Fijian chilli chicken: A simple recipe to make at home

An easy Fijian Chilli Chicken which is perfect for a quick weeknight dinner served with jasmine or basmati rice. Follow our recipe with step-by-step photos.

On a visit to Fiji, we had the opportunity to eat some amazing traditional food like this Fijian Chilli Chicken. Many dishes clearly showed the influence of the other cultures that exist on the islands.  They also showed the input of the chefs, many of whom are citizens of other countries and with particularly strong ties to India.  Everything comes together in a melting pot of cuisines and ideas.  The end result is some very tasty, but very simple food.

This Fijian Chilli Chicken dish was one of my favourites.  I sat poolside at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort to eat this and washed it down with a local beer.   It was a perfect meal to end a great day of touring the island and swimming in the crystal blue waters. 

This chilli chicken recipe doesn’t use a lot of ingredients and most of them should be easily found in your own pantry or at your local grocery store or market.

What goes into this recipe

Why this recipe works

• Doing all of the preparation of ingredients first means a quick, simple and perfect cook. The ingredients don’t require much cooking, so if you have to start chopping vegetables or measuring liquids out when you have ingredients in the wok, it just won’t work as well as you will overcook or burn items.
• You can subsitute the chicken protein element and also include more or different vegetables.
• It’s a very versatile recipe that allows for substitution.
• It’s perfect for reheating as leftovers the next day.
• It uses simple ingredients and it is healthy.

Recipe ingredient notes

• Chicken breast fillet has been used in this recipe but it could be easily swapped out for chicken thigh fillets. If using thigh fillets, you will just need to cook a little longer.
• Pork also makes a good protein for this recipe. Just cut the pieces more finely than you would for chicken. You might also like to try this Chinese pork stir fry.
• Any or all of the vegetables can be swapped out, allowing you to make a simple, healthy meeal quickly at home with what you have available.
• Cornflour is the same thing as cornstarch.
• Vegetable oil is used in this recipe but you can use Rice Bran Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Canola Oil, even Olive Oil. The small amount of oil used in the recipe will make little difference to the overall flavour.

How to make Fijian Chilli Chicken

Step 1

Prepare all ingredients first. This dish cooks very quickly, so having them all ready makes the cooking process much easier.

Step 2

Cut chicken into strips or small chunks and marinate with garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for at least one hour.

Step 3

Coat the chicken in a good layer of cornflour, enough to not just have a soggy mess of chicken in your hands.

Step 4

Fry the chicken for a few minutes until the outer coating is brown and they are partially cooked.

Step 5

Remove the chicken from the pan and place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

Step 6

Heat the oil in a wok and quickly fry off the onion, garlic and ginger.

Step 7

Add the chilli paste, soy sauce and oyster sauce and stir. Then add the drops of sesame oil. Add the vegetables and cook for several minutes, stirring around the wok.

Step 8

Add the chicken to the wok once again and finish cooking.

Step 9

Add the stock in with the cornflour to thicken and make a sauce. Season where necessary.