Popcorn Chicken

An easy and simple recipe for juicy inside and crispy popcorn chicken. We will make crispy popcorn chicken, a bite-size snack with a low budget, and more to serve. This recipe is sure will be a family favorite, especially kids-friendly, I promise. Let’s do this!

Little Story about Popcorn Chicken

My son is a picky eater. A picky eater is someone (child and/or adult) who refuses some foods often, and they mostly eat the same food over and over again. Sometimes, it is frustrating. I tried to make a variety of food and hope he likes it, turns out he keep refuses it. Foods that he will definitely eat are nugget, French Fries, noodles, sausage, and one specific fast-food restaurant (mostly burgers, and chicken). I don’t understand why my son likes that fast food that much. One thing that I keep on underlined; he likes to dip the snacks into mayonnaise and sauce.

One day, I tried looking for more variations from chicken snacks. Then, the popcorn chicken appeared. From the name, this is really made me curious about how it tasted. What’s on my mind is this the popcorn from corn mixed with chicken? Is that really chicken inside the mixture? Is popcorn chicken healthy food? And other hundreds of questions same with frequently asked questions on google.

What is Popcorn Chicken actually?

Let’s jump into a bit of history about Popcorn chicken

Why is it called popcorn chicken? Popcorn chicken is the name of food, can be as a snack, side dish, or appetizer refer to size bite pieces of chicken which breaded or coated or battered in a deep-fried, this dish has an aftertaste like popcorn after being fried. The popcorn term comes from the sensation of ‘popping’ food in your mouth. the main ingredient is chicken, not corn. But you can add cornstarch for coating for the crispiness.  So it is called popcorn chicken as imaginary or denotation words.

Who found Popcorn Chicken?

Popcorn chicken originated from America, Popcorn chicken has been popular for centuries since the size-bite chicken pieces were easy to prepare and more to serve for family gatherings.

Then, in March 1992, a food technologist named Gene Gagliardi found popcorn chicken, and become officially nationwide launched from September 1992. After a short time, this dish was available in several outlets of a fast-food chain restaurant. This Fast Food Restaurant introduced popcorn chicken to their menus, and Then, the dish remained a trademarked and signature snack menu of that fast-food restaurant until today. Based on a google search about chicken popcorn, more than 70% of the title, contains the name of a fast-food restaurant popcorn chicken on their list, until now.

Let’s back to the topic before starting the recipe for popcorn chicken. In this current situation, I will give you a quote of mine “Money looks better in the bank account than on your stomach.” With the meaning, we can save the budget of buying fast food with made it home. So let’s make this popcorn chicken at an affordable price a.k.a low budget and more to serve.

The Ingredients of Crispy Popcorn Chicken

• Chicken- I use tender chicken breast, Cut them into bite-size.  
• Flour – I use all-purpose flour. You can use cornflour or potatochips also if you like it.
• Cornstarch- I use cornstarch as final coating to give the crispy sensation.
• Seasoning– I use white peppers powder, salt, chicken stock powder.
• Water- for mixing the chicken and the flour
• Garlic powder – adding some spices to the batter to add the savory.
• Cooking oil – for frying in a deep fried popcorn chicken

How To Make Crispy Popcorn Chicken

First thing first, cut the chicken breast into bite-size. Add salt and white pepper.

Next, In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, I use white peppers powder, salt, chicken stock powder, and the dry ingredients.

Mix all the dry ingredients.

After that, add ¼ cup of dry mixture and 2 tbsp water into the chicken breast. Really try and get as much flour in the cracks of the chicken.

Next, to start making popcorn chicken, put the chicken one by one in a dry mixture. Make sure the chicken is even spreadly coating. Do it in batches.

Then, do and repeat for the rest of the popcorn chicken.

Heat the frying pan on medium heat. To make sure the heat is already ready to go, try to cook the tiny leftover from the mixture, If it is cooked and slowly rises to the top, you’re ready to cook the popcorn chicken.

Fry the popcorn chicken. You can fry for about 3-5 minutes until golden brown. Don’t crowd the pan, fry the popcorn chicken in several batches.

Then, store on a cooling rack to remove the excess oil until popcorn chicken is ready to serve.

Lastly, Enjoy the popcorn chicken! my son personally likes to dip the popcorn chicken into mayo sauce. you can dip the popcorn chicken with some chili oil or anything based on your preference.

Can you cook Popcorn Chicken in an air fryer?

Yes, you can. First, spray the bottom of the fry with non-stick cooking spray, insert the chicken one by one carefully. Then, don’t be crowd you need to make sure the popcorn chicken is cooked. I suggest you set in 390f degree, for about 10-14 minutes cook time. In a half time or 5- 7 minutes, you can open the air fryer, stir the chicken and flip it on another side, and then, don’t forget to spray the top with cooking spray again. The last step is, wait 5-7 minutes until the popcorn chicken is crisp and golden brownish in color. Finally, Enjoy your popcorn chicken!

Recipe Notes

• After several trials and errors for making the best crispy coating of popcorn chicken, the combination between all-purpose flour and corn starch powder is the best.
• In coating the chicken. After you finish the first coating, I highly recommend you put the chicken one by one. I know this makes a long time, but it is worth it. This will make the chicken extra crispy. If you insert the chicken one at a time or too much it will make the batter pasty and not spread evenly.
• There will be smudges and flour clumps after the chicken are coating. You can divide flour for the secondary coating half in advance. Or you can use another bowl, so the wet and the dry flour will not mix and ruin the coating.
• Don’t worry about the heat temperature when you cook, the popcorn chicken is so small in size compare with fried chicken. So, it will make cooked quickly.
• You can try other recipe variations for the coating. You can use cornflakes, potato chips in any flavor that suits your taste, and panko bread for the crispy.

I am so glad to share this recipe with you guys, hope it will help you when you look for inspiration for your kids. Please comment down below if you tried this recipe.

I hope we can be friends also on my other platform, you can add our Pinterest and Instagram. Also, I upload some videos on youtube. See you there!

Try other chicken inspiration food for your meals here:

• Classic Crispy Chicken Katsu
• Chicken Banh Mie Sandwich
• Homemade Chicken Nugget
• Chicken Cordon Bleu