One of my favorite places to eat is Taipei. Taipei reminds me of my hometown Penang, mostly because of a similar spoken dialect and the fiercely celebrated street food culture. Walk down the many small alleys and bustling night markets in Taipei, you are sure to find many great eats in a city that is obsessed with food.
Salt and pepper chicken is a Taiwanese dish that I love. (Another one is three-cup chicken.) Called 盐酥鸡 in Chinese, salt and pepper chicken are basically fried chicken marinated with five-spice powder and served with fried basil leaves. If you’ve been to Taipei and its many colorful night markets, you can’t miss salt and pepper chicken. They are often sold by mobile vendors selling various fried foods and snacks. I don’t have the luxury to travel to Taipei all the time, so I rely on my salt and pepper chicken recipe whenever I feel like having a quick bite in the afternoon…(get Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken recipe after the jump)
The essence of salt and pepper chicken lies in the generous use of five-spice powder. Please take note that the five-spice powder used in Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken is different from the regular five-spice powder you are accustomed to. In fact, it’s labeled as “炸盐酥鸡粉” or “fried salt and pepper chicken powder” and it’s made in Taiwan. You can get it at Asian stores, but not all of them carry it though.
Salt and Pepper Chicken Recipe (盐酥鸡)
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, about 8-10 oz, cut into bite-size cubes/pieces
2 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs 5-spice powder
1/2 tbs rice wine or sake
1/8 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp sugar
1 egg yolk
A bunch of Thai basil leaves
1 cup potato starch or corn flour
Oil for deep-frying
Method:
Marinate the chicken with the seasonings for 2 hours in the fridge. When ready to deep-fry, put 1 cup of potato starch or corn flour on a flat plate. Add the chicken to the flour and coat evenly. Heat up a wok or deep-fryer with oil and deep fry the chicken pieces until they turn golden brown. Transfer the fried chicken out on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.
Deep fry the basil leaves until crispy and garnish on top of the fried chicken. Serve immediately.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, yes! Thank you for sharing this recipe. We always eat at this Taiwanese cafe and order the deep-fried chicken knee. Now I will be able to make that at home.
Once again, thank you ever so much!
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Thank you! this is so simple… I like chicken prepared like this, when it’s crunchy, and when I can eat with fingers!
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Wow, this recipe is great and a day late..What I mean is I so needed this recipe yesterday when i made my chicken dish however settled for American Chicken fingers. LOL well there’s always tomorrow, thank you dearly for sharing.
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This looks really good! I have this at Chinese restaurants quite a lot, and it’s good to have a recipe on hand. :) Now all I need is to overcome my fear of deep frying… (I tend to shallow fry or oven bake)…
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Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I spent two years in Taiwan (as an LDS missionary) and I loved this stuff but have never been able to replicate it _just_ right back here in the States. I’m going to try your recipe sometime this week when I find the time (but probably will not have any until this weekend *sigh*). Now, if you could post a recipe for Taiwanese 甜不辣 (tian-bu-la) that would be most excellent.
cheers.
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I love both 3-cup chicken and this salt and pepper chicken. It’s so moreish that I am munch on them all day. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Making them soon!!
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Thank you for posting this recipe (with great pictures BTW)! I’m going to try your recipe and sample the dish from the night markets when I go to 台北 for Christmas. Nothing better than authentic Asian cuisine.
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just had this the other day..they called it fried chicken but it definitely looks like the above..
cant wait to travel to taipei!
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These morsels of fried chicken is delicious! There’s a Taiwanese street food cafe near my place & I’ve stopped several times to take away this salt & pepper chicken. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
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I have not been to TW but I have sure heard a lot about this chicken!! Thanks for the recipe~
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I make a five spice fried chicken (using boneless chicken thighs) that is so similar to this except for the fried basil leaves. That’s so creative! Can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing.
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What a great picture – and dish! It reminds me somewhat of the Japanese Karaage but I think adding salt and pepper and the five spice makes it even better!
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yeah, they’re selling this in night markets nowadays.
if i remember correctly, some are even selling the squid version, which is equally tasty.
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That looks absolutely delicious! Like spicy chicken nuggets for adults. :)
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Yum. I bet potato starch makes for a super-crispy crust!
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Yummy, this is my favorite Taipei streetfood, thanks for sharing!
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Hey Bee!
Thanks for the recipe! Looks absolutely delicious! I love anything fried! Can’t wait to try this!
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tina replied:
Delicious and mouthwatering clicks and chicken. Im a great fan of ur blog.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Tina – thanks for being a fan of my humble blog.
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These look so good – we’ll have to see if our Asian grocery store carries fried salt and pepper chicken powder. We’ll definitely be giving this one a try!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
It should be there in Asian grocery stores. Look carefully as they are usually stock with all different kind of peppers. Good luck!
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i wonder how good this would be if seared then baked for an alternative to deep frying! though, the sound of cracklin’ salt/pepper sounds delish!!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Bren – this recipe only works by deep frying.
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Hi! I’ve been a follower of your blog for more than a year now, and I just absolutely love your blog your photos, and recipes!!
Those baskets are sooo cute. Do you know where I could buy them on line?
Thank you!
Marlene
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Marlene – thanks for being a fan of this humble blog. I got it in Marukai Hawaiian/Japanese food store. :)
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so what’s in this 5-spice powder for those who can’t find it?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Mike – I checked my label, and this 5-spice powder has white pepper powder, salt cumin, cinnamon, clove and MSG!!! You can try to blend your own. Good luck.
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Mike replied:
Thank you! I will have to try this soon. We had a great example of this very dish last weekend and would love to make our own — thanks for the perfect timing!
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Mike replied:
MSG!!! Why did you add the 3 Exclamation marks?
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This is so much better than chicken nuggets! Delicious.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, I don’t really like chicken nuggets.
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3 tbs 5-spice powder? Don’t you mean 3 tsp 5-spice powder? Let me know. Reads delicious, I’ll give it a try.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Yes, 3 tablespoons. The 5-spice powder is very mild, if you use the same brand I have. You can use less if you like it less intense.
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Love this- chicken sounds much better than the bony spareribs I usually eat this as :)
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Thank you so much for this recipe. This is my favourite food from Taipei! I used to eat this a lot whenever I’m in Taipei. I’m so excited to see this recipe. I’m gonna try it as soon as my exams are over. I’m a Penangnite studying in Australia. Miss the food back home so much!
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will you please explain me why it is named “salt and pepper chicken”? thanks
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