Grilled Laziji Chicken Thighs (Chongqing Dry Chili Chicken)

Laziji is one of those dishes that looks a little ridiculous the first time somebody puts it in front of you.

There can be so many dried red chiles piled onto the plate that you have to dig through them just to find the chicken. But that's kind of the point.

Traditional Laziji, sometimes called Chongqing chicken or dry chili chicken, is made by chopping chicken into small pieces, frying it until crisp, and tossing it with a massive amount of dried chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, ginger, and scallions.

For this version, I wanted to keep the flavors and experience of Laziji but rebuild the chicken around the grill. Instead of little fried pieces, I'm using whole bone-in chicken thighs cooked over charcoal, lightly coated with Sichuan chile oil as they cook, and then tossed with that same mountain of peppers and aromatics at the end.

It's definitely not traditional Laziji.

But it still ought to make your lips tingle.

What Is Laziji?

Laziji — 辣子鸡 — is a chicken dish most closely associated with Chongqing in southwestern China.

What makes it immediately recognizable is the ratio of chicken to dried chiles. The chicken almost looks like it's hiding underneath them.

And historically, that was part of the fun.

By the late 1990s, writers documenting Chongqing's restaurant culture were already describing people sitting around a table digging through piles of dried peppers looking for pieces of chicken.

So when I say use a lot of peppers, I don't mean sprinkle six of them around the plate so it looks pretty.

We're building a damn pepper mountain.

Are You Supposed to Eat All Those Dried Chiles?

Generally, no.

The dried peppers are there primarily to flavor and perfume the hot oil and chicken. You pick the chicken and other good stuff out from between them.

You're certainly going to end up eating little pieces of chile here and there, but sitting down and eating four ounces of dried peppers like potato chips isn't the objective.

Your digestive system will appreciate the distinction.

Sichuan Peppercorns Are Just as Important as the Chiles

The flavor of Laziji isn't simply spicy chicken.

A major part of the dish is the combination known as málà.

Là is the chile heat.

Má is the strange numbing, tingling sensation you get from Sichuan peppercorns.

Sichuan peppercorns also have a surprisingly bright, almost citrusy flavor. Combined with dried chile, garlic, ginger, and scallion, they create something completely different from the sweet-and-spicy Chinese-American chicken dishes many of us grew up eating.

There's no thick sticky sauce here.

Laziji is supposed to be relatively dry, aromatic, spicy, and intensely seasoned.

Why I Use Whole Chicken Thighs

Traditional Laziji uses small pieces of chicken because frying creates a ton of crisp surface area.

Since I'm cooking this version over charcoal, whole bone-in, skin-on thighs make a lot more sense.

Chicken thighs have enough fat to handle higher internal temperatures without drying out, and that rendered fat also helps crisp the exterior.

I use cornstarch in the marinade and let the chicken dry uncovered in the refrigerator before grilling. As the thighs cook, that dried starch coating combines with the rendered chicken fat and a light coating of Sichuan chile oil to create a crisp exterior without dropping the chicken into a deep fryer.

It's not trying to perfectly recreate fried Laziji.

It's trying to translate it to a charcoal grill.

Let the Chicken Dry

This is probably the most important part of the recipe that looks like it should be optional.

It isn't.

After marinating, the chicken goes uncovered into the refrigerator so the exterior can dry.

If the surface is still soaking wet when it hits the grill, that moisture has to evaporate before anything can start getting crisp. The cornstarch coating also won't behave the same way.

You want the outside of the thighs to look dry and almost tacky before cooking.

Overnight is ideal.

Don't Turn This Into Smoked Chicken

I love smoke as much as anybody, but this isn't really the place for a fistful of hickory chunks.

I'm using charcoal because I want the flavor of cooking over a live fire, but Laziji has plenty going on already.

Dried chile. Sichuan pepper. Ginger. Garlic. Scallion. Chile oil.

Heavy wood smoke can start fighting with everything else.

A clean charcoal fire gives the chicken some grilled flavor without turning Chongqing chicken into something you'd find at a barbecue competition.

The Chile Oil Ties Everything Together

The Sichuan chile oil in this recipe does two jobs.

Part of it gets lightly sprayed onto the chicken while it cooks. The rest goes into the wok with the dried peppers and aromatics.

That gives the grilled chicken and the final chile mixture the same underlying flavors.

The key is not getting carried away with it on the grill. You're not trying to soak the chicken in oil. A light coating every so often is enough to help flavor and crisp the exterior.

A Little Laziji History

The version of Laziji that became particularly famous is Geleshan Laziji, or Gele Mountain chili chicken, named after Gele Mountain in Chongqing's Shapingba District.

Exactly who invented it is a little murky, with different restaurants and stories competing for credit. One restaurant frequently connected to the dish is Lin Zhong Le, which Chongqing sources credit with serving its version around 1990.

The dish became popular during the rise of jianghu cuisine around Chongqing in the 1980s and '90s — a style of restaurant food known for bold flavors, plenty of oil, chile, Sichuan pepper, and cooks who weren't particularly interested in making delicate food.

Laziji fits that description pretty damn well.

By 2020, the preparation associated with Lin Zhong Le's Geleshan Laziji had even been recognized as representative intangible cultural heritage in Shapingba District.

So we've gone from people taking taxis out to Gele Mountain looking for spicy chicken to a hillbilly in Kentucky trying to cook it on a Weber Kettle.

Food travels.

This Isn't Traditional Laziji — On Purpose

If you want traditional Laziji, you should chop the chicken into small pieces and fry it.

That's not what I'm pretending to make here.

I'm taking the things that make Laziji interesting — crisp chicken, dried chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, aromatic oil, garlic, ginger, scallions, and that unmistakable málà flavor — and seeing what happens when you put them around a whole charcoal-grilled chicken thigh.

Turns out, pretty good things happen.

And if you can clearly see every piece of chicken when you're finished, add more peppers.