Taco of the Month: Asian Inspired Fried Chicken Tacos

Asian Inspired Fried Chicken Tacos Ingredients

You’ll need to prepare 3 separate components to make our Asian inspired crispy chicken tacos: fried chicken, sriracha mayo, and sesame glaze. We’ll break down the ingredients you’ll need for each of these components below.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the crispy fried chicken for these tacos:

• Chicken breast
• Egg
• All-purpose flour
• Seasonings – garlic powder, onion powder, ground red cayenne pepper, powdered ginger, salt, black pepper

Here’s what you’ll need for the sriracha mayo:

• Light mayo
• Sriracha
• Lemon juice

And for the sesame glaze, you’ll need the following ingredients:

• Brown sugar
• Low sodium soy sauce
• Lemon juice
• Hoisin sauce
• Sesame oil
• Powdered ginger

Finally, you can’t forget the tortillas and garnishes! You’ll need 4-inch flour tortillas and fresh scallions to round out these fried chicken tacos.

How To Make Asian Inspired Fried Chicken Tacos

To make these crispy chicken tacos, we recommend preparing the two sauces first, and then the chicken. This is for a few reasons:

1. You’ll want to refrigerate the sriracha mayo so it’s nice and cold on your tacos.
2. You need time for the sesame glaze to cool down after it cooks so that it’s room temperature when it goes on the tacos. 
3. You want the chicken to be fresh and hot when it’s time to serve dinner, and it cooks fairly quickly, so it’s the last thing you should prepare.

With that in mind, here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how to make our Asian inspired fried chicken tacos:

Start by preparing the sriracha mayo. In a small bowl, whisk together light mayo, sriracha, and lemon juice until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until needed.

Next, make the sesame glaze. Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan, stir to combine, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer over medium heat until reduced by about half. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and let it cool to room temperature while you prepare the chicken.

Finally, prepare the fried chicken:

1. Start by cutting the chicken into roughly one inch pieces. Then, in a medium bowl, beat the egg and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and seasonings.
2. Start preheating about a quarter- to a half-inch of vegetable oil in a deep frying pan over medium-high heat. You want it to get nice and hot before adding the chicken.
3. Next, fully coat the chicken in egg, then transfer to the seasoned flour, letting any excess egg drip off first. This is easiest to do with your hands (although messy!). Then coat the chicken completely in the seasoned flour. Try to separate any pieces that might be stuck together and coat them entirely in flour.
4. Finally, transfer the chicken to the hot oil, gently shaking off excess flour as needed. Fry until the chicken is a crispy golden brown, turning the pieces over once or twice during cooking, about 7 to 10 minutes total.
5. Transfer chicken to a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess grease.

To assemble the tacos:

1. Warm the flour tortillas in the microwave between dampened sheets of paper towels, about 30 seconds per 6 tortillas.
2. Evenly distribute the fried chicken amongst the tortillas. Drizzle with sesame glaze, then sriracha aioli, and top with sliced scallions.
3. Serve immediately.

Notes On Scaling & Serving

You will likely have leftover sesame glaze and sriracha aioli if you make a single batch of this recipe. If you’re scaling it for a larger crowd and doubling the chicken, you won’t need to double the glaze, but you might want to 1.5x the sriracha aioli (or 2x it if you want extra!).

Leftover sesame glaze and sriracha aioli make great dips for snacks you could serve with these tacos or later in the week. Use the glaze as a dumpling or spring roll sauce and try our cheeseburger egg rolls to go with leftover aioli!

You can serve these fried chicken tacos a number of ways. Enjoy a side of chips and salsa for a true Asian-Mexican fusion dinner, or make some gyoza for a more Asian-inspired meal. Or simply enjoy these tacos on their own – they’re so good you don’t even really need a side.

Storing & Reheating Leftovers

In case you have leftovers, we recommend storing all the components of this taco in separate containers. Refrigerate the chicken for up to 4 days, and the sauces for up to 1 week. To reheat, simply microwave the chicken for about 30 seconds per serving, or heat in the air fryer at 350 degrees F for a few minutes.