The Cozy Cookbook is here! These homemade Chinese chicken fingers are JUST like from a restaurant. Crispy and golden on the outside and filled with juicy chicken on the inside. Perfect with sweet and sour sauce!
Be sure to try my Crispy Crab Rangoon and Chicken Fried Rice!
Okay. I have a question for you guys. It’s about Chinese Chicken Fingers. (Go figure.)
…Do they have Chicken Fingers like this on the Chinese food menu by you? (And if I may, where are you from?)
I’m beginning to wonder if this is a regional thing, because if it is, then you’re going to have to move to New Hampshire.
The thick, golden brown batter is so crunchy and satisfying, I don’t even know how I managed to take a picture of these without just dropping my camera and mowing them down. (It wasn’t easy.)
The secret to these guys is in the self rising flour.
Self Rising Flour vs. All Purpose Flour
- Self rising flour contains a leavening agent that helps make baked goods rise. It’s often used to make biscuits and other fluffy baked goods.
Homemade Self Rising Flour
- 1 + 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each cup of flour.
Try These Next!
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- Sweet and Sour Chicken
-
- Crab Rangoon
-
- Firecracker Chicken
-
- Chicken Fried Rice
-
- Chinese Chicken Salad
-
- Beef and Broccoli
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Chinese Chicken Fingers
Ingredients
- 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup Seltzer water
- 1 quart canola oil
Instructions
- Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl and mix them until well-combined.
- Slowly add the seltzer water and mix until well combined. The batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter. If needed, add more seltzer water or flour to adjust the consistency.
- Cut the chicken into strips and sprinkle with salt.
- Dunk the chicken into the batter, ensure each piece is thoroughly covered.
- Carefully lower the chicken into a preheated deep fryer and cook for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. They will be white for a while before they turn brown and start to look like real chicken fingers, have faith and be patient. You want that rich gold color! Serve warm, with sweet and sour sauce.
Notes
You'll need an oil thermometer if you’re not using a Deep fryer. Bring the heat up slowly until the oil is between 350 and 375 degrees F.
Be sure to try my Popcorn Chicken recipe next!
Nutrition
Yep they’re great. I’m from NH and moved to Pennsylvania and the Chinese is nothing like up there. My wife and I miss it, so much that I’ve been learning how to cook all our favorites just so we can get a taste of home chinese.
It’s cool that you’re learning how to do it on your own Luke, nice work!
Do you think this would work with extra firm tofu? I don’t eat meat anymore but going back to Massachusetts once a year and having chicken fingers with duck sauce like I did growing up has always been the highlight of getting out of California! I’d love to be able to recreate them without meat.
Hi Nora! I’m really not sure as I haven’t tested it, I don’t have experience cooking with tofu unfortunately. ❤️
I think this would be perfect for tofu! I haven’t tried this recipe specifically with tofu, but have been a tofu-loving vegan for about 10 years and have has some success frying it. I would def go with extra firm and if you have it available, the “super-firm” (the kind not in water, but vacuum sealed). Dry it nicely, then toss your pieces in cornstarch before dipping in batter.
I was so excited to make these all day!! I have NO IDEA what I did wrong. As I stirred the batter, the consistency that we wanted seemed perfect- just thicker than pancake batter. It wasn’t until I stopped stirring and dropped a piece of chicken in that I realized it became like cement. We managed to get a few into my fryer, waited the 10 minutes and pulled the baskets out. Crisp, perfect in color, BUT- they were stuck solid to the baskets!! 🙁 What can you tell me to get them right next time? Any advice?
Hi Krissy! You may have had a section of the batter with flour that wasn’t completely mixed into the rest of the batter yet, and when that flour sort of loosened up, it caused a very thick consistency, almost like the flour seized. Adding more liquid as needed and mixing really well can mitigate this. As far us preventing food from sticking to the deep fry baskets, this resource indicates to do the following: “Prepare your deep fat fryer for frying. Fill the fryer with oil and adjust the temperature according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Lower the empty basket into the fryer.
Dredge, batter or coat the food you wish to fry according to your recipe. Pick up one portion with a pair of long metal tongs.
Dip the piece of food slowly into the hot oil. Let the hot oil swallow the piece of food in its entirety then release the food from the tongs. Allowing the food to be coated in the oil will prevent sticking”
Only in New England. I lived in Kansas City for 18 years and they dont have Chicken Fingers. They have Sweet N Sour Chicken which consists of mini chicken fingers (size of nuggets) with the red sweet sour sauce. No “New England style” Duck Sauce.
Known as “gold fingers” or “golden fingers” here in the Massachusetts/Upstate New York border area every Chinese restaurant has these
Nice! My husband is from Long Island and that’s when I first realized that they’re not necessarily a staple at every Chinese food place, I was devasted!
Neither is the pu pu platter atleast down here in PA.
Omg I love your recipe!!!! I will say I do add 3 drops of sesame oil in the batter. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!!!
You’re very welcome Jess, I’m so happy you loved it! Adding some sesame oil is great, thanks so much for the awesome review!❤️
Can these be done in the airfryer?
Unfortunately not, the batter would splatter and fly around from the airflow.
Hi there it’s me again!
I just want to say that I can’t wait for your cookbook to come out!
Ohhh thank you SO much!!! I am so excited for it too, you’re the best! 🙂 -Stephanie
Hi Stephanie,
In #2 you say that you should have a nice thin batter but in the Notes it says a nice thick batter. Which one should it be?
Hi Joanne! Oh my gosh thank you for catching that! It should be a thicker batter, slightly thicker than a pancake batter, I fixed the recipe card! 😉 Thank you again! -Stephanie
This recipe is FANTASTIC! We live in Maine and this style chicken fingers are found at all the Chinese Restaurants here! We live in a small town and the nearest Chinese is over 20 minutes away! Now that’s not far but it is when you have 3 littles all under 4 years of age. This recipe is 100000000 TIMES BETTER than any Chicken Finger I have ever had in a restaurant! So good in fact that I had to share your recipe with my mom and dad! They agree that this is by far way better then the ones we can get in the restaurants near us! It was so simple to make and the left overs were just as good the next day! Thank you so so much for sharing this recipe! I look forward to trying more of your recipes! If you are on the fence about trying – YOU MUST GIVE IT A TRY! You will not be disappointed! I followed the recipe right to a T except I needed 1 full cup of Seltzer water instead of the 1/2 cup that it calls for to get it to be at the thickness I needed to work with!!!!
Yayyyy! I love hearing such great comments Loretta, thanks so much!❤️ For us this is a go to recipe for New Years. I can’t wait to make it next week. Thanks for sharing with your Mom and Dad!