Golden, crunchy chicken drizzled with a tasty but easy-to-make curry sauce. This is the ultimate Japanese comfort food. I find it better than a takeaway and I'm pretty sure you'll love it as well!
Put the flour, egg and breadcrumbs in three separate bowls. Roll each chicken thigh first in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Place crumbed chicken on a plate, cover and refrigerate while you make the curry sauce.
Add a splash of oil to a medium saucepan and cook the onion, garlic & ginger for a couple of minutes until softened.
Add the flour and curry powder and cook for another minute while stirring continuously.
Slowly add the chicken stock, then stir in the soy sauce and honey. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and thickened a little.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/355F. Line a baking tray with baking paper and place a wire rack on the top if you have one.
Heat up about 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan, then fry the chicken for a few minutes on each side until golden. Place on the wire rack on the baking tray, then finish off cooking in the oven for 20 minutes. [If you prefer to cook your chicken in an air fryer, skip this step and refer to recipe notes for cooking instructions]
Cook the rice according to packet instructions while chicken is baking. When the sauce is ready, blend it with a handheld blender or in a food processor until smooth. Then pour back into the pan and re-heat ready to serve.
Slice each crispy chicken thigh into about 4 thick slices length-wise, then serve over rice. Drizzle a little sauce over each dish. Serve with the crispy lettuce leaves and extra sauce on the side.
Video
Notes
Chicken thighs, breasts or tenders?
Large skinless boneless chicken thighs work best for this recipe. The chicken is crispy and juicy. Mmmm.The recipe will still work if you use smaller thighs - just cook a couple more. This recipe also works well with chicken breasts and tenders. Chicken breasts may only need around 15 minutes in the oven after browning first. For tenders you can skip the baking part - just pan fry until golden and cooked through in the middle (roughly 3.5 minutes on each side but it will depend on how big/thick they are).
Do I have to pan fry the chicken first? Can't I just bake it?
Usually I'm all about speed and ease, so I skip any unnecessary steps. I do think it's worth browning the chicken in the pan first though in this case. It's very fast and just makes sure the chicken gets nice and crispy! And for anyone wondering, it's pretty tricky to just pan fry a chicken thigh because it's so thick. The combination of pan frying and baking is perfect for this recipe, and I promise it doesn't feel like too much trouble ;-)
Do I really need a wire rack?
The wire rack just keeps the chicken elevated slightly in the oven so it can get crispy all over. If you don't have one though, no problem! Just place the chicken on a baking tray lined with baking paper and turn over half way through cooking.Or... do you have an oven safe cast iron pan? Pan fry your chicken in that, then just transfer the same pan to the oven. Turn the chicken half way so that it can get crispy all over.
I prefer to 'fry' my chicken in my air fryer!
Great! You can skip the pan frying step. Simply spray your breaded chicken all over with a light coating of oil. Then 'fry' in your air fryer for 25 minutes, turning around half way through.
Breadcrumbs
Panko breadcrumbs are the best and quickest and easiest crumbs to use. They are widely available in supermarkets in the UK, Australia, USA, and probably most other countries.If you can't get hold of them however, do feel free to use any kind of breadcrumbs you like. The recipe will work just as well, although panko breadcrumbs tends to make the chicken a bit crispier.