Chinese lemon chicken features crispy juicy chicken covered in a tangy and sweet lemony sauce that is also gingery. You can enjoy a treat that tastes just as good at home as it does at a Chinese restaurant by making this simple dish for dinner.
For those that order Chinese takeout, if Chinese lemon chicken is one of your go-to items, you simply must try making it at home. While this well-known takeout dish is delicious, restaurants often add too much sugar and oil to it.
As a result, it’s often not an especially healthy choice. But when you make it at home, you get crispy chunks of chicken breast without deep frying. Coated in a delightful lemony sauce, it is bursting with fresh flavor that will turn you into a kitchen god(dess).
A popular Chinese-American dish called “lemon chicken” is fried chicken covered in a sweet and sour lemon sauce. It’s a favorite at Chinese restaurants all over North America. But what is lemon chicken, and how did it become so popular?
A Brief History
Many Chinese-Americans love lemon chicken, but no one is sure where it came from. It’s likely that the dish started in the U.S. S. in the 1950s or 1960s, when Chinese restaurants changed their menus to suit American tastes
The sweet and tangy lemon sauce was the perfect balance for Americans not accustomed to traditional Chinese flavors. The crispy fried chicken also made the dish more familiar. Lemon chicken allowed Chinese restaurants to introduce patrons to new flavors while remaining accessible.
Over time, the dish became a staple on North American Chinese restaurant menus These days, it’s rare to find a Chinese eatery that doesn’t serve some version of lemon chicken It’s a classic!
How It’s Made
While recipes can vary slightly, lemon chicken is typically made by:
- Cutting chicken breasts into bite-size pieces
- Coating the chicken in a mix of egg, cornstarch, and flour
- Deep frying the chicken until golden brown and crispy
- Making a lemon sauce from chicken broth, lemon juice, sugar, and cornstarch
- Tossing the fried chicken pieces in the lemon sauce
Because the chicken is fried without the sauce, it gets a light, crunchy crust. Putting it in the sauce makes the crust a little softer and covers each piece.
The sauce balances sweet and sour flavors. Lemon juice provides tanginess while sugar balances it out. The cornstarch makes the sauce thicker and more stable so it sticks well to the chicken.
Common Variations
There are a few common tweaks to traditional lemon chicken:
- Using chicken thighs instead of breasts
- Skipping the initial egg wash and just coating in cornstarch and flour
- Adding seasonings like garlic, ginger, or red pepper flakes to the sauce
- Using rice vinegar and sesame oil to give the sauce an Asian flair
- Garnishing with sliced green onions, sesame seeds, or lemon wedges
The sauce can also be swapped out for orange sauce to make orange chicken. The cooking method remains the same.
Why It’s So Popular
There are several reasons lemon chicken became an American Chinese classic:
Familiar flavors – The fried chicken and sweet citrus sauce are familiar to American palates. It’s an easy bridge between Chinese and Western cuisines.
Kid-friendly taste – The mild lemon flavor and crispy chicken appeal to children and picky eaters. It’s a reliable menu choice for families.
Versatility – Lemon chicken pairs well with rice, noodles, or veggies. It works as an entree, appetizer, or even over salad.
Easy to make – With just a few affordable ingredients, lemon chicken is easy for restaurants to add to their menus. It’s also simple enough to make at home.
Crowd-pleaser – With its balance of sweet, sour, salty, and crunchy textures, lemon chicken has mass appeal. There’s a reason it’s stuck around on menus for so long!
So next time you crack open a fortune cookie, you may just find lemon chicken on the other side. It’s a ubiquitous and beloved Chinese-American classic!
How to make Chinese lemon chicken
- Pan fry the chicken
- Gently cook the aromatics
- Pour in the sauce and cook until thickened
- Add back the chicken
Tempting as it may be, you don’t want to move the chicken after you place the pieces in a single layer, preventing them from touching each other. This allows the bottom of each piece to reach a nice golden brown. After you flip, it’s the same story…just let it crisp up.
Also, you want to let the chicken cool off a bit once you take it out of the pan, so the crust crisps up further. So when you add the chicken back, it won’t become soggy immediately after mixing with the sauce.
You’ll see it looks just like your old reliable Chinese lemon chicken takeout order. This dish tastes great! Try it tonight, maybe with one of my fried rice recipes to finish off your meal.
Ingredients for Chinese lemon chicken
Finding the secret to that dreamy crispy chicken is easy: mix cornstarch with a beaten egg and then coat the chicken in it. This will make it crispy like a restaurant chicken without having to deep fry it.
Making lemon chicken requires a few ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry. I mixed chicken broth, lemon juice, lemon zest, and rice vinegar to make a lemon sauce that smelled good and wasn’t too sour. Compared to using 100% lemon juice, the sauce is more well-rounded this way.
When you’re ready to cook, your table should have:
- Marinated chicken
- Mixed lemon sauce
- Ginger
- Green onion
Chinese lemon chicken recipe
FAQ
What is the taste of lemon chicken?
Lemon Chicken – delicious Chinese restaurant classic I just adore the fresh yet sweet citrus flavour that gives tanginess without tasting of vinegar like most sweet and sour dishes (they can easily be a bit too much for me). The sweet sticky sauce and crunchy yet tender chicken meat are a match made in heaven.
What is the most popular Chinese chicken dish?
Kung Pao chicken is one of the most popular Chinese recipes, if not the most. Tender, crunchy and spicy, this Asian chicken recipe is a whole package. Follow the recipe on Once Upon A Chef to see how to make Kung Pao Chicken at home.
What are the ingredients of lemon chicken?
Ingredients required for Lemon Chicken300 gms chicken boneless breast. 2 tbsp oil. 2 tsp ginger. 2 tbsp lemon juice. 1/4 tsp salt. 1/4 tsp lemon zest. 3/4 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder. 1/3 tsp turmeric.
Is sweet and sour chicken the same as lemon chicken?
The batter for the lemon chicken is the same as it was for the General Tso Chicken. The lemon sauce is almost identical to the sweet and sour sauce we used for the Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls, with two exceptions. There is no cherry juice for colour, and the vinegar is replaced with lemon juice.