Crispy chicken, glossy noodles and a sweet, sticky chilli sauce… this is the kind of dinner that tastes like a proper takeaway but is ready in around 15 minutes.
If you are looking for something quick, easy and seriously satisfying, these sticky chilli chicken noodles need to be next on your list. The chicken is lightly coated in cornflour, fried until golden, then tossed through a sweet, spicy and garlicky sauce with noodles and crunchy peppers.
It is one of those meals that feels a bit special but uses simple ingredients you can pick up in any supermarket. Perfect for a midweek dinner, a Friday-night fakeaway, or when you fancy something more exciting than your usual pasta dish.
Sticky Chilli Chicken Noodles
Ingredients
• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 2 nests egg noodles
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp sriracha or chilli crisp
• Juice of ½ lime
• Spring onions, sliced, to serve
• Sesame seeds, to serve
• Extra chilli crisp, optional
How To Make Sticky Chilli Chicken Noodles
Add the diced chicken to a bowl with the cornflour, a good pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Toss until the chicken is lightly coated.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken and fry for around 6–8 minutes, turning regularly, until golden, crisp around the edges and cooked through.
While the chicken cooks, prepare the egg noodles according to the packet instructions. Before draining them, save a small mugful of the cooking water.
Add the garlic, ginger and sliced red pepper to the chicken pan. Fry for around 1 minute, until fragrant and the pepper has softened slightly.
In a small bowl, mix together the sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, honey, sriracha or chilli crisp, and lime juice. Pour the sauce into the pan and let it bubble for 1–2 minutes until sticky and glossy.
Add the drained noodles to the pan and toss everything together. Add a splash of the reserved noodle water if needed, until the sauce loosens and coats every strand of noodle.
Serve immediately with spring onions, sesame seeds, extra chilli crisp and another squeeze of lime if you like things extra zingy.
Recipe Tips
For the crispiest chicken, make sure the pan is hot before adding it and avoid overcrowding the pan. If you add too much chicken at once, it will steam rather than fry.
This recipe is easy to adapt depending on what you have in the fridge. Swap the red pepper for tenderstem broccoli, sugar snap peas, shredded cabbage, mushrooms or carrots.
If you do not like spicy food, leave out the sriracha or chilli crisp and stick with sweet chilli sauce. For extra heat, add fresh sliced chillies or a spoonful more chilli crisp at the end.
Prawns work really well instead of chicken, and crispy tofu is a great vegetarian alternative.
Storage And Reheating
These noodles are best eaten fresh, when the chicken is crisp and the sauce is glossy. Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Reheat in a frying pan with a splash of water until piping hot throughout. Make sure chicken is fully cooked with no pink meat before serving, and keep raw chicken separate from cooked food and ready-to-eat ingredients
