Lemon chicken recipe, an easy Indo chinese chicken starter recipe with step by step photos. This lemon chicken recipe yields tender chicken bites with a dominant flavor of lemon juice, mint and mild spices. Slightly tangy, mildly hot with full of flavors. It makes a great starter for parties or get together and can also be served as a side to a main course.
Since lemon chicken is a fusion food it pairs well with Indo chinese foods like veg fried rice, schezwan fried rice, veg noodles, egg fried rice, egg noodles or hakka noodles. It can also be served with any rice dishes like jeera rice, peas pulao, or with plain rice and rasam.
I haven’t used lemon zest since i did not have. If you like the flavor you can add a pinch of the powdered zest towards the end.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation for lemon chicken
1. Add chicken cubes or entire breast, ginger paste, red chili powder, salt, turmeric, lemon juice, lemon zest and oil. Do not skip oil, it is the key to tenderize chicken along with lemon juice. I used half of a large lemon. I suggest using fresh lemon and freshly ground ginger or grated ginger.
2. Marinate the chicken and set aside for at least 1 hour 15 minutes. If using a meat mallet or a metal meat tenderizer, marination time can be reduced to 40 minutes. It can also be left overnight in the refrigerator.
How to make lemon chicken recipe
3. Add little oil to the hot pan, fry chopped ginger and garlic.
4. When ginger garlic begins to smell good, add onions, chili, sugar and salt.
5. Fry until the onions turn transparent.
6. Add marinated chicken along with lemon juice. Turn down the flame to low, Stir and fry till the chicken is half cooked.
7. Sprinkle garam masala or cajun spice mix or all spice. I used a flavorful garam masala powder. But earlier i have also made this with cajun spice that is used to make fried chicken and it yielded good results. Mix and fry until you begin to smell the masala good, for about 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Pour soya sauce and cook till the chicken is soft cooked. Sauce should be absorbed by now. Taste the chicken and adjust spice powder, red chili powder or salt as needed. Add more if needed. With an addition of all these the sourness from lemon juice gets balanced.
9. Add finely chopped pudina/mint leaves or celery and fry until the leaves wilt.
10. Chicken should look moist, tender and soft cooked now. Switch off the stove.
Garnish lemon chicken with fresh mint leaves. Serve with onion wedges.
You can find more chicken recipes on the blog,
chicken manchurian
chicken lollipop
szechuan chicken
street style chicken 65
Recipe
Lemon chicken recipe | how to make lemon chicken recipe | chicken starter
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
marinade
- 300 grams chicken boneless cubes or breast
- 1 ½ tbsp oil
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1 ½ to 2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt as needed
- ¼ tsp lemon zest (optional)
- ¾ tsp red chili powder
- 1/8 tsp turmeric
other ingredients
- ½ tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp ginger chopped or minced
- ½ tbsp garlic
- 1 green chili slit
- 1 onion large , chopped
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp cajun spice mix or garam masala
- ½ tbsp soya sauce
- 1 Handful celery or mint or coriander leaves
How to make the recipe
Prepration
- Marinate chicken with all the ingredients mentioned under marinade. Set this aside for about 1 hour 15 minutes. It can also be refrigerated for longer to over night.
Making lemon chicken
- Heat a pan with oil, add ginger and garlic and fry until nice smell begins to waft.
- Add onions, chili, sugar and salt. Fry until the onions turn pink.
- Add marinated chicken and stir. Fry until the chicken is half cooked.
- Add spice powder and stir. Fry for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add soya sauce and mix well.
- Cook until the chicken is soft and tender. Any taste can be adjusted now, more chili powder, spice powder,salt or soya sauce can be added to reduce the tang.
- Add mint leaves and fry until they wilt. Chicken should just be moist but not with dripping sauces. Cook to evaporate any excess moisture.
- Serve lemon chicken with onion wedges as a side to fried rice, noodles or rice.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Ritu Nair says
I tried Lemon Chicken recipe and it came out really nice. I made one change thought. In place of mint or coriander leaves, I used springs of spring onions.
swasthi says
Glad to know Ritu
Daljit Sidhu says
Came out great!! Everyone enjoyed it.
swasthi says
Glad to know!
Thank you
Dave says
Hi Swasthi, Looks amazing. Could I make it ahead of time and reheat for a party?
swasthi says
Hi Dave,
Thank you! Yes you can make it ahead & reheat.
Sowmya prithvi says
Very simple recipe, me and my husband tried it for the first time, it came out very nicely.
swasthi says
Thanks Soymya
Glad you liked it.
🙂
sakhya says
itz too much yummy and tasty….i made it first time but it wuz very simple…thnkww
swasthi says
Welcome.
Thanks for trying.
Shweta says
Hi Swasthi,
I always refer to your recipes when I cook something different. I tried this dish as a starter for some guests. Left the chicken marinate overnight. The dish turned out so yummy that I got barely to taste it. All my guests are it and appreciated the flavours very much.
Please keep posting new things.
Thank you,
Shweta
swasthi says
Hi Shweta,
You are welcome. So glad to know the lemon chicken turned out good. Thank you so much for trying the recipes. Yes will keep posting new recipes.
🙂
Jyotsana says
Hi swati,
I always refer to your blog before I cook something new. So get lemon chicken today. I find it very easy to follow all recepies that u believe. I believe that the chicken will also turn out to be yummy. Thank u.
swasthi says
Hi Jyotsana
You are welcome. Thanks a lot for following the blog.So glad to know the recipes are useful.
🙂
VARATHARAJAN .S says
good
Shelly says
It was toooo tummy, i made as advised
My hubby loved it
Thank you
Shelly says
I tried first time as advised it was too easy and my hubby loved it
Thank you
Didina Gnagnide Angorinie says
This is a very good recipe.
I made it twice, the first time as it is written, the second with some modifications. I am reporting them so maybe someone will find them useful:
-the second time I used 2 tablespoons of yogurt + 1 teaspoon oil instead of 1 1/2 tablespoon oil. I wanted to see if I could bring some of the oil down. It worked for me.
-I am always looking for methods to cut onion and garlic away from recipes because unfortunately they irritate my stomach (due to medicines my stomach is sensitive). So I didn’t use onion and garlic and in their place I started the recipe with a tadka of 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed + 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida and then, when frying the chili, a pinch of turmeric. I think it was good.
-I didn’t try this but I would be interested in using tamarind instead of soy sauce.
As always thank you Swasthi, your recipes are very good!
Deepa Gloria says
Hi swathi…lemon chicken recipe is so simple & yummy..i tried this for the first time & got appreciation from my hubby…thanks a lot for the yummy recipe…
swasthi says
Hi Deepa
You are welcome
Sp glad to know lemon chicken turned out good.
Thanks for sharing the outcome
Sreenath says
Hi Swathi,
We don’t get Soya sauce, what should I use instead. Or can we make it without it ?
Please advise 🙂
Cheers!
swasthi says
Hi Sreenath
this is a Indo chinese recipe, so soya sauce is being used. Yes you can skip it and make a indian style dish, use a bit more of garam masala and chili powder to suit your taste.
Arsh Aggarwal says
Hey Swati
I m cooking chicken for the first time.
I need to know that when is chicken half cooked or full cooked n thanks for the recipe.
swasthi says
Hi Arsh
Chicken is partially cooked or half cooked when the color of the meat turns pale white And when you prick with a fork, you can feel the texture – it is hard.
When it is fully cooked you can just cut the chicken with a fork, it will be soft and gets separated from the bone or from the rest of the piece easily. Hope this helps
Sunila marwah says
I tried lemon chicken it’s yum
swasthi says
Thank you