Bang Bang Chicken Recipe, 23g Protein
It is 5:30, the kids are asking what is for dinner, and the only sauce you can picture without opening the pantry is the sweet-spicy one from the takeout place that also happens to wreck your macros for the day. This is the fix. Crispy air fried chicken, a five ingredient sauce you whisk in two minutes, 23 grams of protein per portion, and nothing deep fried. Five portions from one batch, so tonight's dinner is also tomorrow's lunch.
Why This Meal Works for Fat Loss
Bang bang chicken usually means a deep fried crust drowning in a mayo-based sauce that nobody bothers to measure. This version keeps the part that actually matters, the sauce, and fixes the part that was blowing up the macros. The chicken is coated in a light brown rice flour and potato starch dredge and air fried, not fried in oil, so the crunch comes from the cook method instead of a cup of oil you never logged.
The whole batch lands at 115 grams of protein against 51 grams of fat and 117 grams of carbs. Split five ways, that is 23 grams of protein, 10 grams of fat, and 23 grams of carbs a portion, a real dinner-sized number, not a protein-shake number. The carbs are doing something useful here too. Between the dredge and the maple syrup in the sauce, this is a higher carb dinner by design, which makes it a smart one to land on a training day or anywhere you have room in your daily macros to spend.
The sauce is also the reason this does not feel like diet food. Mayo, maple syrup, hoisin, and gochujang whisked together gets you sweet, salty, and a real kick of heat, and because you are making it yourself you know exactly what is in the 10 grams of fat instead of guessing what a restaurant poured in.
Bang Bang Chicken Recipe
Protein 23g | Fat 10g | Carbs 23g per portion (recipe makes 5 portions, 115g protein / 117g carbs / 51g fat total)
Ingredients
1/3 cup (80ml) almond milk
1 egg (half macros counted, not all of it ends up in the dredge)
1 lb (454g) thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breast
1/4 cup (40g) brown rice flour
1/4 cup (48g) potato starch
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
3 tbsp (45g) avocado mayo
2 tbsp (30ml) pure maple syrup
2 tbsp (39g) hoisin sauce
1 tsp (5g) gochujang paste
Instructions
Lightly oil your air fryer basket.
In a bowl, beat the egg with the almond milk. Cut the chicken into cubes and soak in the mixture.
Preheat the air fryer to 380°F for 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix the brown rice flour, potato starch, salt, and pepper.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken to the flour mixture and toss to coat.
Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the air fryer. Air fry 10 minutes, gently toss, then air fry 7 more minutes.
Whisk the mayo, maple syrup, hoisin, and gochujang together for the sauce.
Toss the crispy chicken with the sauce until coated.
Serve over steamed or sauteed veggies.
Macros are from Cam's cookbook and will vary by brand and by product. One portion is one fifth of the batch, so weigh the finished chicken and divide if you want it exact.
How to Fit It Into Your Day
This is a full dinner on its own plate, not an add-on. At 23 grams of protein and 23 grams of carbs, pair it with a pile of steamed or sauteed vegetables like the recipe calls for and you have a meal that is satisfying without needing a side of rice, though rice is exactly where you would add it if you are coming off a training session and want the carbs higher. The fat is set by the sauce, so if your fat target is already tight for the day, this is an easy one to build the rest of your meals lean around.
If you are someone who tends to run light on protein by dinnertime, which is most of the women I coach, this is a good one to lean on. It gets you most of the way to a real protein number in a single plate, and because the sauce does the flavor work, you are not tempted to add anything extra on top.
Swaps and Variations
No air fryer? Bake the breaded chicken on a wire rack over a sheet pan at 400°F for about 18 to 20 minutes, flipping halfway, until it is cooked through and crisp. Want it leaner? Cut the mayo to 2 tablespoons and the fat per portion drops by a couple grams, though the sauce will be a little thinner. Want it spicier? Add a second teaspoon of gochujang, the current amount is mild on purpose. Cam skips the sesame seeds most bang bang recipes call for and does not miss them, the sauce carries the whole dish. If you want the sesame flavor back, a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil whisked into the sauce will do it, just log the extra fat.
Meal Prep Notes
This batches well but sauce-coated chicken is best eaten within a couple days so the coating does not go soft. Store in the fridge up to 3 days in a sealed container. For a true meal prep batch, keep the sauce separate and toss portions right before eating so the crisp holds longer. Reheat in the air fryer at 350°F for 3 to 4 minutes to bring the crunch back, the microwave will work but the coating softens.
If you want the numbers and the order to run them in without waiting for a coaching spot, The Ultimate Guide to Macros is the whole method for $37, lifetime access.
Knowing the macros on a plate is the easy part. Knowing how much of it belongs in your day around your training and the rest of your week is the part that actually moves the scale, and it is different for every woman who walks in the door. If you are ready to stop guessing and start eating with a plan built for your body, book your call here.
The Pan I Cook This In (and 10% Off)
Quick one, because it matters more than people think. I cook almost everything in Caraway ceramic non-stick. It is the best non-stick pan I have used, full stop. Food slides off with barely any oil, it works on gas, electric and induction, and it goes straight into the oven up to 550°F.
Here is why a nutrition coach cares about a pan. Cooking oil is the calorie leak nobody logs. One tablespoon of oil is about 120 calories, and most of us pour it without measuring, two or three times a day. On a real non-stick surface a teaspoon does the job a tablespoon used to, which is about 80 calories saved every time you cook. Two cooked meals a day and that is over 1,000 calories a week you never tasted, gone, without eating a single bite less. That is the kind of deficit I want for you: the food stays, the calories you cannot taste go.
And the part I did not know for years: traditional Teflon-coated non-stick starts breaking down above about 500°F, which is exactly where a hot sear or an empty preheating pan lands, and the fumes it gives off are what doctors call "Teflon flu." Caraway's ceramic coating is made without PTFE, PFOA, PFAS, lead, or cadmium, so I stopped thinking about it.
Grab yours at rstr.co/caraway/coachcam and use code coachcam at checkout for 10% off. That is an affiliate link, so I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It is the pan every recipe in this series is cooked in.
