One of my absolute favorite recipes from my Chinese grandma is her fried chicken. Surprising, right? I’ve never tasted anything like it at any restaurant – American or Chinese. I truly believe it is one of the best products of her immigration to America, my own birth included. The combination of green onions, ginger, and soy sauce plus the crispy, flaky southern style texture makes this the most addicting fried chicken I’ve ever had. Give it a try and see for yourself! You may be a Chinese fried chicken convert.

Ginger Soy Sauce Fried Chicken Ingredients

This fried chicken is SUPER flavorful, and it all comes down to the marinade. For that fragrant Chinese flavor, I use scallions, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce. You can see in the recipe below that I have added buttermilk as optional: if you use it, it helps tenderize the chicken, like in a typical southern fried chicken recipe. However, my grandma actually normally makes it without, and it tastes just fine.

Chicken marinating in scallion, ginger, soy sauce mixture

How to Get Crispy Chinese Fried Chicken Skin

My grandma’s original recipe uses just flour and cornstarch in her breading. I added in the baking powder because a Serious Eats article said it made the crust better, and they’re always right. Other than that, it’s pretty much just like a southern fried chicken breading. But to get the best flavor, you’ll need to use my dredging technique.

Asian Fried Chicken Technique

You ready for this? The trick I add here is that I pour some of the dry ingredients into the marinade itself before I bread the chicken. This helps trap even more of the marinade flavors INTO the crust while also adding extra clumpy crispiness. And I am talking THICCCCCC crispy skin. Don’t forget to make sure you keep your oil at a consistent temperature and fry in small batches. For this reason, I personally like using drumettes (how do you spell that? too lazy to google) and party wings because they fry up faster. Plus, it makes it more like the Chinese fried chicken wings that you can find at Cantonese restaurants.

After breading the chicken – look at those CLUMPS.

The end result? Crispy, crunchy, flaky, gingery, soy sauce fried chicken HEAVEN.

Sooooo crispy
4.68 from 25 reviews

Crispy Ginger Soy Sauce Fried Chicken

Southern fried chicken meets Asian ginger soy sauce flavors in this addicting, crispy, flaky fried chicken. If you love Popeyes and Korean fried chicken, you'll love this winning combo.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Marinating Time: 30 minutes
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Ingredients
  

  • 3 lbs chicken wings
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp ginger, grated
  • 2-3 stalks green onion, chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk, optional
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • oil for frying

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, mix soy sauce, garlic, ginger, green onion, egg, and buttermilk (if using).
  • Put chicken in bowl and toss to thoroughly coat in the marinade. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (or as long as overnight).
  • In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, and baking powder.
  • Pour a few spoonfuls of the dry ingredient mixture into the bowl with your marinated chicken. Mix until the marinade has become a thick coating and press it into the chicken pieces.
  • Take the chicken pieces and place them into the bowl with the rest of the flour mixture to finish breading. Press the flour coating into the chicken until all pieces are thoroughly covered in a thick coat of the breading.
  • Heat oil in a deep cast iron pan, pot, or deep fryer to 350 degrees F.
  • Fry chicken pieces a few at a time. If using a cast iron skillet, it'll take about 2-3 minutes on each side.
  • Let cool and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!

If you try this recipe please let me know in the comments below or on my Instagram! For more of my grandma’s recipes, you can check out my 5-minute Chinese vegetables, char siu ribs, or just scroll through my savory food posts.

Enjoy!
-Kristen