Super Crispy Chicken Balls

Hands down these chicken balls are ten times better than any Chinese take out! When I decided to do a homemade "Chinese" night I knew I had to make an abundance of these, and I'm glad I did because they were eaten up so quickly. I was also told that these should be a weekly thing in the house...I don't see that happening!

I used this batter for shrimp as well - and of course turned out amazing! I had a bag of medium sized shrimp with tails in the freezer so I defrosted them, took the tails off and dropped them in the batter...ugh so good! If you decide to do both shrimp and chicken with this recipe you just need to adjust how much chicken your going to cut up, or make a double batch :)

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Recipe

Makes Approx 40 balls

Chicken Balls

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 1 cup cornstartch

• 1 tbsp baking powder

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

• Approx 1 1/2 cups cold water

• 4-5 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

• canola oil

Instructions:

1. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Slowly stir in water until the batter resembles pancake batter. Place in fridge for at least one hour.

2. Once your ready to deep fry place enough oil (3 to 4 cups depending on pot size) in a heavy pot and heat it to 375°.

3. Coat approximately 10 pieces of chicken at a time and fry in batches. Turn during frying to evenly brown all sides of the balls. Fry until golden, remove from pot and drain on paper towel, then continue to fry remaining chicken, again working in batches.

Simple Sweet and Sour Sauce

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Recipe

• 1 cup canned pineapple juice

• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar

• 3 tablespoons ketchup

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari (GF)

• For the Cornstarch Slurry: 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

• Optional: 2-3 drops all-natural red food coloring
  

1. Place all of the ingredients, except for the cornstarch slurry, in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer for another minute until thickened, stirring constantly. If using red food coloring, stir it in.

2. Let the sauce cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks or freeze up to 3 months. Recipe adapted from Darling Gourmet.

Let me know how your chicken balls turned out and if you made your own sauce. These are so quick to whip up even for weekday dinners. Enjoy!