Learn how to make Chef John’s Bang Bang Chicken Nuggets, the perfect blend of crispy, tender chicken bites and a bold, flavorful sauce. These nuggets are coated in a crunchy batter and fried to golden perfection, then tossed in a sweet and spicy bang bang sauce that’s irresistibly flavorful.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Bang Bang Chicken Nuggets!
00:09That's right!
00:10I'm going to show you my take on Bang Bang Chicken, which actually might be closer to
00:13Boom Boom Chicken.
00:14Right?
00:15This is kind of both.
00:16So, what I'm trying to say is, I'd really love it if you called this, Bang Bang Boom
00:20Boom Chicken.
00:21Oh yeah, people are going to enjoy saying that.
00:24But not as much as they're going to enjoy eating this.
00:27And to get started, we'll go ahead and cut up some chicken for our nuggets.
00:31And for this, I used both boneless, skinless chicken breast and boneless, skinless chicken
00:35thighs.
00:36But this will work with all one or the other.
00:40And all we need to do to prep this is cut it into like one, one and a half inch strips.
00:44And then we'll simply slice across that every inch or so to create some hopefully fairly
00:48uniform pieces.
00:49And yes, as you can see from the dramatic shadows, I did this early in the morning,
00:55which is not common for me.
00:57But I'm normally not up and working until the crack of noon.
01:00But anyway, once we have our chicken cut up, we will transfer that into a food processor
01:05along with the rest of our nugget ingredients, which will include some breadcrumb, some salt
01:10of course.
01:11We'll also do some freshly ground black pepper, a little bit of paprika, which could be regular
01:17or smoked.
01:18And then I think we definitely want a little bit of cayenne, because bang bang.
01:24And then we'll finish up with some garlic powder, as well as a little drizzle of oil
01:29just for a little extra richness and to help keep our nuggets moist and tender.
01:34And that's it.
01:35We'll pop on the lid and pulse this on and off until our chicken's ground as finely as
01:39we want, which for me is not going to be super fine.
01:42Okay, if you want these closer to a fast food nugget, which is basically a piece of fried
01:47chicken loaf, you'll probably want to grind this a little smoother.
01:51But personally, this is what I'm after.
01:53Okay, a pretty small grind, but it's definitely not pureed.
01:57And that's it.
01:58Once our nugget base has been blitzed, we can go ahead and scoop equal sized portions
02:02onto a sheet pan.
02:04And I'm thinking a couple of tablespoons is just about the perfect size.
02:08Although obviously that's something you can adjust, depending whether you want little
02:11adorable nuggets or even bigger, more bodacious nuggets.
02:15And other than the frying time, the procedure will be exactly the same.
02:20So you go ahead and make the call.
02:22I mean, you are after all the pistol Pete of portioning your ground meat.
02:26And speaking of balls, instead of forming nuggets, which is what we're going to do next,
02:31you could actually serve these as fried meatballs, which I think would also be very well received.
02:37But anyway, once portioned, we will wrap those up and pop them in the fridge.
02:41So they're nicely chilled and easier to work with when we coat them with our starch, which
02:46is going to be nothing more than some cornstarch mixed together with some self-rising flour
02:51or just regular flour with a little bit of baking powder in there.
02:55And if you go that route, we'll explain that in the written recipe.
02:59In any event, we'll mix that very thoroughly in a bag and we will pull out our soon to
03:03be nuggets.
03:04And what we'll do is quickly form these into balls by first wetting our fingers a little
03:08bit so the meat doesn't stick.
03:10Oh yeah, as you well know, damp hands make smooth balls.
03:15And what we'll do is toss five or six in at a time and then we'll shake them and toss
03:19them around until they're well coated before shaking off the excess and returning them
03:23back to the pan.
03:25And on the recipe, it's going to say you're going to get 24 nuggets out of this batch.
03:30But as you can see, I got 23.
03:33So if you want 24, make them a little smaller.
03:36And then what we're going to do once all those have been dredged is shape those into nuggets,
03:40which of course, depending on where you eat them, will vary in size and shape.
03:45But for me, I kind of go with a flat oval.
03:48But hey, if you prefer a little bit of a pointier nugget, that is not going to bother me.
03:52And then what I like to do once all these are coated is pop them back in the fridge,
03:57which I do uncovered, but you can cover them if you want.
04:00And I like to leave them in there for a couple hours to really give that starch on the surface
04:04time to adhere.
04:06But if you're starving, you can pretty much fry these up anytime you want.
04:09And while those are chilling, we should go ahead and make our bang bang sauce, which
04:13starts with some mayonnaise, to which we will add some honey.
04:17And once we do some sweet, we will add some heat in the form of some sriracha hot sauce.
04:23And I like to add a lot, but of course, that's going to be to taste, just like the honey is.
04:28And then for my version, we'll also add some rice vinegar, as well as some soy sauce, plus
04:33a little bit of sesame oil, and then last but not least, a little bit of ground Szechuan
04:38peppercorn, which is totally optional, but highly recommended.
04:43And that's it, we'll give this a thorough whisking until it's all combined, at which
04:48point we'll give it a taste, and adjust with more sweet, or in my case, more heat.
04:54And that's it, once that's tasting exactly how we want, we will simply refrigerate that
04:58until needed.
05:00And then as far as how to cook the nuggets, I'm actually going to shallow fry these in
05:04vegetable oil, over about medium-high heat, although I should mention for the full chicken
05:09nugget effect, they're supposed to be deep fried.
05:12But this really does work out almost exactly the same.
05:15And please keep in mind, these are going to get tossed with our bang bang sauce, so they're
05:19not going to stay super crispy anyway.
05:21And what we'll do is cook that first side for a couple minutes, or until we've achieved
05:25a nice golden brown, at which point we'll flip them over and give the other side a couple
05:29minutes.
05:30And if you are doing these in batches, or doing a whole bunch, you can just keep the
05:34ones you fried in a warm oven until they're all finished, which is what I did while I
05:38fried the other half of the batch.
05:41And that's it, once fried, we can transfer those into a mixing bowl, and we'll toss in
05:45some freshly sliced green onions, and we'll pour over a couple nice ladles of our bang
05:50bang sauce, or just enough to coat, and then we can serve the rest alongside.
05:55And that's it, we'll toss and stir those until they're coated, and by the way, the recipe
05:59is going to make lots of extra sauce, which is nice, since that stuff's great on like
06:03a thousand other things.
06:05And then once our nuggets have been sauced, we'll go ahead and plate up.
06:09And once I had those piled up, I gave them one more drizzle of sriracha, before I finished
06:13off with some more sliced green onions.
06:16And that's it, what I'm calling bang bang chicken nuggets, are ready to enjoy!
06:20So I grabbed a fork and stabbed a nugget, and went in for the official bite.
06:25And that my friends, if you're a fan of sweet and spicy sauces like I am, is going to be
06:29an incredibly delicious bite of food.
06:32And I enjoy that whole sweet heat thing on pretty much anything, but when we're talking
06:36about a homemade chicken nugget, that's been fried up to have that nice crispy exterior,
06:41which holds on to our sauce so perfectly, we've produced something extra, extra special.
06:46And because I didn't puree the meat, these do have a texture reminiscent of a meatball,
06:51or maybe like a dumpling filling, which totally works for me.
06:54Oh, and fun fact, people assume the bang bang refers to the spiciness of the sauce, but
07:00it actually doesn't, right?
07:02The original bang bang chicken got that name because the chicken was pounded with a stick,
07:07and apparently the Chinese word for that is bang.
07:09And apparently that original version is flavored with sesame and vinegar, and definitely did
07:14not contain any mayonnaise, which is why I mentioned this might be closer to boom boom
07:18sauce.
07:19But whether you call this boom boom chicken, or bang bang chicken, or my personal preference,
07:26bang bang boom boom chicken, this would be a hit on any occasion, whether that's a Super
07:30Bowl party, or just a casual weeknight meal.
07:33I really did love everything about these, which is why I really do hope you give this
07:38a try soon.
07:40So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:44more info as usual.
07:46And as always, enjoy!