My version of Ireland’s favourite take-away, this Irish Spice Bag is a wonderful concoction of crispy fries, with spicy fried chicken bits and some fried onions and peppers thrown in. All tossed in a spicy, salty mixture.
About the Irish Spice Bag
St. Patrick’s Day is the day we all get to be Irish for a day! And if we were Irish for a day, in Ireland, chances are very good that we might pick up a spice bag on the way home after a pint or two at the pub. Yes, the Irish Spice Bag is a recent phenomenon, but well on it’s way to become iconic Irish fare.
From what I’ve gleaned, the Irish Spice Bag had it’s roots in Chinese restaurants, who mixed chicken balls, with vegetables and threw it all together with fries and served it as take-away in brown paper bags. Different restaurants offered different versions, but the basics of spicy fries in a bag were always the same. Yes, it’s Ireland’s answer for when only fried food, salt and spice will do :)
Cook’s Notes
Now obviously, I’m Canadian, not Irish, so I’m not going to pretend I know how close my version is to the “real thing”, but I did do my research and made every effort to try and re-create it as best I could from the descriptions available. I seek forgiveness from the Irish if I’ve really messed it up. Feel free to set me straight :)
You can make your fries any way you like – fry, bake or air fry, as I did (my favourite fry preparation tool!).
If you don’t have or want to use buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk in the marinade. Maybe throw a 1/2 tsp of white vinegar in with it.
I used Frank’s™ brand hot sauce for my spice bag.
In my research, I have seen “skinny” versions, that skip the breading of the chicken and use oven-baked fries. That’s always an option, but speaking for myself, I’d really miss the crispy, spicy breading in this one, so I’d recommend going all in.
Get the Recipe: Irish Spice Bag
Ingredients
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Buttermilk Marinade:
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp hot sauce
Spice Mix
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- Freshly ground pepper
Flour dip:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Spice Mix
To prepare:
- Cooking oil for cooking chicken
- 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- Warm, crispy french fries, cooked any way you like
Instructions
- Cut chicken thighs in to small pieces, discarding any fatty bits. In a medium bowl, stir together the buttermilk and hot sauce. Add chicken to marinade and let stand at least 20 minutes, or cover and refrigerate to marinate longer.
- While chicken is marinating, make spice mix by combining all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir to combine well. Set aside.
- Start your fries cooking.
- In a large, flat dish, prepare the flour dip by combining the ingredients and stirring well to combine. Take a few pieces of the chicken from the marinade and toss in the flour dip. Return to the buttermilk marinade briefly and dip in the flour dip again. Place on a metal cooling rack, while you proceed to bread all the chicken pieces. When all the chicken has been breaded, heat a 1/2-inch or so of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Fry the chicken, until golden on the underside, then flip over and fry on the other side. Cook until golden and cooked through. Remove all chicken to a plate.
- Discard most of the oil from the skillet, leaving just a tiny bit. Return the skillet to the stove-top over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and onion and saute quickly until lightly browned and softened. Add sauteed vegetables to a large bowl. Add the warm chicken and cooked fries. Sprinkle with a generous amount of Spice Mix, to taste and toss well to coat.
- Spoon in to paper bags to serve :)
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Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Yes you are right, spice bag, has become a classic, also here we have the spice burger, ” Bramwells” here make a great spice bag mix.. it is very spicy..roasted veg, shredded beef or chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms.fries..it has a cajun Indian , chinease flavour to it..lovely on a cold night
made this the first time the… ummmm… easy way.bag of steak fries and orange chicken I had from yesterday. Used your spices, it was great. Actually served it in paper bags. full of flavor but not really hot. I will probably make every thing next time as that will be even better.
This sounds the best! Already have chicken marinating in a dry seasoning in the fridge so I am halfway there. May not be quite right but dinner in a paper bag sounds great to me!! :)))
It’s such a fun treat, Mary! Enjoy :)
It was a fun meal and we all enjoyed the novelty of the paper bag!! :))
Will have to try this out on some visiting diners!!
So glad you enjoyed it :)
Good recipe!! It’s missing sugar tho. All traditional spicebags have sugar on them. I’ve lived in the North and in Dublin and it’s one thing the North can’t get right lol they always forget the sugar
Good to know, Maggie :) I always love that sweet and salty combo!
Turned out just how I imagined, try adding a little five spice and curry powder for a more authentic taste
Thanks Kevin :)
Love it, moved to Germany from Ireland recently and I actually missed spice bags more than anything (aside from friends) – I knew Chinese food wasn’t authentic Chinese food back home, but thought it would be the same on mainland Europe. It was strange cooking something that I’ve only exclusively had from take-aways (usually hungover) but this recipe was amazing and a nice reminder of home :+)
So glad to hear, Loam :) Thanks so much!
Love it, moved to Germany from Ireland recently and I actually missed spice bags more than anything (aside from friends) – I knew Chinese food wasn’t authentic Chinese food back home, but thought it would be the same on mainland Europe. It was strange cooking something that I’ve only exclusively had from take-aways (usually hungover) but this recipe was amazing and was a nice reminder of home :+)
This was a great starting point for a spice bag! I’m Irish and have lived in Toronto for 2 years and often crave what I call “an Irish Chinese” take away! This spice bag recipe is great but I also changed a few things.
I tried this recipe exactly as written the first time and it came close but I tweaked it as per the below and now I think it’s perfect. I more or less tripled the mix to have some spare and adjusted a few more things – here’s what I think tastes most authentic:
6tsp salt
3 1/2 tsp paprika
3 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp caster sugar (superfine)
3/4 tsp five spice
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
3 more edits, that make the difference:
1) I didn’t use a marinade and I used rice flour rather than all-purpose flour. I cut the chicken into strips then dipped them in flour, then into egg mixture (2 whole eggs whisked), then into the flour and spice mix combo.
2) I added fresh chopped red chillies to the chips (fries) and chicken mix and then fried some chillies with the onion and peppers.
3) Finally, a small thing, but I cut the peppers and onions into ‘squares’, rather than strips because that’s how it’s done back home.
Those tweaks got us exactly what we wanted. Hope that helps!
Awesome Daniel! I’m happy to share your edits :) Thanks.
I cooked this recipe with these adjustments, and it’s so so good <3 !! Thanks Jennifer and Daniel!!
So glad to hear! Thanks :)
Irish resident here – Daniel nailed it! We might make this our Saturday night TV-watching regular indulgence 👍