Stir Fried Chicken With Ketchup (Yes, Chicken & Ketchup & It Is So Good) | Vicki James

Yes, you read it correctly.  So, do you think I’m about to give you a recipe for chicken nuggets dipped in ketchup?  Sure sounds like it.  But, come on, you know I wouldn’t do that to you!  There’s a much more interesting twist to this story, so keep reading.  I’ll be surprised if this dish doesn’t become one of your favorite desperation dinners.  Few ingredients are needed, and you probably have most of them on hand. 

 I used to love ketchup.  French fries really only interested me as a way to convey ketchup to my mouth.  I drifted away from my “first love” condiment as I got older and discovered aioli.  Nevertheless, when I saw this recipe on the New York Times Cooking website, I was immediately intrigued.  A little disgusted, but intrigued.  I don’t like ketchup with my chicken nuggets.  Give me honey mustard any day.  Little did I know that ketchup could be changed into a richly flavorful sauce, depending on how it’s cooked. 

Mark Bittman, the author of this recipe, says he first encountered it in an Indian restaurant.  The chef told him it was mandarin in origin.  It’s true that a smidge of ketchup goes into many Asian dishes.  In this recipe, though, it’s the starring attraction, getting top billing right up there with the chicken.

I promise you will be astounded by the deep, piquant and sweet flavors in this dish.  There is a trick; it has to be cooked long enough to become a dark reddish brown color, which tells you when the sauce has caramelized.  Reviewers who did not cook it long enough had nothing good to say about it.  For them, it really was just chicken nuggets with ketchup.  But cook it correctly and it becomes something else entirely.

Ingredients 

1 ½ pounds chicken, light meat or dark, cut into ½ inch to 1 inch chunks

½ cup flour or more if needed

4 tablespoons of neutral oil divided

Salt and pepper

2 tbsps. of slivered garlic 

½ tsp. Cayenne

1 cup of ketchup

Preparation  

Toss the chicken chunks in the flour.  Add salt and pepper.  Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large, non-stick skillet.  I used my Lodge 12 inch cast iron skillet.  Brown the floured chicken pieces in the skillet, once the oil begins to shimmer.  Depending on the size of the chicken pieces, it may take 5 to 10 minutes to cook them.  Turn them to make sure they are browned on all sides.  I couldn’t fit all of the chicken in the pan in a single layer, so I had to brown the chicken in batches.  If you find you need to cook a second batch, add a little more oil to the skillet first.

Place cooked chicken pieces on a paper towel lined plate while you make the sauce.  Turn off the heat for a few minutes to let the pan cool down.  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.  Turn the heat to medium high.  When the oil is hot, add the garlic and cayenne and brown it for about two minutes.  Then add the cup of ketchup.  Stirring frequently to make sure the ketchup doesn’t burn, cook it until it becomes a dark reddish brown.  I think my Crayola box had a crayon that color called burnt sienna. Try to capture that perfect burnt sienna moment. 

One reviewer said he cooked the ketchup for 8 minutes to get the desired color.  You may need to lower the heat temperature a bit during this process to avoid burning.  But you need enough heat to get the job done.  Just eyeball it.

Once the sauce is finished, add the chicken pieces and toss them in the sauce.  There will be plenty of sauce to coat the chicken.  Some reviewers added in a few chopped veggies, and felt there was still  enough sauce. 

Now, taste a piece of the chicken.  Wow!  Can you believe it?  It’s no longer our familiar old table top condiment.  It’s not just chicken nuggets with ketchup.  It’s something new and wonderful!

We served our chicken over brown basmati rice.  It was absolutely scrumptious.  In deference to some of the reviewers who thought a touch of acid was needed to counterbalance the sweetness, we squeezed some lime juice over the top.  Other reviewers suggested adding a little rice vinegar, but others thought it was perfect the way it was.  You be the judge.

I did make two small changes.  I increased the amount of garlic, because I accidentally slivered too much.  I used about three tablespoons instead of two.  I liked it because I could really taste those slivers of garlic hiding in the sauce, and I love garlic.

I also used a teaspoon of sambal oelek in place of the cayenne.  I felt my rather old bottle of cayenne had lost its pizzazz.  I strongly believed pizzazz to be necessary component in this recipe.  I had sambal oelek on hand and it added just the right amount of pizzazz.  You could also use red pepper flakes or a splash of hot sauce. Make it your own.

When my father put Tabasco sauce in a recipe, he called it “adding some jazz”.  But that was probably because Tabasco sauce is made near New Orleans, the jazz capital.  I guess it doesn’t have anything to do with this story, but I miss him and I like writing about him. 

This is an old picture of my father Sherwood with our daughter Hadley. Hadley is now 28. Even though my father is gone, he has left me with so many great memories. He was a uniquely different person.

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I think that next time I make it, I’ll add some broccoli florets or chopped red bell pepper.  A little garnish of chopped green onion and /or cilantro would not come amiss.  Toasted sesame seeds on top would be pretty.

Most reviewers of this recipe loved it.  It seems to be a big hit with kids as well as adults.  Ketchup and kids go together like peanut and jelly, so I’m not surprised.  What did surprise me was how complex and interesting this strange dish tasted. Go ahead and try it.  Don’t turn up your nose; be bold, be adventurous, be brave, my Kitchen Warriors!  You’ll be happy you did.

Serves 4.