Chongqing Spicy Chicken — Chili-Buried Chicken Cubes
Quick Info
- Flavor
- Crispy, salty, and explosively spicy. Like the crunchiest fried chicken nuggets you have ever eaten, but buried in a mountain of toasted chilies with a fragrant, smoky heat.
- Texture
- Tiny, bone-in chicken pieces fried until shatteringly crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, surrounded by brittle dried chili segments
- Spice Level
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ — Hotter than a jalapeño, approaching habanero territory — aggressive, dry chili heat that hits immediately
- Temperature
- Served Hot
Ingredients
Allergens
Confirmed
Possible
These ingredients may vary by restaurant. Ask your server to confirm.
The Story
This dish originated in the Gele Mountain area of Chongqing during the 1990s, where a restaurant owner named Zhu Tian Cai started deep-frying small chicken pieces and tossing them with an absurd quantity of dried chilies. The dish became famous for its dramatic presentation — more chilies than chicken — and spread across China like wildfire. It is now one of the most iconic Chongqing dishes, instantly recognizable by the mountain of red chilies on the plate.
What to Expect
A huge plate arrives, and at first you think it is a pile of dried red chilies. You would be mostly right. Buried beneath and among the mountain of toasted chili segments are small, bite-sized pieces of chicken fried to an extreme crunch. Your job is to dig through the chilies to find the chicken treasures. Each piece is crispy, salty, and infused with chili flavor from the inside out. The dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns are toasted in the oil, filling the air with a fragrant, slightly smoky aroma.
Tips
The dried chilies are not meant to be eaten — they are there for flavor and aroma. Pick the chicken pieces out from among them. The best pieces have a bit of bone, which adds flavor but requires careful nibbling. Watch for small bones. This is a sharing dish — one plate can serve a whole table alongside rice and milder dishes to balance the heat.