Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba
Crispy fried chicken in a sweet-chili glaze over sesame soba
Ingredients
- 200 g Chicken thighs
- 2½ tbsp Soy sauce
- 2 tsp Rice vinegar
- 4 tsp Sriracha
- 40 g Flour
- 25 g Cornstarch
- 500 ml Neutral oil
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 10 g Ginger
- 60 ml Chicken stock
- 1 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 100 g Soba noodles (buckwheat)
- 1 tsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
- 2½ tsp Toasted sesame oil (optional)
- ¾ tsp Chili powder (optional)
- ¾ tsp Garlic powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp Black pepper (optional)
- 1 tbsp Mirin (optional)
Method
- Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces.
- Whisk the soy, rice vinegar, shaoxing wine, sesame oil, sriracha, chili powder and garlic powder into a marinade. Turn the chicken through it, cover, and rest at least 20 minutes (or chill up to 4 hours).
- Mince the garlic and ginger for the sauce.
- Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water to a smooth slurry and set it aside.
- In a small saucepan, fry the garlic and ginger in a splash of sesame oil over medium until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the soy, stock, rice vinegar, mirin, sriracha and ketchup to the saucepan and simmer until slightly reduced, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stir the honey into the sauce until dissolved.
- Slowly stir the cornstarch slurry into the simmering sauce and cook until it thickens to a glossy, gravy-like glaze, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Take the saucepan off the heat, stir in the remaining sesame oil, and set the sauce aside.
- In a deep, heavy frying pan, heat the neutral oil to 175C (350F).
- While the oil heats, dredge the marinated chicken in the flour, cornstarch, chili powder, black pepper and garlic powder, then let it sit briefly so the coat turns tacky.
- Bring a separate pot of water to a boil for the soba.
- Fry the chicken in the hot oil in batches until deep golden and cooked through to 74C (165F) internal, about 8 minutes. Drain on a rack.
- While the chicken fries, cook the soba in the boiling water until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes, then drain.
- Toss the drained soba with the remaining sesame oil and a splash of soy so it does not clump.
- Return the saucepan to low heat, add the fried chicken and toss until every piece is coated in the glaze.
- Pile the soba into a bowl and spoon the glazed chicken over the top.
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About Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba
Sweet and spicy chicken with soba is a honey-sriracha chicken bowl built for weeknights: bite-sized thighs are marinated in soy, sesame and chili, dredged in a flour-and-cornstarch coat, and fried until they shatter — then tossed in a glossy sweet-hot glaze and piled over nutty buckwheat soba. It hits the exact balance people chase in a honey chili chicken: crisp coating, sticky sweet-spicy sauce, and a slippery noodle base that catches every drop. The whole thing comes together in about 50 minutes, most of it a hands-off marinade.
The sauce is where the sweet-and-spicy comes from — garlic and ginger bloomed in sesame oil, then soy, stock, rice vinegar, mirin, sriracha and ketchup simmered down and thickened with a cornstarch slurry into a proper glaze that clings to the chicken instead of sliding off. Sriracha carries the heat and honey rounds it out, so you can dial the spice up or down just by adjusting the two. It is the same honey-sriracha profile behind so many crispy Asian chicken bowls, made from pantry staples rather than a bottled sauce.
Prefer to skip the deep-fry? The coated chicken air-fries beautifully — 200°C (400°F) for about 12 minutes, turning once, until golden and cooked through to 74°C (165°F) — and lands in the same glaze. Swap the soba for udon or plain wheat noodles if buckwheat is hard to find, use chicken breast for a leaner bowl, or lean on gochujang instead of sriracha for a deeper, Korean-leaning heat. However you cook the chicken, dress the drained noodles in a little sesame oil and soy so they stay loose, and spoon the glazed chicken over just before serving.
Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba: frequently asked questions
What is sweet and spicy chicken with soba?
It's a honey-sriracha chicken bowl: bite-sized chicken thighs are marinated, coated in flour and cornstarch, and fried crisp, then tossed in a glossy sweet-and-spicy glaze made from soy, sriracha, honey, ketchup, rice vinegar and mirin — and served over sesame soba noodles. The sweetness comes from honey and the heat from sriracha, so it's the same flavor as honey chili chicken, built over buckwheat noodles instead of rice.
Is it spicy, and how do I adjust the heat?
It has a real but manageable kick from the sriracha. To make it milder, cut the sriracha roughly in half and add a little extra honey; to make it hotter, add more sriracha or a pinch of chili flakes, or swap the sriracha for gochujang for a deeper, Korean-style heat. Because the sweetness and heat are two separate ingredients (honey and sriracha), you can tune the sweet-to-spicy balance to taste.
Can I air-fry the chicken instead of deep-frying?
Yes. Coat the marinated chicken the same way, spray or brush it lightly with oil, and air-fry at 200°C (400°F) for about 12 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and cooked through to 74°C (165°F) internal. It won't be quite as shatter-crisp as deep-frying but it's much lighter, and it lands in the same glaze.
What noodles work best, and can I use something other than soba?
Soba (buckwheat) noodles are the default — nutty and slippery, they catch the glaze well. If you can't find them, udon gives a thicker, chewier bowl and plain wheat noodles or even thin spaghetti work in a pinch. Cook whatever you use just to tender, drain, and toss with a little sesame oil and soy so the strands stay loose instead of clumping.
How do I keep the chicken crispy under the sauce?
Two things: use a flour-and-cornstarch coating (the cornstarch is what makes it shatter-crisp), and toss the fried chicken in the glaze at the very end, over low heat, right before serving. The longer coated chicken sits in sauce, the softer it gets — so glaze it last and plate straight away.
Can I make it ahead?
You can marinate the chicken and make the glaze a day ahead — both keep well in the fridge, and the glaze reheats gently. Fry the chicken and cook the soba fresh, though: fried chicken loses its crunch and soba clumps once they sit, so those two are best done just before you eat.
How many calories are in Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba?
A serving has about 1504 calories — 60.2g protein, 170.3g carbs, 65.9g fat, 4.5g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 60.2g of protein, roughly 16% of its calories.
Is Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Soy sauce, Flour, Soba noodles (buckwheat). You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
Do I need every ingredient to make Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out shaoxing wine, toasted sesame oil, chili powder — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Soba make?
This recipe makes 1 serving. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.