Sweet chilli chicken rolls

  • Portion size: Serves 4 (8 rolls)
  • Hands-on time 15 minutes, plus cooling
  • Difficulty: easy
Recipe by: Louise Pickford

These sweet chilli chicken rolls are perfect for picnics and summer lunches. Load rolls with chicken thighs, homemade sweet chilli dressing, crisp veg and herbs.

Up your outdoor lunch game with our picnic recipes collection.

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Ingredients

  • 400g skinless, boneless free-range chicken thigh fillets
  • 1½ tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp ketjap manis (see Know-how)
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • ½ tsp Chinese five spice powder
  • ¼ tsp Sichuan peppercorns, freshly ground
  • 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and thinly sliced
  • Handful mixed salad leaves
  • Handful basil, mint and coriander leaves
  • 8 mini brioche rolls

You’ll also need

  • Food processor

For the sweet chilli dressing

  • 5 large red chillies, trimmed and chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 70ml rice wine vinegar
  • 70g granulated sugar
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Method

  1. Put the chicken thighs in a large bowl. Add the fish sauce, ketjap manis, sesame oil, Chinese five spice and ground Sichuan pepper. Toss together and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
  2. For the dressing, put the chillies, garlic and ginger in a food processor and blend to a rough paste. Transfer to a saucepan and add the salt, vinegar and sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently for 5-8 minutes until reduced and syrupy. Cool, then store in a sealed jar in the fridge until needed (see Make Ahead).
  3. Heat the grill to high. Remove the chicken from the fridge and put on a foil lined oven tray. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side until lightly charred and cooked through. Set aside to cool, then shred or thinly slice.
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  5. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, carrot, cucumber, salad leaves and herbs, then chill until needed.
  6. To serve, cut the brioche rolls in half and divide the filling between them. Drizzle with 1-2 tbsp chilli sauce and serve.

Nutrition

  • 246kcals Calories
  • 6.5g (3g saturated) Fat
  • 15.8g Protein
  • 30.3g (13.2g sugars) Carbs
  • 2g Fibre
  • 1.6g Salt

Quick wins & tips

Next time: Top the rolls with crispy onions or sesame seeds for extra crunch.

Make Ahead

Marinate the chicken thighs up to 1 day ahead. Make the sweet chilli dressing, cover and store in the fridge for up to 1 week. The flavours will continue to
develop as it sits.

Cook smarter

Ketjap manis is an Indonesian sauce similar to sweet soy sauce. Find it in larger supermarkets, or use soy sauce instead.

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