Chicken Manchurian Recipe (Easy Indo-Chinese Chicken)

How about skipping a takeaway and making a lovely Indo-Chinese Chicken Manchurian instead? We promise you three things - it will taste better than any take-out dish, it will be a lot healthier (and lower in calories (no need to deep fry)) and you will make it quicker than the delivery driver would have knocked on your door! Coated chicken covered in spicy sweet and sour sauce goes perfectly well with both noodles and fluffy white rice!

Jump to:

• What is Chicken Manchurian?
• Ingredients and Substitutes
• Step-By-Step Method
• Reader Review
• Recipe FAQs
• What To Serve Chicken Manchurian With?
• Delicious Chicken Recipes For Next Time
• Chicken Manchurian Recipe

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What is Chicken Manchurian?

One of the most famous Indo Chinese recipes, Manchurian Chicken is very popular in the Indian subcontinent. This Chinese dish features a sweet, salty, sour and umami sauce (also known as Manchurian Gravy) and crispy fried chicken. It's a wonderful example of how diverse Chinese food (and Chinese cuisine overall) is. 

Typically made with chicken, the dish can also be made vegetarian by replacing chicken with cauliflower (known as Gobi Manchurian).

Many Chinese restaurants also add red food colouring to the dish to make it appear more vibrant, so if you are going for a striking presentation, go ahead, and paint that sweet Manchurian sauce red!

Similar to our Crispy Chilli Chicken recipe, this one is just as tasty and just as quick a recipe to make (if not quicker). And it's just as low in calories as our Diet Coke Chicken.

Fancy a Chinese-Mexican Fusion? Try our Crispy Lime Chicken next!

Ingredients and Substitutes

Here's what you'll need (find the quantities, instructions and nutritional information in the recipe card at the bottom of the post):

• chicken breast: use skinless boneless chicken or replace chicken breast with thighs, but keep in mind that thighs take longer to cook. 
• cornflour (cornstarch) and plain flour: is a perfect combination to ensure a crispy coating for the chicken. If you are looking to make a gluten-free meal, substitute the all purpose flour with an equal amount of extra corn flour. 
• oil for frying: we recommend odourless oil, such as sunflower or vegetable oil. 

Don't be put off by the long list of the delicious manchurian sauce ingredients - they are all simple ingredients that you may already have. 

• chilli flakes: substitute with half a fresh red chilies or even red chili powder if you wish. 
• root ginger: use ginger paste if that's easier for you. 
• garlic clove: use garlic paste if you have some handy. Ginger garlic paste can replace both of the aforementioned ingredients.
• red onion: or brown onion, or even a shallot. 
• tomato paste: rich concentrated tomato puree that typically comes in a tube. If you wish, you can use tomato ketchup, but make sure to skip the sugar in this recipe. 
• sriracha or other chilli sauce of your preference. 
• soy sauce: we used dark soy sauce. If you want a gluten-free meal, make sure you use a GF soy sauce, like Tamari. 
• rice vinegar: substitute with white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. 
• brown sugar: light or brown sugar will work just fine. 
• cornflour (cornstarch): acts as a thickening agent for the sauce when the cornstarch slurry is added to it. 
• chicken stock: or vegetable stock. 
• spring onions: can be replaced with chives or fresh coriander. 

Step-By-Step Method

Let's jump into this quick recipe for restaurant style chicken!

Step 1: Cook Crispy Chicken

Place the flour, cornflour and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and mix. 

Cut the skinless boneless chicken breasts into cubes, about 1.5cm. 

Add the chicken cubes to the coating and mix well, ensuring every piece of chicken is coated. 

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the chicken pieces to hot oil, shaking off any excess coating, and fry for approx 10 minutes on medium-high heat, string often to ensure even browning on all sides. 

If you are making a large quantity, work in batches or fry at the same time in a couple of large frying pans. Alternatively, deep frying the chicken will also work well.

Once the chicken is cooked through and golden brown, remove it from the pan, and place it on a plate lined with paper towels for any excess oil to be absorbed. Set it aside for later. 

Step 2: How To Make Sweet and Sour Manchurian Sauce?

To the emptied pan, add a tablespoon oil, the red chili flakes, finely cubed onions, chopped garlic and ginger. Sautee on medium heat for 2-3 minutes. 

Add the tomato paste, sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar to the pan and stir for a minute. Then add the stock and bring it to a rapid boil.

In the meantime, in a small bowl, mix the cornflour with two tablespoons of water to make a cornflour slurry. Add it to the tomato sauce. 

Stirring, simmer the sauce for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and black pepper if needed. 

Step 3: Assemble, Garnish and Serve

Once the sauce is thickened, add the chicken back to the pan and stir to coat and warm through for a minute. Garnish with green onions or chopped green chilli. Serve with rice!

What To Serve Chicken Manchurian With?

As with many other Chinese dishes, fluffy boiled white rice is our first choice to serve with this delicious Chicken Manchurian. But if you're looking for something a little bit extra special, serve the Manchurian Chicken with egg-fried rice or Hakka noodles.

For a vegetable side dish, we recommend some Chargrilled Pak Choi, Pea Shoot Stir Fry or some simple Tenderstem Broccoli. 

Delicious Chicken Recipes For Next Time

Loved this Manchurian dish? Everybody likes easy weeknight chicken recipes, right? Some of our favourite meals and easy chicken recipes are inspired by Chinese takeaway.