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Oriental Lemon Chicken

Makes: 4 lbs (feeds 16 people)
5 from 2 votes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Oriental
Servings: 16
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Print Recipe

Ingredients  

Coating:

  • 4 lb chicken (cubed - it's easiest to cut when slightly frozen)
  • 1 ½ cup cornstarch
  • 6 large eggs

Sauce:

  • ½ cup water
  • 1 ½ cups lemon juice
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup soy sauce (special diet note - verify gluten free)
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp garlic (minced)
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • ½ tsp chili flakes (optional)

Instructions: 

  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 large cookie sheets with edges and set aside.
  • Cut the chicken into bite-sized cubes. (It's easiest to cut the chicken if it is still slightly frozen.)
  • Place the 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch and the cubed chicken in a large Ziploc bag. (You can also mix it in a large bowl, but the bag is much easier.)
  • Shake and rub the chicken around in the bag until it is thoroughly covered with cornstarch. Set aside.
  • Crack the eggs into a bowl and slightly beat them. Then pour the eggs into the bag with the chicken.
  • Shake and rub the chicken until it is all thoroughly covered with egg.
  • Spread the chicken evenly on the prepared cookie sheets, trying to keep the pieces from touching.

Baking the Chicken:

  • The baking instructions are a little confusing, but it will bake for a total of an hour - a total of 45 minutes at 325° then 15 minutes at 425°.
    You will want to flip the chicken every 10 minutes.
    1. Bake 20 minutes at 325° then pour 1/2 of the sauce over the chicken.
    2. Bake 10 minutes at 325° then pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken.
    3. Bake 15 more minutes at 325°.
    4. Turn the temperature up and bake 15 more minutes at 425°.
    Before you pour the sauce over the chicken, it will probably look like there is a lot of extra egg cooking into scrambled eggs on the cookie sheet. Don't worry - just break up the larger chunks. The sauce will soak into the extra "breading" and you will never notice it.

Sauce:

  • You can prepare the sauce while the chicken is baking for the first 20 minutes. You can either prepare it in the microwave or on the stovetop.
  • Stovetop: combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and allow to simmer until it begins to thicken and turn clear. Stir occasionally.
    Microwave: combine all the sauce ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 1-2 minute increments until it begins to thicken and turn clear.

Notes:

Make Ahead: You can easily cut up the chicken before hand and make the sauce ahead of time.
This lemon chicken isn't exactly crisp like deep-fried chicken would be, but it is very tender and so perfectly carmelized, it covers any lack of crispiness.
You can tweak this recipe to be used as Orange Chicken or Sweet & Sour Chicken.
For Orange Chicken: substitute orange juice for lemon juice (I haven't tried this, so it may need more tweaking than just that. You may need to cut back on the sugar too.)
For Sweet & Sour Chicken: Here is my recipe for the Sweet & Sour version.
Diet: Gluten Free