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Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken - crispy, juicy and delicious Asian fried chicken nuggets. Quick, easy and budget-friendly recipe for the entire family!!
Asian Popcorn Chicken
Recently, there is a new Asian popcorn chicken joint that has opened up close to where I live. I love the restaurant as it’s set up just like a night market in Asia, offering various types of Asian-style street food that you can order.
There are so many different items on the menu—chicken, fish, pork chop, chicken wings, vegetables, and so much more.
I want to order everything on the menu, but time and time again, I will go back to the Asian popcorn chicken, which is my favorite, and little G likes it, too.
The problem is the portion of the Asian popcorn chicken, it’s not enough for me to eat to my heart’s content. I usually need more than one order to satiate my hunger and craving.
And it’s not cheap. So I have decided to make a batch of them a few days ago…ahhh, so good.
The Origin
This popcorn chicken recipe is Taiwanese in origin. They are available everywhere in Taiwan: night market, roadside stalls, street food carts, and regular restaurants or stores. It’s similar to my Taiwanese salt and pepper chicken recipe but made with the bottled pepper salt.
For the Thai basil leaves, you can leave them out. I personally love them as I always have some Thai basil leaves in my fridge.
You can eat the chicken plain or as is, but anything tastes better with some sweet chili sauce. I love my Asian popcorn chicken with it.
Just imagine the taste—crispy, juicy, and flavorful fried chicken pieces dunked in a sweet, sticky, mildly spicy chili sauce.
This is a great alternative to chicken nuggets and your entire family will love this, I guarantee you!
Ingredients For Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
- Chicken Breast
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Thai Basil
- Chicken Bouillon
- Oil
- Cornstarch
- Soy Sauce
- Sugar
- Water
- Pepper Salt
- Rice Wine
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make This Recipe
Step 1: Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, pepper salt, chicken bouillon power, rice wine and water to chicken pieces and marinate for 30 minutes.
Step 2: Coat the chicken evenly with cornstarch, shaking off the excess.
Step 3: Heat 2-3 inches (5cm-7cm) of oil in a pan or stock pot for deep-frying. Deep-fry the chicken until it turns light to golden brown. Then, add the Thai basil leaves to the oil.
Step 4: As soon as the leaves crisp up, remove the chicken and basil leaves from the oil using a strainer or slotted spoon, and place them in a mixing bowl.
Step 5: Add the pepper salt and toss well with the chicken and basil leaves. If you like spicy, you may add cayenne pepper. Serve immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 402 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following:
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Other Recipes You Might Like
- Parmesan Baked Popcorn Shrimp
- Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Chicken
- Asian Crispy Fried Chicken (Popcorn Chicken)
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
- 8 oz (225g) chicken breast , or thighs, cut into bite-size cubes
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 cups oil , for deep-frying
- 1 cup fresh Thai basil leaves, optional
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper salt
- 3 dashes cayenne pepper , optional
Marinade:
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper salt, or mix together 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of white pepper.
- 1/2 teaspoon chicken bouillon, optional
- 1 tablespoon rice wine
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, pepper salt, chicken bouillon powder, rice wine, and water to the chicken pieces and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Coat the chicken evenly with cornstarch, shaking off the excess.
- Heat 2-3 inches (5 cm to 7 cm) of oil in a pan or stock pot for deep-frying. Deep-fry the chicken until it turns light to golden brown, then add the Thai basil leaves to the oil.
- Next, add the Thai basil leaves to the oil.
- As soon as the leaves crisp up, remove the chicken and basil leaves from the oil using a strainer or slotted spoon, and place them in a mixing bowl.
- Add the pepper salt and toss well with the chicken and basil leaves. If you like spicy, you may add cayenne pepper. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- You can find the bottled pepper salt powder at Asian grocery stores.
- If you can’t find it, you can make your own pepper salt by mixing 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon of ground white pepper together.
- Thai basil leaves are optional if you can’t find them.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These were so delicious. They did not last long as leftovers. I showed my husband, who cooks for a living and is hard to impress, he couldn’t keep his hands off my plate even after eating his own share.
I’ve only discovered your site recently, and what a site it is!
So, popcorn chicken was one of the first recipes I’ve tried. I did wanted to take a photo, but serving this up for the family was more like watching a bunch of piranhas at feeding times… you get the picture.
The small variation I’ve made (forced by what was in the fridge, bane of many a home cook) was to use chicken breast instead of thighs. While I agree that thighs are the ideal choice for this dish, breast worked very well, too.
Thanks for maintaining such a useful site!
Greeting from New Zealand :)
Hi, I really like your recipes, but I was wondering if you can please put a temperature for the oil? Do I heat it at high heat, medium-high, medium …?
High heat is used for deep-frying.
Can this be frozen and made later?
No.
Can you cook it in air fryer?
You can try!
Hi. I am hoping you would share the dipping sauce recipe for the one in the picture(with the sesame seeds), looks great to eat with the popcorn chicken. Pls and tq :)
It’s just bottled Thai sweet chili sauce with sesame seeds. :)
This looks delicious! I had “salt & pepper” fish at a chinese restaurant before and it was awesome, I’d love to try this. I’m just wondering, how different is the “pepper salt” blend from just using regular salt & pepper?
The pepper salt blend combined some other seasonings if I am not mistaken, but you can just add a little salt and pepper to make your own. :)
Oh I love Popcorn Chicken and so does my family. Will definitely try this. Thanks for sharing the recipe and will ill go grab your new e-book, Bee!
Thanks for your support Elizabeth, as always. :)