Dynamite Chicken

First created by PF Changs, mastered by Halal Food Diary. *chef’s kiss*

Ok maybe that was a little cheeky of me, but this is honestly my favourite out of all of the recipes I’ve come up with to date!

If you’ve been to PF Changs Asian Table in Leicester Square then I’m sure you’ve tried and loved their Dynamite Shrimp – or if you’ve been to the Dubai Branch then you’ll know how good their Dynamite Chicken is.

Well, I’ve cracked (and possibly improved) the recipe, so you can now make it whenever you wish, and for a fraction of the price (London branch charges £13.50 for a portion – pricey!)

Before we get into the recipe, I just wanted to share some of your recreations! Hundreds of you have recreated the recipe and sent in pictures, but I’ve just picked a few of my favourites!

The recipe works for Chicken or Prawns, and to be honest – you could even do it with Broccoli/Cauliflower if you want to make a veg version. If you’re making Chicken then my recipe advises you to use 500g, and 400g if you’re going for prawns.

The perfect appetiser, especially if you’ve got guests over – I even give you permission to say you came up with the recipe yourself *winks*. I especially enjoy making this recipe during Ramadan, you can prep the Chicken/Prawns and sauce well in advance so when its 10-mins before Iftaar time, you just need to dip it into the batter, fry, into the sauce and it’s ready to eat!

If you prefer to follow a recipe video, then I’ve got a 1-min video on my Instagram, click here for the link!

If you’re more of a visual learner, then I’ve got you covered – the pictures below should help you out!

1. Dice up the chicken into small pieces. I diced the strips at the top of the picture into the cubes at the bottom of the picture – and that’s about the size you want, but no worries if they’re a little bigger/smaller, completely up to you the size you want them – only thing you need to make sure is that the chicken is cooked all the way through when you fry it.

2. Add the salt, garlic powder, paprika powder and soy sauce to the chicken and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minute. Make sure you give it all a good mix, and then cover your bowl with some cling film/a plate and put it into the fridge. 30mins is the minimum time I’d recommend leaving it to marinate, but if you (like I often am) are prepping this all really last minute then a few minutes will be fine.

3. Mix the cornflour, plain flour, salt and pepper in a bowl to create the batter.

4. Whisk 2 eggs inside a separate bowl

5. Dip the chicken into the batter, then into the eggs and a final dip into the batter. The picture below is numbered so you know exactly what to do! Pile them all onto a plate as you’re coating them, and make sure you’re doing this step (step 5) just before you fry them, as if you leave them for too long after covering in batter then they get soggy.

6. Mix the mayonnaise, sriracha sauce, ketchup, honey, lemon juice and paprika powder inside a bowl to create the dynamite sauce. You can see in the picture below which brands are my go-to, but honestly any will do the trick. The most common question I get is “Can I skip the Sriracha sauce as I can’t handle spice” and yes, you most certainly can! Feel free to freestyle with the ingredients. I usually taste a little bit of the sauce once it’s mixed to decide if I want to make it any spicier (add more sriracha) or sweeter (add more honey).

7. Fry the chicken in oil at medium heat until golden brown in colour. I definitely need to get a better picture of this step, but you’ll definitely know when it’s done – what you’re after is a nice golden brown colour. I usually take one out, tear it in half and take a bite – and you’ll quickly know if it’s done or not.

8. Remove chicken from oil and place onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to get rid of any excess oil.

9. Pour the dynamite sauce over the chicken and mix thoroughly. Give it a good mix so they’re all evenly coated, but be careful not to scrape the batter off! You can really get creative with the presentation too, I like to present them in a cocktail glass (I meant mocktail*) and top them with some chopped spring onions to add to the colour.

10. Enjoy!