P.F. Chang's Spicy Chicken Secrets Revealed

today I'll show you the correct recipe for PF Chang spicy chicken we'll go over the precise ingredients they use at the restaurant I'll reveal the two secret homemade sauces you'll need to make this signature dish correctly and I'll show you the unique two-step process pfchangs uses to get the most tender chicken imaginable now for the spicy chicken PF Changs uses regular boneless skinless chicken breast to ensure tenderness they brine their Chicken in an alkaline soy marinade that helps it stay super juicy even when deep fried but before we get into that I'll show you how

to section the meat properly to prepare it first flip the chicken breast over and remove the tenderloin you can use it in this recipe or reserve it for another use then trim your chicken of any unsightly bits of fat or tendon to clean it up now place your hand on top of the breast and make a cut down its length to split it then take your split breasts and cut the meat into roughly 1 in slices lengthwise down the breast halves take the chicken slices turn them perpendicular to you and cut them them into 1in

cubes and this is the basic preparation for the chicken the next step is preparing the alkaline soy marinade and PF Changs uses a version of this on almost all their protein this marinade both tenderizes and flavors the chicken seasoning the meat all the way through and it's ridiculously easy to make all you'll do is take one cup of water and to that add half a teaspoon of baking soda and stir to dissolve this will raise the pH of the water to make it more alkaline the alkalinity will make it harder for protein bands in the

meat to tighten during the high heat of either walk or deep fry cooking baking soda is an old trick a lot of Asian restaurants use to give their meat that fork tender texture that is associated with takeout style cuisine if you've ever added baking soda directly to a protein and felt like it gave it an off flavor using a brine like this is a way we can get all the tenderizing effects of baking soda without imparting such flavors then to our alkaline water let's toss in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and give it a stir

to incorporate it into the Brine and if you're looking for the exact brand PF Changs uses pick up a bottle of leom key low sodium soy sauce the one in the green bottle but really any soy sauce you've got on hand will work fine for the marinade then add 12 oz of your cubed chicken breast to the Brine and you'll want to marinate the meat for at least 2 hours at the restaurant they actually brine their protein for 24 hours and I have noticed longer marination times do improve both texture and flavor so if you

can swing it I re men at least a day and just make sure you refrigerate it the entire time while our chicken is marinating it's a perfect time to prepare the two sauces we'll need to make Chang spicy chicken properly the first is what PF Changs calls white sauce it's essentially just chicken stock with a bit of oyster sauce whisked into it to make it more Savory for the chicken broth they use a brand called Miner's original chicken base and you should be able to find this on Amazon I'll include a link in the video

description for the oyster sauce PF Changs used uses leeum key Panda brand oyster flavored sauce in the green bottle this is the gluten-free version with no added MSG all of leom Key's oyster sauces are legit but if you're able to find their premium oyster sauce the one with the idic scene of a mother and Sun harvesting gargantuan oysters on the label this is the one I recommend to make the white sauce you'll just reconstitute the chicken Base by adding one cup of water to a small pot over medium heat with 3/4 of a teaspoon of

chicken base whisk until the base is dissolved now toss in 2 teaspoons of oyster sauce and whisk until it's thoroughly combined and this is the elusive white sauce pfchangs uses in a ton of their recipes after it's cooled down you can keep it in the fridge for about a week the next sauce is what they call Chang sauce it's basically just sweetened vinegar and it's super easy to make so let's start with half a cup of white sugar in a small pot next add 6 tbspoon of white vinegar and turn the heat onto medium with

whisk until the sugar is totally dissolved and the sauce is clear and this is it this is how easy it is to make Chang sauce and after the sauce is cool down transfer it to a storage container and you can keep it covered in the fridge for up to a month to prepare the chicken let's start by heating some neutral oil to 350° then remove the chicken from the Brine and Pat it dry with paper towels to dredge their chicken PF Changs uses potato starch and you should be able to find this at most Asian

grocery stores it'll come in little bags like these and you really want to make sure each piece of chicken is totally covered in the potato starch so take your time pressing it in your hand and shaking off the excess after you've dredged all your chicken toss it in the deep fryer and cook it for about 2 to 3 minutes or just until it's done and make sure to agitate it after the first minute because it has a tendency to Clump together we're basically cooking the meat before the final stir fry so the finishing process should

just take us a couple of minutes to complete the dish then drain the chicken on a wire rack or a plate lined with paper towels and set it aside for the final cooking you want to make sure you have all your ingredients assembled beforehand because the meat is already cooked the final dish comes together in a matter of just a couple of minutes we'll go over everything you need while we're making it but before we start I want to tell you about a few specialty ingredients you'll need to make this dish correctly the first is

a type of chili paste called sbal Ole this is an Indonesian chili sauce typically made with chilies salt and vinegar the exact brand PF Changs uses is hoong the same people who make sriracha and I want you to notice you'll often find these two sauces loitering together Sall olec and chili garlic sauce either will work fine for this dish and really the only difference is the chili garlic sauce has garlic but PF Changs uses Sall Ole in their spicy chicken the second is dehydrated minced garlic and you should be able to find this at most

grocery stores in the spice aisle this is minced garlic that has been dried so it has no moisture in it but why does PF Changs use this special type of garlic firstly it doesn't burn and stick to the hot pans as easily as fresh garlic and secondly it offers a slightly smoother and more concentrated garlic flavor to prepare it you'll just need to reconstitute it in hot water for about 20 to 30 minutes and then drain it of all the water before using and you can keep this in the fridge for about a week and

use it anytime you need minced garlic and the last specialty ingredient we'll need is sesame oil PF Changs uses this as a finishing oil because of its Rich nutty flavor you'll see several different types at most Asian grocery stores but what you want to look for is pure sesame oil if you can only find toasted sesame oil that will work but the brand pfchangs uses is leum key pure sesame oil now to start the cooking let's heat some neutral oil in a walk over medium high heat when you're up to Temp toss in 2 teaspoons

of the rehydrated garlic 1/4 cup of roughly chopped scallion whites and one 1 tbspoon of the somal chili paste give it a stir and cook it for about 10 to 15 seconds just to let it flavor the oil then add half a cup of the white sauce and 6 tbspoon of the sweetened vinegar and bring it up to a simmer stir it around a bit to incorporate the aromatics and let the flavors Infuse for a minute or two now using the power of culinary Alchemy we'll thicken our sauce with a cornstarch slurry and I made

this with two teaspoons of corn starch mixed with 1 tbspoon of cold water and always make sure you stir a slurry before using because it has a tendency to settle at the bottom after you've added the slurry stir your sauce until you notice it starts to thicken then toss in your fried chicken and gently fold it into the sauce making sure every piece is coated and there are no dry pieces visible when everything looks good kill the Heat and sprinkle in one teaspoon of the sesame oil around the edge of the walk and stir it

until it's incorporated into the dish and this is it this is the actual recipe used at pfchangs for their signature Chang spicy chicken now very quickly before our taste test I want to give you a couple of tips if you want to adjust the heat in this dish you simply need to add more or less of the chili paste the recipe provided in this video is extremely mild so if you can take the heat don't be afraid to toss in a bit more and secondly if you want to do a gluten-free version of this dish

Miner's chicken base actually does make a glutenfree version you can find on Amazon and secondly for the soy sauce just grab a bottle of tamari or any other non-gluten soy sauce these are really the only two things you'd need to change to make this glutenfree all right back to the taste test this is indistinguishable from PF Chang's version I'm glad you all recommended this dish because I didn't realize how popular it is and I probably wouldn't have done it to be completely honest and it's super good so good call y'all and if you'd like to

learn the secrets behind PF Chang's Mongolian beef make sure to check out this video thanks for watching see you next time