The rice bowls we’ve been making on repeat!
The only thing I love more than the crispy bites of chicken in these Bang Bang Chicken Bowls is the sweet and spicy 5-minute bang bang sauce they’re coated in. I made these just a couple of weeks ago and they’ve already been requested at least 4 times by my family since.
And it’s not one of those recipes where all of the flavor lives in the sauce. The chicken soaks in a quick mix of soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and ginger so there’s flavor all throughout.
Serve it over rice with all your favorite fresh veggies so the picky eaters can pick and choose as they please!
Crispy Chicken Tips
Getting the chicken actually crispy comes down to three things.
- Let the excess marinade drip off before the cornstarch goes on
- Cook it in two batches so the skillet never gets crowded
- Drain it on a wire rack instead of a paper towel so the bottoms stay crisp
If you’ve made our Bang Bang Salmon Bowls, this is that same sauce and bowl build with crispy chicken over white rice instead. And if you want to take the whole thing up a notch, swap the plain rice for my go-to coconut milk rice.
Ingredients and Substitutions
For the exact measurements and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card below.
Chicken thighs: Boneless, skinless thighs are the pick here since they stay juicy at high heat and won’t dry out on you. Chicken breasts work too, just cut them the same size and pull them right at 165°F, because they go from done to dry fast.
Cornstarch: This is what turns the outside of the chicken golden and crispy without any deep frying. One bowl, one toss, and no egg dredge to deal with.
Soy sauce or tamari: It shows up twice, once in the marinade and once in the bang bang sauce. Use tamari if you’re keeping things gluten-free.
Fresh lime juice, garlic, and ginger: These three are the whole reason the chicken tastes like something before the sauce ever touches it. Fresh lime juice is worth squeezing here (imo, always!), a garlic press saves you the mincing, and for the ginger I take the shortcut and use Ginger People ginger paste instead of grating a whole knob.
Avocado oil: It can handle medium-high heat without burning, which is exactly what the chicken needs to crisp up. Any neutral, high-heat oil will do the same job.
Mayonnaise: This is the base of the bang bang sauce, so full-fat is what you want for that thick, creamy texture. (Duke’s is my favorite!) Avoid using light mayo since it makes the sauce thinner and won’t cling to the chicken the same way.
Sweet chili sauce: This is where the bang bang flavor actually comes from, sweet with just a little heat. Frank’s RedHot, Mae Ploy, and Thai Kitchen all work, and the spice level varies a bit by brand.
Sriracha: Completely optional, and easy to dial up or down. Leave it out entirely if you’re feeding picky eaters and let everyone add their own at the table.
White rice: Any cooked white rice works, and jasmine or basmati are both great. If you want to take the whole bowl up a notch, swap in my coconut milk rice.
The veggies: Shredded carrots, thinly sliced red cabbage, cucumber, avocado, and edamame if you’ve got it. This is the part where everybody builds their own bowl, so use what your family will actually eat and skip what they won’t.
Step-by-step Instructions
Please see the recipe card below for the full instructions, ingredient amounts, and a printable recipe.
Marinate the chicken.
Whisk the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and salt together in a large bowl, then add the chicken and toss until every piece is coated. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes while you get everything else ready.
It saves SO much time!
Since it’s super important to get the garlic pretty small for this recipe, a garlic press like this one is a lifesaver!
It’s easy to use, finely minces the garlic, and does it in a fraction of the time as chopping it up by hand.
Mix up the bang bang sauce.
Whisk the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, soy sauce, and lime juice together in a small bowl. This gets better the longer it sits so I like to make it towards the beginning!
Coat the chicken in cornstarch.
Pull the chicken out of the marinade and let the excess drip off, then add half of it to a large bowl with half of the cornstarch, followed by the rest of both. Toss until every piece is coated and shake off anything extra.
That drip-off step is the one people skip, and it’s the one that decides whether you get crispy or soggy. Wet chicken plus cornstarch turns into a paste that steams in the pan instead of crisping.
Get it crispy.
Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium-high until it’s shimmering, then add half of the chicken in a single layer. Cook for 7 to 10 minutes, turning every 2 to 3 minutes, until the pieces are golden and cooked through to 165°F. Move them to a wire rack and repeat with the rest.
Drain on a wire rack, not a paper towel-lined plate. Paper towels trap steam right underneath the chicken and undo the crispy bottoms you just worked for.
Toss and build.
Add half of the bang bang sauce to the crispy chicken and toss until it’s coated, saving the other half for drizzling. Pile everything into bowls over rice with the veggies and finish with the reserved sauce.
Oops! What Did I Do Wrong?
Nine times out of ten it’s one of three things: the chicken went into the cornstarch still wet with marinade, the skillet was too crowded, or it got flipped too often to form a crust. Cooking in two batches and leaving it alone for a full 2 to 3 minutes at a time fixes most of it.
Chicken thighs render a good bit of their own fat, which is exactly why the marinade here skips oil entirely. If you added oil to the marinade out of habit, that’s the extra you’re seeing.
You can, just know they’re a lot less forgiving. Cut them into the same 1-inch pieces and pull them the second they hit 165°F, because they go from juicy to dry in about a minute.
Stir in a spoonful more mayonnaise and it’ll mellow right out. Next time leave the sriracha out completely and let everyone add their own at the table.
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Bang Bang Chicken Bowls
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Equipment
- Large Non-Stick Skillet
Ingredients
For the Crispy Bang Bang Chicken
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tablespoon lime juice from 1 lime
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch pieces
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
For the Bang Bang Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup sweet chili sauce
- 2-3 teaspoons sriracha optional
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
- 2 teaspoons lime juice from ½ lime
For the Bowls
- 3 to 4 cups cooked white rice
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
- 1 cup sliced cucumber
- 1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, sliced
- 1 cup shelled edamame optional
- Fresh cilantro, finely chopped optional
- Green onions, chopped, green parts only optional
Instructions
- Whisk together the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and ½ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Marinate for at least 15 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade, letting any excess drip off. Place half of the chicken in a large bowl, sprinkle with half of the cornstarch, then add the remaining chicken and cornstarch. Toss until evenly coated, shaking off any excess.
- Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Once the oil is shimmering, add half of the chicken in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the skillet. Cook for 7-10 minutes, turning every 2-3 minutes, until golden brown, crispy, and cooked through to 165°F. Transfer to a wire rack and repeat with the remaining chicken.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, sriracha (if using), soy sauce, and lime juice. Add half of the sauce to the chicken and toss until evenly coated. Set aside the remaining sauce for serving.
- Divide the cooked rice among 5 bowls, then top each with the chicken, carrots, red cabbage, cucumber, avocado, and edamame, if using. Drizzle with the reserved Bang Bang Sauce. Serve with cilantro and green onions, if desired.
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Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What to Serve With Bang Bang Chicken Bowls
Honestly, the bowl is already the whole dinner. But if you want to stretch it or you’ve got people to feed, a few things go really well next to it.
The easiest upgrade is under the chicken, not next to it. Swapping plain white rice for coconut milk rice takes about the same amount of effort and makes the whole bowl taste like it came from somewhere with cloth napkins.
Cilantro Lime Rice is great here too, and cauliflower rice works if you’re going lighter on the carbs.
For something crunchy and cold on the side, my Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad is the one I reach for most. It has the same sweet-and-tangy thing going on as the bang bang sauce, and it comes together while the chicken marinates.
Apple Cider Vinegar Slaw is another good call if you want something a little sharper to cut through all that creamy sauce. And if you want a hot vegetable, Honey Roasted Broccoli with Garlic can roast in the oven while you work the skillet, so nothing has to wait on anything else.
If you end up as into that sauce as we are, it’s worth having the Bang Bang Sauce recipe on its own. We’ve put it on Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos and Bang Bang Salmon Bowls, and I’d honestly put it on just about anything.
More Rice Bowl Recipes
Turns out a bowl of rice with something crispy on top solves a LOT of weeknights around here. These are the ones we keep circling back to.
