Spicy Six Pepper Chicken

*Warning!

This recipe is spicy. Not the spiciest I’ve made by any means, but it’s got a bit of heat going on. Really, it just has a nice flavor to it without relying on outrageous levels of heat to make the dish.

As the name implies, it contains 6 different chili pepper powders, but they blend together nicely in my humble opinion. This is a great dish for anyone that enjoys breaded chicken covered in spicy sauce.

It can’t really be defined as one particular regional style of dish however, because it contains chili pepper powders which come from a variety of different areas around the world.

The dish should be served as is, but if you really can’t stand spicy food, you can try eliminating some ingredients such as the gochugaru or the de arbol chili powder or the crushed red peppers and increase the amount of sugar in the recipe. That should help tame the heat level a bit for those who don’t appreciate spice quite as much as I do.

This recipe came about as I was trying to make something completely different believe it or not. After failing miserably at creating my first idea, I decided I would grab some puya chili peppers and use them as the base for a sauce.

Puya chili peppers, admittedly aren’t the easiest chili peppers to find. But I chose them specifically because of the fruity spiciness of the peppers. If you’re having trouble finding puya peppers, you can easily swap them out for guajillo peppers in a pinch. Keep in mind though, guajillo peppers are only about half as spicy as puya peppers.

The list of ingredients for the sauce is a bit lengthy so I decided to keep the batter and the breading simple to offset some of the work involved in this dish. In other words, there are many seasonings already present in the sauce so I didn’t feel it was necessary to continue adding all kinds of additional ingredients to the batter and breading. I did want to make sure though, that there was enough corn starch in the batter and the breading to keep the chicken from getting soggy once it becomes covered in sauce.

You’ll also end up with extra batter, so you can either toss it or stick it in a sealed container and let it stay in the refrigerator for later use. Don’t forget that there is raw egg and raw chicken juice in the batter, so make sure you don’t forget about it and accidentally consume it unless it’s cooked.

If you feel that any of the steps below would benefit from adding or changing some of the ingredients, please let us know your thoughts or recommendations in the comment section below.

We hope you enjoy it!

By: Semiserious Chefs
Serves: 3 – 4

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cubed (about 2 chicken breasts)
Frying oil
1 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Sauce:

4 japone peppers (dried)
4 puya peppers (dried)
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon gochugaru
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic granules
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon de arbol chili powder
1/2 teaspoon annatto
1/4 teaspoon salt

Batter:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup corn starch
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Breading:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Begin by making the sauce first. In a blender or food processor combine every ingredient listed above under the sauce list until you get a well blended watery chili pepper paste.
In a medium sauce pan, add 1 cup water and the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Mix the blended chili pepper paste from step 1 in with the water and sugar and heat over medium heat until it starts to simmer, mixing semi-frequently. Once simmering, it will begin to thicken within a minute. After it thickens remove the sauce from the heat.
In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients under the batter section except for the flour and cornstarch. Once blended, add flour and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
In a different large bowl combine ingredients under the breading section and set aside.
In a large sauce pan or cast iron dish, heat about 2 inches of cooking oil to 350° (175° C).
Cut chicken breasts into bite sized cubes and drop into the batter half a dozen at a time.
Remove chicken pieces, letting the excess batter drip off and then toss the pieces in the breading mixture making sure to coat them fully.
Carefully add breaded chicken pieces to hot oil and fry for roughly 3 – 4 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove chicken pieces and let dry on wire rack.
Repeat this process until all chicken pieces are cooked.
Place breaded chicken in a large bowl and gently toss with the blended chili pepper sauce until well coated.
Serve with white rice or your favorite side.