This crispy Firecracker Chicken Thighs are a little spicy and a little sweet and are fried in a pan until crispy. Don’t miss out on our homemade cracker sauce, serve with rice and enjoy!
Crispy cracker chicken thighs
These Crispy Cracker Chicken Thighs are our latest chicken recipe obsession! They’re perfectly tangy and sweet thanks to our homemade cracker sauce (simple ingredients!), and you’ll be amazed at how crunchy they are after breading and searing them in a cast-iron skillet before baking them to perfection.
Serve these chicken thighs with rice or another easy side dish. Enjoy!!
Why You’ll Love Them!
Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside: Because we sear the chicken thighs in a pan before baking in the oven, you get super-crispy chicken skin on the outside and super-tender chicken on the inside. Yummy!
Amazing Homemade Firecracker Sauce: You’ll love our Homemade Fireworks Sauce – make a double batch and coat each piece of chicken with this deliciousness!
So versatile: We serve this banger with white rice and scallions, but these chicken thighs pair well with pretty much any veggie, or even on top of a simple salad.
Firecracker Chicken Ingredients
cracker sauce
- Ketchup
- Honey
- soy sauce
- chili sauce
- Sriracha
- sesame oil
Chicken
- Chicken thighs with bones and skin
chicken breading
- all purpose flour
- cornstarch
- salt pepper
supplements and trimmings
- Sesame seeds
- Chopped spring onions
- white rice
How to make cracker chicken thighs
Prepare the chicken breading
Place all-purpose flour, cornstarch, kosher salt, and black pepper in a bowl and mix together.
Prepare the cracker sauce
Place all the ingredients for the fireworks sauce in a separate bowl and mix until well combined.
bread chicken
Dip each chicken thigh in the flour mixture until completely coated in the flour mixture.
Brown Chicken
Heat the olive oil in a large, ovenproof skillet over high heat. When the olive oil is fragrant and hot, place the chicken skin-side down in the olive oil and sear the chicken for 6-8 minutes on each side.
Add sauce to the chicken
Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the cracker sauce over each chicken thigh. The sauce will sizzle, so be careful.
bake chicken
Place the pan in the oven and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165°F (165°F).
The size of the chicken thighs is important!
Chicken thighs can vary greatly in size and thickness. The goal is to get the chicken’s internal temperature to 165°F. So if you have larger thighs, you may need to cook a little longer to reach a safe temperature.
Serve and enjoy!
Serve over rice, garnished with sesame seeds and spring onions.
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serving suggestions
Make your cracker chicken thighs a complete meal by serving them with grains and your favorite veggies. Here are a few ideas:
Fried rice: Prepare our Instant Pot Fried Rice for a vegetarian side dish.
coconut rice: Coconut rice is sweet and sticky and would be a perfect grain for this banger.
Andean millet: Instant Pot Quinoa keeps things simple, allowing you to make the quinoa at the same time as the firecracker chicken.
Vegetables: Serve these cracker chicken thighs alongside your favorite steamed or sautéed veggies like broccoli, green beans, peppers, onions, etc.
Nutrition of chicken thighs
Chicken thighs sometimes get a bad rap for not being ultra-lean like chicken breasts, but rather dark meat with a little more fat (and flavor). Per 4 oz. Bone-in Chicken Thighs:
- 270 calories
- 18g fat
- 0g carbohydrates
- 0g fiber
- 0g sugar
- 18g protein
Best Tips
Feel free to double up on the cracker sauce if you fancy a particularly zesty chicken. Or if you want to save some sauce for later 😀
Chicken thighs can vary in size and shape. How long to bake the chicken thighs depends on how big the chicken thighs are. The goal is always to get the internal temperature of the chicken to 165°F.
Depending on the type of skillet you use, you may need to stir the chicken halfway through the cooking time with a spatula to make sure it doesn’t stick to the skillet.
More ways to cook chicken thighs
There are many ways to cook chicken thighs! And almost endless possibilities to season them. Good news! We have recipes for every cooking method here on Fit Foodie Finds:
Try it!
Thermoworks thermal pen
We swear by using a meat thermometer when cooking every cut of meat. The Thermapen is our go-to meat thermometer that always works.
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storage
Let the chicken thighs cool completely. Then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days.
Freezer instructions
Allow the cracker chicken thighs to cool completely. Then transfer to a freezer-safe gallon-sized bag, removing as much air as possible. Seal and freeze up to 3 months.
When you are ready to cook Allow frozen chicken thighs to thaw completely before baking to reheat.
Photography: The photos captured in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin of The Edible Perspective.