Salt and Pepper Chicken is an easy, tasty meal, ready in 30 minutes. Cook on the stove or in the Air Fryer! Lightly breaded chicken with unique flavors you will love. 

Why Make This Salt and Pepper Chicken

It’s lightly breaded, and a meal everyone will love. This recipe for Salt And Pepper Chicken is mild, but has great salted flavors. The five spice gives it a unique balance. It’s all made in one pot which means less dishes to clean and more time to eat.

Fresh peppers give it color and flavor and the Serrano peppers bring the heat. You can skip them if you are sensitive to heat but gosh I love them in this dish. The salt and pepper chicken can be made in the air fryer or on the skillet. Also try my Jalapeño Chicken for another asian inspired meal.

Ingredient Notes

All other ingredients and measurements can be found in the recipe card towards the bottom of this post. 

• Chicken Breasts. Traditionally this dish is made with chicken thighs, but I like chicken breasts better. Either will work. Just be sure it’s boneless and skinless.
• Corn Starch. This is found in the baking aisle and this is the “breading” on the chicken to give it a fried texture. You can use arrow root as well.

• Five Spice. This is an asian style spice found in the spice aisle. It has a unique flavor, it’s aromatic and a little sweet from the star anise.

• Salt. This is the star of the show for this dish! You can add as much or as little salt as you’d like but the salt is prominent in flavor. I like to use course kosher salt.

• Oil. I use avocado oil but canola oil will also work, just use one that can handle high heat and that’s mild in flavor.

• Serrano Peppers. These bring some heat to the dish, they are found in the fresh produce aisle. They aren’t as hot as jalapeño in my opinion.

• Chicken Broth. I use low sodium broth so I can control the salt flavor in this dish. This is what’s going to flavor and cook up veggies.

Steps To Make This Recipe

Step One. Start the rice if serving over white rice. This typically takes 20 minutes, follow the package instructions. Slice the chicken into 1 inch cubes (or smaller!). Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the corn starch, salt, black pepper, five-spice. Add the chicken to the bowl and mix well to cover all of the chicken well.

Step Two. Heat oil in a large pan on high heat. Add the coated chicken to the pan and let it cook on each side for about 7- 10 minutes or until chicken is browned, crispy and cooked through (165º inside). Remove from pan and set aside in a bowl.

If making air fryer salt and pepper chicken, coat the chicken the same way, spritz the chicken with spray oil and add to the air fryer on 375º for 8-10 minutes.

Step Three. Chop garlic, onion, peppers into small pieces. In the same pan the chicken remnants are in, add 1 tsp of oil, put back on the heat on medium. Add all of the chopped and minced veggies. Sauté for about 5 minutes until everything is sweating. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp corn starch and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well, pour in broth, let it deglaze the skillet. Bring the broth and veggies to a light simmer.

Step Four. Add the chicken back into the pan. Simmer for about 2 minutes or until chicken is heated back up and the sauce has thickened. Serve as is or over fluffy white rice.

Recipe FAQs

Recipe Pairings

This meal is perfect on it’s own, but I love it with my Asian Cabbage Salad or Spicy Cucumber Salad.

Other Chicken Recipes To Enjoy

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