Learn how to make Chilli Chicken Dry – a spicy, restaurant-style Indo-Chinese stir-fry made with boneless chicken, capsicum, and garlic chili sauce. Quick, easy, and perfect for weeknight dinners or starters!
If you’re craving that classic restaurant-style chilli chicken dry, but want to keep things quick and easy, this recipe is for you. And the best part? It’s made without deep frying – making it lighter, healthier, and less messy.
Stir-fries are one of my go-to weeknight dinners — they’re quick, easy, and packed with flavor. With minimal prep and cooking time, you get a wholesome, balanced meal that’s perfect for busy evenings. Best of all, stir-fries like this Chilli Chicken Dry are family-friendly and highly customizable to suit everyone’s taste.
Love stir-fries as much as I do. Don’t miss these other quick and easy stir-fry recipes on the blog!
WHAT IS CHILLI CHICKEN DRY?
Chilli Chicken Dry is a popular Indo-Chinese chicken stir-fry recipe known for its spicy, garlicky, and slightly tangy flavor. Unlike the saucy chilli chicken gravy, this dry version has a light coating of sauce that clings beautifully to the chicken without being runny.
In restaurants, chicken is often deep fried to make it crispy before being tossed in sauce. In this recipe, I have used a technique called velveting to keep the chicken juicy and tender, and then pan-sear it instead of frying. You still get that crispy edge and all the flavor, but with less oil and effort.
Ingredients for Chilli Chicken Dry
Here’s a quick overview of what goes into this easy dry chilli chicken recipe:
- Boneless Chicken (thighs or breast) – cut into bite-sized pieces
- Soy Sauce – adds salty umami depth
- Corn Flour (Cornstarch) – for velveting the chicken
- Black & White Pepper – layered heat
- Garlic & Ginger – classic Indo-Chinese aromatics
- Onions & Capsicum (Bell Peppers) – for texture, sweetness and crunch.
- Chilli Sauce or Sriracha – adds a saucy gravy that coats the chicken pieces
- Vinegar – for tanginess
- Green Chilies (optional) – for extra heat
- Chili Flakes – for extra flavour
Tip for Perfect Stirfry: The key to a great stir-fry like Chilli Chicken Dry is preparation. Make sure all your ingredients are prepped before you start cooking — that means chicken pieces cut, vegetables chopped, and all sauces and spices measured and ready to go.
Stir-frying happens fast in a hot wok, and pausing to chop or find ingredients can lead to soggy vegetables or overcooked chicken. Staying organized ensures your stir-fry turns out crisp, fresh, and full of flavor.
How to Make Chilli Chicken Dry
There are 3 steps to this recipe:
- Velveting the chicken – this is a technique used by Chinese restaurants to make chicken tender. Marinate chicken with soya sauce, salt, pepper and corn flour. As little as 15 minutes is enough for chicken to marinate and get tender.
- Cooking the chicken – In a wok or wide pan heat oil and spread chicken in a single layer. Leave for 2 minutes then flip on the other side. You can also deep fry or shallow fry the chicken if you like.
- Making the chicken chili dry stir fry – in a wok heat oil and fry ginger and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add onions and capsicum along with chilli flakes. Add the chicken and all the sauces. Toss it around.
How Spicy is Chilli Chicken Dry?
Chilli Chicken Dry is meant to be moderately spicy, with layers of heat from black pepper, chili sauce, and chili flakes. You can easily adjust the spice level to your preference:
For less spice: use sweet chilli sauce instead of hot chilli sauce for flavor without overwhelming heat. Reduce the quantity of chilli flakes,black pepper and white pepper. But dont omit any of it add you will lose the flavour that comes from each of it.
For more heat: add green chilies or use Sriracha instead of chilli sauce
Watch How to Make it
What to serve with Chilli Chicken Dry ?
Chilli Chicken Dry is delicious on its own, with tender chicken and crisp vegetables offering bold, satisfying flavors.
But if you’d like to turn it into a complete meal, serve it with steamed rice, noodles, or even better—pair it with Vegetable Fried Rice for a perfect Indochinese food experience.
Other Stir Fry Recipes to Try
Black Pepper Chicken
THAI CASHEW CHICKEN
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Chilli Chicken Dry
Ingredients
- 500 g Boneless Chicken
- 1 Medium Onion Sliced
- 1 Medium Capsicum Sliced
- ¼ cup Green Onion chopped
- 1 tbsp Garlic (Chopped)
- 1 tbsp Ginger (Chopped)
- 1 tbsp Soya Sauce
- 1 tbsp Chilli Sauce See notes
- ½ tsp Crushed Red Chilli See Notes
- 4 tbsp Oil
Marinade for Chicken
- 1 tbsp Soya Sauce
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Blackpepper
- ½ tsp White Pepper
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- Green Chilies Optional
Instructions
- Marinate chicken with all the ingredients for atleast 10 minutes.
- In a wok heat 2 tbsp of oil and spread chicken in one layer. Allow it to sear for 2 minutes before turning it over. Cook untill chicken it cooked and light golden. NOTE: You can also deep fry the chicken.
- Take the chicken out and set aside.
- Clean the wok and heat remaining 2 tbsp of oil. Fry garlic for a minute until fragrant and then add ginger as well.
- Add onion, spring onions and capsicum, fry for a couple of minutes.
- Put chicken in and add soya sauce, chilli sauce and crushed chilli. Stir fry for 2 more minutes.
- Garnish with some spring onion. Enjoy it on its own or serve with steamed white rice or noodles.
Notes
- Use sweet chilli sauce instead of hot chilli sauce for flavor without overwhelming heat. or if you want more spicy use siracha
- Reduce the quantity of chilli flakes, black pepper and white pepper. But don’t omit any of it add you will lose the flavour that comes from each of it.
- Add green chilies if you prefer more spicy
