Fast Chicken

By Food & Wine

Updated September 11, 2017

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From crispy fried chicken sandwiches to classic chicken teriyaki, here are fast chicken recipes.

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Crispy Chicken with Champagne Vinegar Aioli

Credit: Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

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Extra-juicy and crispy pan-fried chicken tenders are hard to resist, but Food & Wine’s Laura Rege ups the ante by serving them alongside a spectacularly bright and creamy vinegar aioli for dipping.

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Lemony Chicken Stir-Fry

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Bright and lemony, this superfast chicken stir-fry makes an excellent weeknight dinner.

Quick and Delicious Stir-Fry Dishes

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Crisp Spiced Chicken

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Chicken in Tarragon-Mustard Cream Sauce

Credit: Â© Fredrika StjÃ¤rne

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F&W’s Grace Parisi steals the flavors from a classic French pan sauce (mustard, tarragon, white wine and cream) for this quick chicken sauté.

F&W's Ultimate Guide to Chicken

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Chicken Katsu

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For Roy Choi, these crispy egg-and-panko-coated chicken cutlets, generally made with pork in Japan, represent something major. “People think frying chicken cutlets is simple, but it’s like cooking pasta,” says Choi. “It’s a dish that seems remedial, but when you get it right, it changes the whole ball game. I call it the cult of katsu.”

F&W's Ultimate Guide to Healthy Eating

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Chicken Parmesan with Pepperoni

Credit: © Quentin Bacon

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Chef Bryan Vietmeier merges two Italian-American favorites here: chicken parm and pepperoni.

F&W's Ultimate Guide to Chicken Recipes

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Chicken Pad Thai

Credit: © Pernille Pedersen

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Our version of pad Thai, the satisfying rice-noodle dish from Thailand, is made with chicken, tofu, bean sprouts, and, in place of rice noodles, linguine.

Video: Asian Food Tips from Sang Yoon

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Oven-Fried Chicken

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More Fried Chicken Recipes

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Chicken and Rice Salad with Pine Nuts and Lemon

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We like to serve this Mediterranean-inspired salad warm, but it’s also good slightly chilled. Be sure to check the seasonings, though; cold dishes often need more salt and pepper than those served hot.

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Classic Chicken Teriyaki

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Nobu Matsuhisa’s easy teriyaki sauce is made with chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar, mirin and sake. It’s great over tender chicken breasts and charred frying peppers.

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Pulled-Chicken Sandwiches

Credit: © Ngoc Minh Ngo

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Classic eastern North Carolina barbecue sauce has a vinegar—not a tomato—base. It’s delicious tossed with pulled chicken instead of the usual pork, and served the traditional way: piled onto soft buns and smothered under cold, creamy coleslaw.

Video: Tim Love Shares His Best BBQ Sauce Recipe

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Sautéed Chicken Breasts with Fennel and Rosemary

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The Mediterranean flavors of fennel, garlic, and rosemary are perfect with chicken. The fennel and chicken are sautéed and then briefly braised in chicken broth, which becomes a tasty light sauce.

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Curried Chicken on Pita

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Marcia Kiesel gives this quick weeknight chicken recipe a kick with curry powder and jalepeños. Serve with grilled pita, lettuce leaves, tomato wedges and cucumber slices.

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Chicken and Feta Tostadas

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A Mexican classic with a Greek twist, these tostadas appeal to children of all ages. Serve one burrito-style tortilla or two of the smaller ones per person.

Great Mexican Recipes and Cooking Techniques

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Korean-Style Chicken Wraps

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This Korean-inspired dish is great for people trying to cut down on carbohydrates, because the meat is wrapped in lettuce instead of served on bread.

Video: Emeril Lagasse Makes Lettuce Wraps

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Crispy Corn Tortillas with Chicken and Cheddar

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For these flautas, tortillas are rolled around a savory filling and pan-fried until crisp.

Great Ideas for Party Appetizers

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Indian-Spiced Chicken and Spinach

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The flavor of this dish is rich, fragrant, and mellow—not hot. You can make the sauce ahead of time and simmer the chicken in it just before serving.

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Skillet Chicken-and-Mushroom Potpie

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Grace Parisi proves that making potpie doesn’t have to take a long time with this one-skillet version, prepared with store-bought rotisserie chicken and—her stroke of brilliance—buttered white bread in place of the usual labor-intensive puff pastry crust.

More Affordable Recipes from F&W

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Stir-Fried Chicken with Bok Choy

Credit: © Quentin Bacon

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Fermented black beans, the key ingredient in black bean sauce (along with garlic, sugar and salt), give this Asian stir-fry an enormous amount of flavor while keeping the overall ingredient list simple. F&W’s Grace Parisi recommends the Kikkoman brand.

Video: Ming Tsai's Easy Stir-Fry for Kids

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Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel

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Thomas Keller uses panko bread crumbs to give chicken a crunchy crust. “Pounding chicken breasts to a uniform thickness cuts down on cooking time,” he says.

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Chicken Burritos with Black-Bean Salsa and Pepper Jack

Credit: © Todd Porter & Diane Cu

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Pepper Jack cheese looks innocent enough but adds a nice kick to these burritos. If you prefer a milder taste, use regular Jack instead.

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General Tso's Chicken

Credit: © Kate Mathis

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This version of the Chinese-American restaurant staple is lighter than take-out because the chicken is only lightly coated in cornstarch and is pan-fried rather than deep-fried.

Video: Ming Tsai on How to Spot a Good Chinese Restaurant

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Lao-Style Chicken Baguette Sandwiches with Watercress

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This sandwich largely resembles a Vietnamese banh mi, due to its French-influenced baguette and crisp vegetables. But instead of the banh mi’s cilantro and pickles, the Lao version uses peppery watercress and grated fresh carrots—and a hefty dose of fiery chile-garlic sauce.

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Chicken Scarpariello

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To make her Sunday-supper scarpariello, Grace Parisi opts for faster-cooking boneless thighs and skips the bell pepper in favor of jarred Peppadews.

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Garlicky Lemongrass Chicken

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This spicy lemongrass paste is also wonderful rubbed on pork tenderloin or any firm, white-fleshed fish, such as snapper, sea bass or halibut.

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Crispy Fried Chicken Sandwiches

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John Hennigan says the idea for this chicken sandwich came from a small deli in New York City called Lenny’s. Hennigan substitutes a creamy truffled artichoke tapenade for the mayonnaise used in the Lenny’s version.

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Green Jalapeño Hot Wings

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These roasted (rather than deep-fried) buffalo-style chicken wings are smothered in a spicy green jalapeño sauce, which is pureed with pickled jalapeños for an extra hit of puckery flavor.