Easy Szechuan Chicken Recipe (LaZiJi) - Yi's Sichuan Kitchen (2024)

Szechuan chicken or Laziji is a dish I always order when I go to a Sichuan restaurant because of the exploding flavor and visual effect! The chicken is chopped into bite sizes and fried to crispy and the plate is filled with red chilies. Whenever this dish is brought out, the smell and aroma just wakes up everyone at the table!

Szechuan chicken is not hard to make at home and it can be great for serving guests or parties because you can make a lot of it in one go! The chicken simply needs to be fried twice to create the crispiness. For the first time the oil temperature would be lower and the second time the oil reaches 350 F to get the crispy on the surface of chicken.

Other than the chicken, the rest of the preparation goes for cutting the chili peppers, chopping garlic, ginger and green onion. Super easy!

What does Szechuan chicken taste like?

Szechuan chicken is filled with chilies and Sichuan peppercorn so it is spicy and numbing! It also comes with plenty of aromatics such as garlic, ginger and green onion. The chicken is very flavorful with all the spiciness and aroma!

What is typically in Szechuan chicken?

Szechuan chicken is made with deep fried bite size chicken. Additionally it is filled with dry chilies, Sichuan peppercorn, garlic, ginger and green onion.

How hot is Szechuan chicken?

Szechuan chicken can be very hot because it is made with lots of chilies. Typically you have to find the chicken from a sea of chilies on the plate. However the chilies used to cook Szechuan chicken are typically mildly hot and they are used for their flavor. In general Szechuan chicken can turn out to be medium hot depending on how hot the chilies used are.

Ingredients:

Chicken legs or thighs 3-4

Dry Chili 1 Cup (or more if preferred)

Sichuan Peppercorn 1 tbsp

Green onion 3-4

Garlic 5-6

Ginger 1 piece

Marinate chopped chicken:

White pepper 1/2 tsp

Cooking wine 1 tbsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Soy sauce 1 tsp

Corn starch 1 tbsp

Marinate for 15-20 minutes

Deep fry chicken with:

Oil 1-2 cups

Fry chicken twice to create a crispy on the outside and tender on the inside texture!

Stir-fry seasoning:

cooking wine:1/2 tbsp

soy sauce:1 tsp

sugar: 1/4 tsp

sesame oil: 1/4 tsp

Instructions:

1. Chop chicken into cubes. Then marinate with cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and corn starch for 20-30 minutes.
2. Slice garlic, ginger and green onion and set aside.
3. Cut dry chilies with a pair of scissors. Toss the seeds if you want to reduce the spiciness.
4. Take out Sichuan peppercorn and set aside with the dry chilies.
5. Heat oil. Test to see if bubbles come out when putting in a chopstick. If so, start frying the chicken. Tip: putting chicken in 1 piece at a time helps keeping them separate.
6. When chicken turns slightly brown, take it out and drain.
7. Heat oil up to about 350F and put all the chicken back to fry 2-3 minutes. This time the chicken should be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Drain and set aside.
8. In a wok or pan, add oil, fry garlic and ginger. Then add in dry chilies and Sichuan peppercorn fry until fragrant. Keep heat low when frying the chilies because they can turn black if the pan is too hot.
9. Add chicken and season with soy sauce, cooking wine, and sugar. Add green onions. Mix well.
10. Add 1 tsp of sesame oil before serving to bring out even more flavor.

    

    Spicy Szechuan Chicken

    Easy Szechuan Chicken recipe you can make at home! Super tasty chicken fried to crispy then stir fried with aromatics and chilies.

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe

    Prep Time 10 minutes mins

    Cook Time 20 minutes mins

    Total Time 30 minutes mins

    Course Main Course

    Cuisine Chinese

    See Also

    Chive Flower Japanese Tempura Recipe

    Servings 2

    Equipment

    • 1 pot

    • 1 wok or pan

    Ingredients

    • 3 Chicken legs or thighs
    • 1 cup Dry Chili can be more if preferred
    • 1 tbsp Sichuan Peppercorn
    • 3-4 Green onion
    • 5-6 Garlic
    • 1 piece Ginger

    Marinate chopped chicken

    • 1/2 tsp White pepper
    • 1 tbsp Cooking wine
    • 1/2 tsp Salt
    • 1 tsp Soy sauce
    • 1 tbsp Corn starch

    Deep fry chicken with

    • 1-2 cup Oil

    Stir-fry seasoning

    • 1/2 tbsp cooking wine
    • 1 tsp soy sauce
    • 1/4 tsp sugar
    • 1 tsp sesame oil

    Instructions

    • Chop chicken into cubes. Then marinate with cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, white pepper and corn starch for 20-30 minutes.

    • Slice garlic, ginger and green onion and set aside.

    • Cut dry chilies with a pair of scissors. Toss the seeds if you want to reduce the spiciness.

    • Take out Sichuan peppercorn and set aside with the dry chilies.

    • Heat oil. Test to see if bubbles come out when putting in a chopstick. If so, start frying the chicken. Tip: putting chicken in 1 piece at a time helps keeping them separate.

    • When chicken turns slightly brown, take it out and drain.

    • Heat oil up to about 350F and put all the chicken back to fry 2-3 minutes. This time the chicken should be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Drain and set aside.

    • In a wok or pan, add oil, fry garlic and ginger. Then add in dry chilies and Sichuan peppercorn fry until fragrant. Keep heat low when frying the chilies because they can turn black if the pan is too hot.

    • Add chicken and season with soy sauce, cooking wine, and sugar. Add green onions. Mix well.

    • Add 1 tsp of sesame oil before serving to bring out even more flavor.

    Video

    Keyword laziji, Sichuan chicken, spicy sichuan chicken, spicy Szechuan Chicken, Szechuan Chicken