it’s ten times better. Don’t skip this step, it’s what makes this recipe really special.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! Seriously tell me how it went! Did your family like it? Did you change anything? I read every single comment.