Chinese Lemon Chicken
Tender battered chicken with a tangy lemon sauce
This is my recipe for classic Chinese takeaway style lemon chicken. The chicken pieces are battered and fried, then drizzled in a homemade tangy lemon sauce.
The coating gives the sauce something to stick to, whilst keeping the chicken inside lovely and tender. The sauce isn’t as yellow as you’ll find at a Chinese, but I think that’s done with food colouring!
Serves 1-2
For the chicken
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp dry sherry
- zest of one lemon
- salt and pepper
- 5 tbsp plain flour
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil
Lemon sauce
- juice and zest of one large lemon
- 100ml water
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp arrowroot
To serve
- 3-4 spring onions, chopped
Loosely wrap the chicken in cling film and bash evenly with a rolling pin until 1-1 ½cm thick.
Put the egg, sherry and lemon zest in a bowl. Coat the chicken in the batter and marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make the lemon sauce place all the ingredients, apart from the arrowroot, in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Mix the arrowroot with a little cold water and pour into the pan. Give everything a good stir and you’ll have a nice thick sauce. Heat up again before serving.
Pour the oil into a wok or frying pan (just big enough to hold the chicken) and place on a medium-high heat.
Remove the chicken from the fridge. Put the 5 tablespoons of flour in a clean bowl. Coat the chicken in the flour, then the egg mixture, then the flour again.
Carefully place the chicken in the hot oil and fry for 1-2 minutes on one side, or until golden brown underneath, then carefully turn over and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Once the chicken is golden brown on both sides, remove and place on some kitchen roll. (If you’re cooking for more people keep the chicken warm under the grill while you fry the next batch). Transfer to a chopping board and slice. Take a peek to make sure it’s cooked.
Serve the chicken on boiled rice. Pour over the hot lemon sauce and sprinkle with the spring onions.
Did you like this recipe, or find a way to improve it? Let us know in the comments!
Hungry for more? Try these!
-
Lemon Chicken Risotto & Pine Nut Salad
-
Sweet & Sour Chicken (Cantonese Style)
-
Chicken and noodle soup
-
Chinese pork dumplings
12 Comments
Leave a Comment
Login
About
Email Updates
Sign up for email updates and never miss our recipes, news or reviews!
I bet this would be good as a tofu version, too! Thank you for the idea.
I’ll have to try this. The sauce is gluten free already and the chicken wouldn’t need much adapting, not usually a fan of sweet and sour but you might just have swayed me!
Looks fantastic! I saw this on refrigerator soup. (my cupcake was on also)
hi nice recipe, I hope i can try it at home, chiken recipe is my favorite, perhaps i need more skill to try this recipe
It’s pretty easy to make, just be careful with the hot oil, that’s all. You should give it a try….
This is yummy. Now one of my favourites!
Good! It’s one of our house favourites too! You should deffo try the sweet and sour chicken cantonese style, if you like that recipe. It’s equally as good, but takes a little more prep
This recipe is REALLY yummy, and i would recommend it
to anyone that likes chicken.
I do have a confession to make, I used yellow food coloring to get the sauce that amazing bright yellow color.
Found this recipe and decided to cook after buying a big bag of lemons for 99cent. I stir fried 1tbls garlic/ginger paste and went with everything else leaving out the arrowroot. I had to add some more sugar to balance the lemon juice and thickened the sauce with some cornflour paste…. would make again, tks for the recipe… the chicken turned out perfect from the deep frier… great recipe for crispy chicken.
i just tried this recipe and its pretty good, pretty much the same as what you get in a Chinese restaurant.
the first time i made the lemon sauce i forgot to put in the 100ml water and it actually came out better than with the water.
with the water the lemon is more dilute and taste quite like lemon squash concentrate drink.
without the water it tasted more intense and lemoney and was still enough for 1-2 chicken breast.
Hi Tim,
Glad you liked the recipe and thanks for the tip about the water. Will try that next time!
Matt