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Lemon Chicken Recipe
Chinese lemon chicken is my favorite chicken recipes and I make it at home frequently.
I love the taste of the dish, with chicken pieces deep fried to golden brown in a light, refreshing, and addictive lemon sauce. It’s delicious!
In my cookbook “Easy Chinese Recipes,” there is a similar recipe, but that version is mostly found in Chinese restaurants here in the US.
This is an easy and healthy recipe takes 20 minutes from start to finish and I will teach you how to make it.
The Lemon Chicken Batter
To make crispy chicken, use a basic combination of all-purpose flour and corn starch.
This will ensure that the chicken remains crispy even when the lemon sauce is added to the chicken.
Cooking Tips
The lemon sauce for chicken should just lightly coat the chicken pieces so that every bite of is complete with a crunchy texture, perfected with a sweet, aromatic, and tart flavor from the lemony sauce.
I also like topping the chicken with some white sesame seeds, as they immediately dress up the chicken with a nice presentation.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 280 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
As with most Chinese food recipes, this chicken is just perfect with some warm and fluffy steamed white rice.
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Lemon Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast/thigh, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup cornstarch (sifted and combine well)
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- oil (for deep-frying)
- 1/2 teaspoon white sesame
Marinade:
- 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (optional)
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon sugar or more to taste
- 5 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 pinch salt or to taste
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken with the Marinade, for 30 minutes. Mix all the ingredients for the Sauce. Set aside.
- Coat the marinated chicken with the corn starch and all-purpose flour mixture. Heat up a wok with about two inches of oil. As soon as the oil is fully heated, deep-fry the chicken until golden brown. Transfer the chicken out to a dish lined with paper towels to sock up the excess oil.
- Add all the ingredients in the Sauce into a small sauce pan and bring it to a quick boil. Transfer the fried chicken into the sauce, stir to coat well with the lemon sauce.
- Dish out, top with the white sesame, and serve immediately.
Video
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
I didn’t have the shaoxing wine and sesame seeds but it still turned out so tasty! I also used an air fryer at first. Great recipe
First time making this and the sauce was a perfect combination. I cooked a side of linguine with olive oil and garlic salt and put the chicken on top, amazing.
Nice!😊👍
Still a favourite with even the picky not-so-small-now ones. So easy to do and any extra chicken bits are great to pick on for lunches/snackes the next day.
It was FANTASTIC!!!! Even the picky eaters in my family were grabbing seconds! I substituted all the parts where it mentioned cornstarch or flour for cornflour, and I got perfect results. Definitely gonna make this again.
Thanks!