Grab For Eats Longhorn spicy chicken bites recipe is a great dish that you can make for your meals. It is an appetizer so you can enjoy it before the main course and also have a lot of fun making it.
We are accustomed to having generic appetizers during meals. Even though chicken tenders are quite common, this specific chicken based appetizer isn’t like other ones. This special recipe is different than the typical chicken strips recipes. It has a spice element and it tastes sweet and sour in the end.
Know about the Ingredients and the Recipe:
Canola oil: You will need 1 ½ cups of canola oil for the recipe. This is necessary and is an essential ingredient because you will be frying them in this oil. Make sure you heat it up enough so the chicken bites are crispy.
Chicken tenders: You need to have 1 pound of strips of chicken tenders to make this recipe. Thoroughly clean them and cut them up accordingly.
Hot sauce: Add around 8 teaspoons of hot sauce to the recipe. You will need to have it divided to use properly so the hot sauce is not overpowering.
Pancake mix: Use 3 cups of pancake mix for this recipe. This ingredient is necessary to make the batter in which you dip the chicken tender bites into. The batter will also contain more elements but the pancake mix is the base here.
Water: You will need 1 ¼ cups water to mix in the batter and the other ingredients. The water will determine the consistency of the batter. You must gradually add the water to the batter so the texture is alright.
Salt: Almost all recipes need salt. Add salt according to taste in this recipe.
How to Make Spicy Chicken
To make sautéed chicken bites You will need to gather ingredients first, most of which you will find in the nearest grocery store or departmental store. It might seem odd to be using mix instead of flour and spices but since the recipe calls for it, we ask you to trust the process.
You need to be careful with using your hands because the hot sauce and spices may make your hands irritated. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, mix the pieces with the hot sauce. This will let the chicken get marinated with the sauce. Now, make a batter by mixing pancake mix, water, salt, and hot sauce.
Using the oil to fry the bites, make sure the oil is heated well enough. Dredge the marinated chicken bites into the batter. Toss them around so the batter covers the chicken bites properly. Then fry them in the heated oil till they fry and cook properly.
You can serve them warm right after. It’s fine if you add condiments with the bites. If you don’t want to, that’s alright too.
As you can see the process is pretty simple. Let’s dive into the step by step instructions longhorn spicy chicken bites recipe now.
Step 1: Prepare the marinade for the chicken beforehand and marinade the chicken before starting the cooking process. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Pour two teaspoons of hot sauce in a bowl and pour the chicken pieces into it. Toss around and let it sit for a while. This will marinade the chicken well and get it ready for frying. While the chicken is being marinated, prepare the batter.
Step 2: In a bowl, add the pancake mix, rest of the hot sauce, salt, and water. Combine the ingredients and make a slurry to dip the chicken bites in. Make sure the chicken bites are fully covered in the batter. This will be better for the dish because the batter will provide more of the crunchy texture for the dish.
Step 3: Put a skillet on top of the stove, pour enough canola oil for frying and heat it up on low-medium heat. Make sure the oil is not too hot or the outer layer of the batter will fry up more, leaving the inner layers less fried. That is not a nice texture. So moderation is necessary. The bites dipped in batter must slowly be fried rather than being rushed through.
Step 4: Each batch of frying will take about 5-6 minutes, approximately. Make sure you are turning the bites frequently. Let the pieces fry and cook through properly.
The color will look golden brownish but since the batter also has some hot sauce in the mix, you can use a food thermometer to check if the bites are cooked through to the core because the outer layer might seem darker than golden brown.
Step 5: When the chicken bites are fried properly, take them off of the oil and place them on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil from the chicken pieces.
Serve the chicken pieces warm along with your preference of condiments. You can also garnish with freshly chopped up parsley or cilantro and enjoy!
Longhorn Spicy Chicken Bites Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cup canola oil
- 1 pound chicken tenders
- 8 tbsp hot sauce
- 3 Cup plain pancake mix
- 1 ¼ Cup water
Instructions
- In one bowl of pancake mix, hot sauce, and water and mix into a batter for chicken.
- Dip chicken pieces first in the plain mix, then dredge in the batter, then drop into oil and cook until well browned.
- Place on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt, serve warm.
Tips
- To make sure that the spicy diced chicken remains spicy, you can sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper on top before serving.
- You can add ketchup or bbq sauce to add a sweeter element with the recipe. It will help balance the effect of the hot sauce from the batter as well as the marinated chicken.
- You can adjust the amount of hot sauce you use in the batter. Instead of the remaining 4 teaspoons, you can use 3 or 2 teaspoons of hot sauce. This will reduce the spiciness level of the dish according to your tolerance or preference.
- Since this dish is an appetizer, make sure you adjust the seasoning accordingly if multiple people are going to be having it. Be aware when catering it to other people who cannot tolerate too much spice in their food.
Nutrition
Wrapping Up
You can follow this sweet and spicy chicken recipe to make your own at home. You can make changes and adjust the spiciness of the dish. The best part is that you can serve these appetizers during any main meal of the day. You can also add them on the menu for parties or events and they’re sure to be a hit among those who will get to have them. So, you should definitely try cooking this dish!
