🍋 Chinese lemon chicken

Name: Chinese lemon chicken
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Chinese takeaway · UK and North America
Ingredients: 600 g chicken breast, sliced; 1 egg, beaten; 80 g flour; Oil for frying; Juice and zest of 2 lemons; 3 tbsp sugar; 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 150 ml water; Spring onion to serve

Origin: Chinese takeaway · UK and North America

630kcal

per serving · 300 g

210kcal

per 100 g

42 gProtein14 g / 100 g

27 gFat9 g / 100 g

48 gCarbs16 g / 100 g

Chinese lemon chicken is chicken breast coated in a flour-and-egg batter, deep-fried until crisp and topped with a glossy, sweet-and-sour lemon sauce. The crunchy coating soaks up the bright, sticky sauce. It is served sliced over rice, often with a scattering of spring onion.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

High protein14 g protein per 100 g — 27% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken, egg

Contains glutenbecause of: flour

Not keto16 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Eggs

What it is made of

chickenlemon sauceflouregg

Recipe

4 servings40 min

Ingredients

600 g chicken breast, sliced
1 egg, beaten
80 g flour
Oil for frying
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 150 ml water
Spring onion to serve

Method

Season the chicken with salt, dip it in egg, then coat in flour.
Fry in hot oil in batches until golden and cooked through; drain.
For the sauce, simmer the lemon juice, zest, sugar and cornflour water, stirring, until glossy.
Pour the sauce over the chicken, scatter spring onion and serve at once.

How to make it lighter

Ask for the sauce on the side and use just a spoonful — it is mostly sugar.
Pan-fry or oven-bake the coated chicken to cut the oil.
Pair it with steamed vegetables and a small portion of plain rice instead of fried rice.

History

Lemon chicken is a staple of Cantonese-style restaurants and takeaways outside China, especially in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia. Its exact origin is not well documented, and it is best known today as a takeaway favourite.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →