Fast Chicken

By Food & Wine
Updated September 11, 2017
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.

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Crisp Spiced Chicken

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Chicken in Tarragon-Mustard Cream Sauce

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Lao-Style Chicken Baguette Sandwiches with Watercress

Credit: © Petrina Tinslay
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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

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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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

Credit: © Frances Janisch
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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.

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Chicken and Sun-Dried-Tomato Meatballs

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Chicken Dijon

Credit: © Johnny Valiant
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Melissa Clark’s likes using only drumsticks in this mustardy stew—thickened with tangy créme fraîche—so that all the meat cooks at the same rate.

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Chicken and Cabbage Tacos with Cilantro Cream

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Chicken Breasts with Walnuts, Leeks and Candied Lemon

Credit: © Lucy Schaeffer
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Angela Hartnett flavors lean chicken breasts with leeks and preserved lemons, which deliver vitamin C and minerals like magnesium and iron.

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Roasted Chicken Legs with Potatoes and Kale

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For this one-pan dish, Grace Parisi roasts chicken legs on a bed of potatoes and kale so the meaty juices keep the vegetables moist.

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Spiced Chicken Legs with Apricots and Raisins

Fruity and peppery, this exotic dish will perk up your midweek menu. Yet it’s no more trouble than the simplest chicken recipe in your repertoire.

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