By Jehan Yusoof  |  Updated September 09, 2026  |  ★ 4.6 (28 reviews)  |  14 Comments.

My family’s go-to devilled chicken(also known as deviled chicken) recipe.
The smell and sound of sizzling oil, ginger and garlic around the house are always followed by someone running into the kitchen asking, “Are you making deviled chicken?”

★★★★★
If you try this, I’d love to know how it turned out. Just tap the stars in the recipe card; it helps other cooks find this recipe.

What is devilled chicken?

Crispy, tender chicken pieces tossed in a delicious, spicy, mildly sweet, thick sauce.
This restaurant-style devilled chicken can be served as an appetiser or a main dish.
It’s one of my family’s most requested chicken stir-fries to come out of our kitchen.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• It’s a one-pan, easy-to-make recipe that can be cooked and served immediately.
• Can be made within an hour; if you’ve prepped the ingredients, just 45 minutes.
• So many uses: serve over rice, as a filling for wraps or sandwiches, etc.
• You can adjust the heat and sweetness for everyone at the table.
• The flavours can be adjusted to your needs.

Ingredients for Devilled chicken

You’ll find exact quantities in the recipe card below.

• Chicken: boneless chicken thighs or breast; cut them into medium, even pieces.
• Turmeric and red chilli powder: for the marinade
• Oil: any cooking oil; I prefer coconut oil; use any light oil
• Ginger and garlic: minced. Use store-bought ginger and garlic paste.
• Onions and tomatoes: cut into thick wedges.
• Banana peppers: often called capsicums. If you can’t find them, substitute with red or green bell peppers.
• Sauces: soy sauce, oyster sauce and ketchup sauce (tomato sauce).
• Red chilli flakes: add less or more.
• Sugar: used to balance heat.

Tips for the best devilled chicken recipe

• Here’s where you can make little adjustments to suit your tastes.
  • For adults, I increase the heat by adding red chilli sauce(do not use sriracha sauce here).
  • For kids, I have done the devil chicken with extra spoons of sweet chilli sauce. 
• If you want a thicker sauce, add 1/4 cup thick coconut milk to make the devil chicken extra thick and to have a little gravy for my rice and curry menu.
• Taste and make necessary adjustments as given above; check for salt seasoning, and chill.
• Don’t go rinsing the pan you made this chilli chicken in; there’s a lot of goodness coating the pan that you can still use.
  • Drop a cup of cooked rice and mix it with the leftover sauce, and have a few slices of bread.
  • Then wipe the sauce off the pan or simply let the kids use their fingers to lick all that thick sauce.

What you will need in the kitchen

• Chopping board and knife.
• Bowls to hold ingredients.
• Wooden spoon and tongs.
• Kitchen paper towels are used to absorb excess oil from the fried chicken.
• A large frying pan, wok or skillet to fry the chicken and later assemble all the ingredients to make the devilled chicken stir-fry.
• A platter to serve the spicy chicken fry.

PHOTO TUTORIAL

How to make Sri Lankan Devilled chicken

Prep the Ingredients

• Prep the chicken cubes or use pre-cut chicken cubes
• Have all the spice powders and sauces ready.
• Minced garlic and ginger separately.
• Cut the onions, tomatoes and green peppers into thick wedges.

Marinate the Chicken

Place the chicken in a bowl. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and season with salt. Combine well. Use disposable gloves if you are sensitive to spices.
Cover and let the chicken parts marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Choose how you would like to fry the chicken.

• Shallow frying vs deep frying.
  • Try to choose what’s best for you.
    • Deep frying gives you a much crisper chicken.
      • You can fry the pieces evenly on all sides, but this method of frying is not the healthiest option for those who are thinking about wellness.
    • Shallow frying is a better option as you are using less oil (I’m using this method).
      • You’ll still get a crispy chicken, but you’ll have to constantly keep turning the chicken to get an even fry. Still, I prefer shallow frying.
    • To make air fryer devilled chicken.
      • You can now use the air fryer chicken tenders recipe to make a way healthier devilled chicken recipe.

Shallow frying the chicken

Place a large frying pan or wok over medium heat and pour in the oil. Heat the oil until pieces of chicken sizzle as soon as they touch the heated pan.
Shallow fry the chicken pieces on both sides until they turn golden brown and crispy.
Take care not to burn yourself while frying the chicken pieces.
As you fry the chicken pieces, maintain a constant medium heat while tossing them regularly for an even fry. This should take 10 to 15 minutes.
Once done, transfer the fried chicken to a paper towel.

Make the sauce

Place the same pan with the remaining oil over medium heat.
Add the minced garlic and ginger to the oil and sauté for two minutes. 

Add the onion wedges, capsicums, and tomatoes to the pan.
Sauté until the capsicums turn slightly soft(should still have a crunch) over medium heat.
5-10 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and pour in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, tomato sauce and red chilli flakes.
Combine and cook for a few minutes.

Add the sugar once the onion and capsicum turn soft with the sauce mixture.
Reduce or increase the amount of sugar as needed.

Toss the Chicken in the Sauce

Once you have the sauce mixture prepared, transfer the crispy chicken pieces to the pan.
Over low heat, combine well and continue to cook for 2 minutes.
Taste and adjust the flavour as per your need.

Cook until the sauce is thick and completely coats the chicken, with a little gravy left in the bottom of the pan.

Frequently asked questions.

• Is the devilled chicken spicy?
  • By reducing the chilli sauce, chilli flakes, red chilli powder and increasing the sweet sauce or tomato sauce and sugar, you can adjust the heat levels.
• What can I use instead of Banana peppers?
  • Substitute with green or red Bell peppers.
• Is devilled chicken the same as devilled chicken?
  • Yes, they are the same. They are simply the British and American spellings.

What to Serve with Devilled Chicken

• Rice
  • Plain white rice
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice (turmeric rice)
  • Indian fragrant ghee rice (nei choru)
  • Garlic and egg fried rice (in 30 minutes)
• Breads and flatbreads
  • Garlic Naan recipe without yeast
  • How to make Sri Lankan paratha (godamba)roti
  • How to make Sri Lankan egg roti/paratha
• Curries and sides
  • Spicy pineapple curry
  • Potato curry
  • Pumpkin curry (Sri Lankan wattakka curry).
  • Eggplant sweet and sour curry (Sri Lankan brinjal pahi)
• For a party
  • Serve as an appetiser with a few soft pita chips; if you make the devilled chicken in large chunks, they can replace the usual chicken wings.
  • Since these are spicy, make a yoghurt dip or a sweet sauce to balance the heat.
  • Use boneless chicken, and you can make a few gyros for dinner with a green salad on the side.

More Sri Lankan Devilled recipes

• Devilled fish
• Devilled sausages
• Devilled Beef
• Devilled tuna stir-fry (good as a filling too)
• Devilled prawns
• Devilled soya chunks
• Pan-fried devilled chicken wings

How to Store and Reheat Devilled Chicken

• Storing in the refrigerator
  • Once the stir-fry is done, leave it out to cool and store it in a preferably airtight glass container.
  • The stir-fry ingredients might stain new plastic containers. Refrigerate and use within 3 days.
• Freezing
  • Can be frozen for up to a week, but I would highly recommend not freezing; use within a few days.
• Reheating
  • If you freeze and need to reheat, leave on the counter to reach room temperature and then reheat over low-medium heat.
• Stop food waste by
  • Knowing your family members’ eating habits, if you feel that the number of banana peppers and onions will go to waste, simply reduce them by half.
  • Any leftovers can be used in wraps, sandwiches, stir-fry rice, or noodles.

Watch more Sri Lankan recipes on my YouTube channel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEHAN
Recipe creator. Food Blogger. Video creator
I’ve been cooking and sharing Sri Lankan recipes, along with other dishes I love making at home on Island Smile since 2015. I’ve tested every recipe on this site more than once in my own kitchen before it goes on the blog.
I grew up eating this food, and I still cook it the same way my family taught me, just written down clearly enough that you can follow it too.
If a recipe doesn’t work the way I say it will, tell me in the comments; I read every one, and I’ll help you fix it.