Learn how to make Mochiko Chicken, a crispy and juicy Hawaiian fried chicken that’s coated in a flavorful mixture of Mochiko flour and spices. Follow our easy recipe and impress your friends and family with this mouth-watering Mochiko Hawaiian fried chicken.
I have a confession to make. I didn’t even make the chicken in these pictures… my husband did. Doesn’t it look good?! He is quite a good cook! But then he goes and does weird things like cutting onions the wrong way no matter how many times I correct him. He cuts it in half like you would cut onion rings, instead of pole to pole. Every time. Who does that? But he’s good at frying things which is one of the best skills to have, in my opinion.
Anyways, it was Saturday evening and he asked me what dinner was and I said, oh… I dunno, what do we have in the fridge? And he said, I’m going to make some fried chicken. And then I said, I love you. Actually I think I said, eh, whatevs, if that’s what you want to do (I’m so ungrateful and I don’t deserve him).
Hawaiian Style Fried Chicken
Mochiko chicken is a Hawaiian style fried chicken. It has Japanese roots, since it uses mochiko (sweet rice flour), soy sauce, mirin 味醂, ginger and other Japanese flavors, but I had never had it until my husband introduced it to me in Hawaii. It’s one of my favorite local Hawaiian dishes, and we get it every time we visit Maui. All tourists and even locals love it. But since we aren’t in Hawaii, thank goodness it’s easy to whip up at home.
Mochiko Chicken Recipe
The Mochiko chicken recipe is different than many other fried chicken recipes, instead of dredging it separately in flour and eggs, you just mix everything together, marinate, and fry! Because you don’t do the separate dredging, there isn’t a thick coating/crunch factor, but the flavor of the marinade is spot on. It’s really simple and tastes amazing!
This chicken is a winner- guaranteed.
Mochiko Flour is a great gluten free alternative to traditional flours. Check out my other mochiko flour recipes including my famous butter mochi recipe for more ideas.
Mochiko Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade Ingredients
- 5 Tablespoons mochiko
- 5 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 5 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons mirin optional
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 inches ginger grated
- 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
- 2 scallions or green onions chopped
- 2 eggs
Chicken
- 2 lb chicken breast or chicken thighs
Frying Oil
Order Supplies Online
Instructions
Prep Chicken
- Cut chicken into bite sized pieces.2 lb chicken breast or chicken thighs
Marinade
- In a large bowl, combine the marinade ingredients to make the marinade.5 Tablespoons mochiko,4 Tablespoons sugar,5 Tablespoons soy sauce,2 Tablespoons mirin,2 cloves garlic,2 inches ginger,2 Tablespoons sesame seeds,2 scallions or green onions,2 eggs,5 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Add the chicken pieces.
- Marinate chicken for one hour.
Fry Chicken
- Shake off excess marinade from each piece.
- Fry in hot oil (about one inch deep) until cooked through and golden brown on both sides.oil for frying
Notes
Nutrition
I would like to try this recipe and want to clarify one of the ingredients. It says “2 T sesame”. Is that sesame oil, seasame seeds?
Hi Misa, thanks for pointing that out, definitely confusing! It’s 2 Tablespoons of sesame seeds!
I just got an air fryer, I wonder how this would work in there….
I haven’t used an air fryer so I’m not really sure. If it can do marinated meats, it should be fine. Maybe just pat the marinade off of the chicken to make it extra dry before putting it in? Let me know how it works out!