Fry

Almond Boneless Chicken

September 12, 2012
4
2 Ratings
Photo by inpatskitchen
  • Serves 4 to 6
Author Notes

Indisputably the most popular Chinese-American dish around these parts, Almond Boneless Chicken is actually just fried chicken with a soy based gravy. But it's comforting and so good that I had to learn to make it myself. I think this recipe is the best I've ever had! —inpatskitchen

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the gravy
  • 2 teaspoons peanut or vegetable oil
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with about 5 tablespoons water to make a slurry
  • 2 to 3 ounces of sliced almonds
  • For the chicken and putting it all together
  • 4 6 to 8 ounce skinless, boneless chicken breasts
  • 1 cup white rice flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 8 to 10 ounces club soda
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
  • Vegetable or peanut oil for pan frying
  • A handful of snow or sugar snap peas
  • The gravy
  • The reserved sliced almonds
  • Shredded lettuce(iceberg is traditional) and hot cooked rice for serving
Directions
  1. For the gravy
  2. In a sauce pan, heat the oil and gently saute the garlic for a minute or so until it becomes fragrant. Add the oyster and soy sauces, along with the chicken broth and water chestnuts.
  3. Bring the mixture up to the boil. Crush all but about 2 tablespoons of the sliced almonds.(you'll use those for garnish) and add the crushed ones to the pan. Stir in the slurry and whisk to thicken. Turn off the heat and set aside.
  1. For the chicken and putting it all together
  2. Whisk together the 2 flours, salt and pepper. Whisk the beaten egg with a few ounces of the club soda and then whisk that into the flour mixture, adding more club soda as needed to make a relatively thin batter.
  3. Slice the chicken breasts lengthwise in half or thirds, depending on their size. Heat the oil in a large skillet, dip each piece of chicken into the batter and fry for about three minutes on each side until lightly golden. Place the pieces of chicken on a baking sheet and bake in a 400F oven for about 15 minutes.
  4. While the chicken is baking, re heat the gravy to boiling and stir in the snow or sugar snap peas.
  5. Plate each serving by placing a scoopful of hot rice down and then some shredded lettuce over. Place 2 or 3 pieces of the chicken on top followed by the gravy and garnished with a few sliced almonds. Pass more soy sauce if desired.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • LeBec Fin
    LeBec Fin
  • inpatskitchen
    inpatskitchen
inpatskitchen

Recipe by: inpatskitchen

I think I get my love for food and cooking from my mom, who was an amazing cook. She would start baking and freezing a month before Christmas in order to host our huge open house on Christmas afternoon. I watched and I learned...to this day I try not to procrastinate when it comes to entertaining. My cooking style is pretty much all over the place, although I'm definitely partial to Greek and Italian cuisine. Oh yes, throw a little Cajun in there too!

2 Reviews

LeBec F. January 7, 2016
pat, this is so funny- i've never ever seen that dish on a chinese menu around here! what a terrible name; but when i saw that it was YOUR recipe, i knew it would be good, and had to check it out. What an excellent job you did with this! (but i still think you should change the name.) Have you ever tried subbing canned water chestnuts with raw jerusalem artichoke?-- same crunch, but soooo much more flavor. (Because I have been told that fresh water chestnuts are worlds apart from canned, I have bought them numerous times, but have never got around to peeling and preping them!)
 
inpatskitchen January 7, 2016
Mindy...I really think this recipe (also known as ABC) is a Detroit thing...and we love this so much around these parts that I wouldn't change a thing about it. This was my attempt to get around the super heavily laden breading that the carry out places present. Thanks for your thoughts (I'll check out the Jerusalem artichokes).