We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this year with an authentic Irish Spice Bag recipe.
While everyone knows about Ireland’s potatoes and chip shops, not many know about one of the best Irish culinary delights, the spice bag.
Our Irish Guinness Glazed Salmon recipe is an elegant meal, but our spice bag recipe is the type of meal you eat at 2am after one too many beers.
What is a Spice Bag?
One of our favorite discoveries from the Emerald Isle, a spice bag is a delicious menu item that you can find at Chinese restaurants across Ireland.
A combination of chicken strips, french fries, sliced white onions, and peppers, the combination is added to brown paper bags and then seasoned with a special blend of Asian ingredients.
While you can make everything homemade by starting with chicken breast or thigh, popping the pieces of the chicken in a flour dip, beaten egg and then in a buttermilk marinade, we’ve learned that using the shortcut of frozen chicken strips and fries also creates a delicious snack without the messy hot oil of a deep fat fryer.
Another option to make the chicken homemade without deep frying it, is to create our widely popular air fryer boneless wings recipe, skip the buffalo sauce and make it a spice bag instead!
What is in a Spice Bag Blend of Seasoning?
We searched five different speciality grocery stores across Dublin for a premade spice bag mix.
Finally at the last stop in an asian grocery store, we got our hands on this infamous seasoning.
We used the ingredients listed on the bottle, plus a lot of trial and error to figure out how to make the spice bag seasoning at home.
The spice mix uses five spice, plus additional cardamom, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, salt and pepper.
For the tingly kiss of heat (which made us fall in love with this irish snack) the final ingredient is red szechuan pepper.
It’s nearly impossible to find ground szechuan pepper in grocery stores (we did locate some options on Amazon).
We found whole szechuan peppercorns at an Asian market and used a spice grinder (a coffee grinder also works) in order to freshly grind the peppercorns for the blend.
Trust us, the extra work is well worth it. The mouth-numbing szechuan makes this dish amazing!
Authentic Irish Spice Bag Recipe
Prep Time: 3 Minutes
Cook Time: 17 Minutes
Recipe Ingredients:
- 8 chicken tenders
- 1 pound frozen french fries
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
- 1/2 white onion, sliced into this strips
- 1 red chili peppers, sliced into rings
- ¼ cup sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon of spice bag seasoning (listed below)
- Green onion, for garnish
- Curry sauce, optional dipping sauce
Spice Bag Seasoning Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp five spice seasoning (which includes star anise, cassia, fennel, clove, and pepper already )
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground Szechuan peppers
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
Directions:
- Add the chicken tenders and french fries in an air fryer at 400 degrees F. Cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through, crispy, and golden brown.
- Meanwhile, mix together the spice bag seasoning in a small bowl.
- Add the sesame oil to a wok and saute the onions and peppers. If you do not have a gas range for a wok, we use a portable butane burner with the wok.
- Once the onions are softened, add the air fried chicken pieces and french fries to the wok.
- Stir fry everything for 2 minutes to combine all the flavors.
- Empty the wok into a clean paper bag, then add in half of your spice bag seasoning.
- Shake the bag until well combined.
- Serve on a platter and top with sliced spring onions. If needed, sprinkle with additional spice bag seasoning.
- If desired, serve with a curry dipping sauce or ranch.
NOTE: Feel free to make a larger batch of the spice bag seasoning and store in an airtight jar in your pantry.
Authentic Irish Spice Bag Recipe
An authentic Irish spice bag recipe of seasoned spicy chicken, fries, peppers, and onions, complete with the spice bag seasoning recipe too!
Ingredients
- Recipe Ingredients:
- 8 chicken tenders
- 1 pound frozen french fries
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
- 1/2 white onion, sliced into this strips
- 1 red chili peppers, sliced into rings
- ¼ cup sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon of spice bag seasoning (listed below)
- Green onion, for garnish
- Curry sauce, optional dipping sauce
- .
- Spice Bag Seasoning Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp five spice seasoning (which includes star anise, cassia, fennel, clove, and pepper already )
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground Szechuan peppers
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
Instructions
- Add the chicken tenders and french fries in an air fryer at 400 degrees F. Cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through, crispy, and golden brown.
- Meanwhile, mix together the spice bag seasoning in a small bowl.
- Add the sesame oil to a wok and saute the onions and peppers.
- Once the onions are softened, add the air fried chicken pieces and french fries to the wok.
- Stir fry everything for 2 minutes to combine all the flavors.
- Empty the wok into a clean paper bag, then add in half of your spice bag seasoning.
- Shake the bag until well combined.
- Serve on a platter and top with sliced spring onions. If needed, sprinkle with additional spice bag seasoning.
- If desired, serve with a curry dipping sauce or ranch.
Notes
Feel free to make a larger batch of the spice bag seasoning and store in an airtight jar in your pantry.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
Portable Butane Stove -
Spatula & Ladle Wok Tool Set -
Carbon Steel Wok Pan -
GE Mechanical Air Fry 7-in-1 Toaster Oven -
Air Fryer Liners - 8.5 Inches, 100pcs Premium Perforated Parchment Paper -
Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Basket Air Fryer -
Terrapin Ridge Farms Coconut Curry Aioli Garnishing Sauce -
Electric Spice Grinder -
Whole Szechuan Peppercorns -
Szechuan Red Peppercorns Powder
We know you’ll love this snack as much as we do. Every time we make a spice bag it transports us to Ireland. Read about our romantic journey to Ireland with these articles:
- Emerald Romance: The Best Places to Stay in Ireland for Couples
- Forest Bathing in Ireland: A Spa Getaway Like No Other
- From Gourmet Restaurants, Luxe Hotels, and Premium Whisky: Luxurious Things to do in Dublin, Ireland
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