Most sane people keep a drawer full of delivery menus for the sole purpose of…ordering delivery. I too have a menu drawer, but can count on two hands the number of times I have actually ordered delivery in the past few years.
Call me a bad New Yorker. I’m pretty good with picking up takeout while out somewhere, but dialing from home is another story. Being so dangerously close to the kitchen, I usually wind up studying the menu for half an hour, choosing an entree, then deciding, screw this, I can make the same dish, except way better.
This hubris usually leads me to spend another couple of hours ransacking my cabinets, schlepping to the grocery store, figuring out a strategy, then executing it. Even if it is already past 9pm and I’m starving. Sure, it would have been easier and about 1 hour and 50 minutes faster to just call the damn Golden Panda Dynasty, but definitely not as satisfying. Or so I tell myself.
I wonder if delivery menu one-upmanship can be classified as a psychological disorder.
On the bright side, I can now whip up many MSG-free versions of takeout favorites, like General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour pork, and orange sesame chicken. This week was lemon chicken’s turn. Sure, lemon chicken also exists as a dish in mainland China, but usually steamed, almost like Hainan chicken, with slices of lemon on top. Which is good in its own respect, but sometimes you just want a crunchy exterior.
So try this lemon chicken recipe and see how it compares. I had started experimenting with an egg and cornstarch batter, but decided that too much egg can lead to soggy chicken right out of the wok. So I went back to dipping the chicken in egg and dredging it in a dry cornstarch mixture. The sauce incorporates a little sautéed garlic and ginger, chicken broth, some lemon juice and zest, and enough sugar to balance out the tartness.
I had also been experimenting with a technique that results in crunchier chicken: draining fried chicken on paper towels or draining on brown paper, as a commenter recently suggested. The results are so far inconclusive, but brown paper may be edging out. Plus, it’s a great use for all those Trader Joe’s paper bags, of which I have plenty.
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Chinese Lemon Chicken
Serves 4
2 pounds skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3 cups peanut or vegetable oil
Lemon slices (optional)
White sesame seeds (optional)
Marinade:
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Sauce:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, minced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
- Combine the soy sauce and sesame oil. Coat the chicken with the marinade and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl or deep plate combine the cornstarch and white pepper. Get excess marinade off the chicken, then toss the cubes in the cornstarch mixture. Shake off excess cornstarch before frying.
- Heat the 3 cups of oil in your wok. Heat wok until just smoking, then add the first batch of chicken cubes and deep-fry until cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or brown paper (from a paper bag). Repeat with the rest of the chicken.
- Transfer 1 tablespoon of the oil into a medium-sized pot and heat over medium-high. (You save the oil for later use by allowing it to cool, then straining into an aluminum can or other container.)
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook briefly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, chicken stock, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the cornstarch mixture so the sauce can thicken.
- Remove from the heat, and toss the fried chicken in the sauce. Garnish with lemon slices and white sesame seeds. Serve with white rice and maybe some broccoli.
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Other chicken recipes to try:
- General Tso’s Chicken
- Kung Pao Chicken
- Chinese Almond Chicken
- Orange Sesame Chicken
- Three Cup Chicken
- Chicken Lollipops
- Spicy Chicken in Black Bean Sauce
This looks absolutely delicious. Just found your blog through this post on TasteSpotting and glad I did! I often run into a similar problem. I enjoy cooking so much, that I often sort of forget that I can go eat out, and just continue my menu planning for the week. I have been craving chinese food the past few weeks and I think I’m going to whip this up instead of getting take out! Thanks alot!
This looks amazing! Have to try it!
Love the pic! I found this through Tastespotting too and couldn’t help just staring at it. Now I have to go buy all the ingredients because this is making me too hungry. This is my first time at your blog but loving it so far!
I can’t wait to try this! It’s my absolute favorite whenever I got to Chinese restaurants.
I definitely agree that making those takeout dishes at home are extremely more satisfying! We’ve almost gotten to that point where we go out to eat and don’t like it as much because we know we can make it way better at home!
but it’s probably not. Trust a recent college grad of this, your order will most likely not show up for an hour. When it does, it’ll be wrong.
Damn that lemon chicken does look good. Probably because it’s not drenched in sauce and you can see the chicken. :)
Can’t wait to give this a try!
Nicholas – That’s my problem with most take-out versions too. The overwhelming amount of sauce renders the meat soggy, and all the work it took to deep-fry was pointless.
I am like you, if I am at home, I rather cook quick take out type of meal at home then call and wait 30 minutes for it, although I love restaurant food as well.
Just discovered your blog as I was looking for variations on Hong Shao Rou. As someone who was raised learning to cook Chinese food I’m pouring through your archives looking through the various techniques and recipes. Keep posting! You have a new reader who is eager to see more.
I discovered the trick to a crunchy chicken! Here is how it is done- Partially cook the peices (just a minute or so) in the hot oil, then removed to drain on a cookie cooling rack placed on top of something to catch the grease (the chicken should be elevated off the drainage and not sitting in there oil.
Let the pieces cool down about 10 minutes (during which I continue to partially cook the other pieces) then refry till the chicken is done. Drain again, toss in sauce and serve. WORKS EVERY TIME!
it looks like sweet and sour chicken,it’s very rich.
Oh my god I have to try this. No more calling the greasy place 5 blocks away!
Thanks, Laura. I’ll definitely have to try that and report back. That’s probably why Korean fried chicken always stays so crunchy.
I’ve tried a few recipes from your blog now and they’ve been amazing. Yours are the best Chinese food recipes I’ve found—they have flavour, aren’t drowned in soy sauce, and I actually have (almost) all the ingredients! (What I don’t have is just a good excuse to go to my local Asian supermarket.) So thank you!
This lemon chicken was fantastic. I didn’t want to deep fry the chicken, so I followed your method, then browned each piece with a slightly generous amount of oil, then popped them all in the oven for about 15 minutes to finish cooking through. Worked like a charm, still came out crispy and nice and tender. The sauce was perfect!
I do exactely the same..tons of delivery menu, been living in the neighbourhood for one year now, never had anything delivered :D it’s 9pm here in Belgium, and I’ll cook one of your recipes, your blog is truly inspirational! Bon appetit
Your recipes are fantastic, I’ve only cooked two of them so far but we’ve enjoyed them sooo much. Thanks for all your effort on the blog.
I rarely have the time to prepare anything at home but this is one that will definitely need to be worked into the rotation!
I’ve just tried the recipe. The moment I dipped the spoon into the sauce and put it in my mouth, ahhh… It was wonderful. Your recipe is awesome!
Wow, looking at the chicken in the picture literally just made my mouth water, lol. I am always looking for Asian style recipes for chicken and this one looks like a winner. Unfortunately, I already fixed dinner tonight, but maybe Wednesday I am definitely going to give this one a shot. Thanks!
Tisha
made this tonight for dinner, followed the exact recipe. delicious and the chicken was sooo tender!! thank you! continuing to follow ;)
Susy – So glad the recipe worked well for you! I made this again last week too and was reminded of how fragrant the lemon zest made the finished dish.
Loved this dish!!! It tasted just like my favorite Lemon chicken from a Chinese Buffet we use to visit. Thank you!!
I was searching for a chinese lemon chicken recipe and yours came up in the list. I tried it last night exactly as how you did it and it was yummy! This is definitely going to my box of recipes and your site to one of my favorite food sites. Thanks for sharing!
This worked quite well and tasted delicious… even if I say so myself but the batter didnt seem to work for me. It was just a very light coating. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make this more crispy? Is the cornstarch and water enough?
Thanks
Charlie – Thanks for your comment. Yes, there is a way to make this more crispy! Since posting this lemon chicken recipe I tested numerous ways of coating and frying chicken for my cookbook. The best method begins with marinating the chicken in a mixture of soy sauce, rice wine (or substitute sherry), and egg whites. Then toss the marinated chicken in cornstarch. Just follow the same method in my General Tso’s Chicken post, under General Tso’s Chicken, New Version, just substituting the sauce for the Lemon Chicken sauce.
Hope that helps! Also, thanks for reminding me that this post needs to be updated!
Hilarious! We have the exact same affliction. Glad to see I’m not the only one.
Awesome recipe! Absolutely delicious! Thanks very much :)
Made this lastnight and it was absolutely delicious!! Thankyou!!
Reminded me exactly of the Lemon chicken i used to get at my local chinese restaurant back at home!
I live in Brazil now, where i can’t get Lemon’s so i substituted them with Lime’s and it was still delicious! As the Lime is a little sweeter than a lemon, i just put a less sugar in the sauce, and a little more Chicken Stock plus slightly more Cornflour disolved in water to make the sauce thicken more as i put in more Chicken Stock.
I just finish cooking and eating this recipe!! I have to say, WOW!!! I was kind of afraid that the ginger would over do it but the whole recipe was balanced. I myself love garlic so I added another clove of garlic. The recipe was superb. I’m a look forward to your cook book. Thank you and keep up the excellent work!
Thank you so much for sharing this. We have just finished it and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. I fried the chicken briefly and then put it in the oven to finish as I wanted to do some stir-fry veg with it and needed to get the timing right. I made the sauce ahead of time and then when the chicken was ready I added it to the wok with the sauce and heated it through. It was divine and I will be sharing it with my foodie friends. Thanks, I will be back :) x