Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (鹽酥雞)
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Intro
First things first: DON’T BE A DICK, use dark meat only. If you’re one of those “bro I only eat chicken breast and steamed broccoli” types you should leave this doc...like immediately. Life is too short to not realize that dark meat > white meat. If you get chicken thighs with skin DON’T REMOVE IT, the skin becomes super crispy and is oh so delicious. In the same vein I’m not going to provide a baked version because the breading we use isn’t compatible with baking — it will just end up being chalky/powdery. Lastly on this note, deep frying isn’t as unhealthy as people assume it is if done correctly. It’s not like you’re guzzling oil, if anything, the “unhealthiness” comes from overly-thick breading.
Second: I maybe/absolutely have an addiction to fried chicken. During quarantine one of the three things I order delivery for is different kinds of fried chicken because while homemade fried chicken is delicious, sometimes I’m just feeling lazy. Plus, I can’t find a recipe for the Mekelburg’s Fried Chicken Sando so yeah...
Third: When I started cooking for my friends, I usually made this first because most (if not all) were not familiar with Taiwanese (TW) food + there’s minimal TW food available in NYC.
Anywayssss TW popcorn chicken (TPC) is amazing because the meat itself is marinated overnight with a lot of different spices and the breading is super light and crispy! The breading doesn’t need much spicing at all since most of the flavor goes deep into the chicken meat; this way you get tons of flavor throughout the entire bite, not just a super salty exterior. One of the main differences from regular fried chicken is the use of sweet potato starch (sometimes called sweet potato flour); if you’re at the grocery store and are not sure, squeeze the bag and it should have that ~ squeak ~ you would get if you squeeze a bag of cornstarch. ALSO, there are some recipes out there that include egg in the breading/coating process — this is A DAMN LIE. That’s trying to apply a different type of fried chicken cooking to a TW recipe. While I love all types of fried chicken, adding the egg does NOT apply to TPC.
Another difference is the use of white pepper. There is NO black pepper in this recipe and neither should there ever, ever, EVER be. White pepper adds a light and slightly tingly, tip-of-the-nose peppery flavor vs the stronger and more concentrated flavor of black pepper. Most TW cooking uses white pepper vs black pepper. In fact, in Chinese cooking, the use of black pepper is so rare that if it is included, it’s usually called out in the name of the dish (e.g. black pepper steak).
The last (amazing) difference I’ll discuss is the fried Thai basil leaves sprinkled on top. They add a delicious crisp and you can throw the fried whole leaves on top at the end, crush and crumble the fried leaves for a more integrated sprinkle, and/or crumble up some of the fried leaves into some kewpie mayo as a dip.
This really makes me miss Taiwan! In the night markets there they actually apply this same frying style to many different food items, like mushrooms, squid, tofu, etc. I’ll try to create some more Taiwanese night market recipes [=
What You'll Need
[Multi-day prep needed]
For the marinade (day before):
6-in chef’s knife for reference
1½ - 2 lbs organic boneless chicken thighs (with or without skin), cut into popcorn chicken-sized nuggz ^
8 large cloves garlic, crushed for the juice only, rough chopped, or sliced*
2 inches of ginger, smashed and sliced
3 green onions, but into about half-inch pieces*
¼ cup soy sauce
3½ TBSP mirin
3½ TBSP Shaoxing wine
1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
Heaping ½ tsp white pepper powder
1 tsp sweet potato starch
Drizzle of toasted sesame oil
^ I like having a mixture of larger and smaller nuggz; there are a couple things I insist on eating organic in America and chicken, eggs, wheat, corn, soy, and dairy are all included in that list (and honestly taste better)
* Would not recommend finely mincing because it’s part of the marinade and will be hard to remove before frying; if you fry too much of the small chunks of garlic/green scallion with the chicken it will burn! I prefer sliced
All ingredients
For frying (day of):
Handful of fresh Thai basil leaves (kind of optional)
2 - 3 cups sweet potato flour/starch
½ tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
½ tsp white pepper powder
Enough frying oil to at least 1.5” high up your pot
Instructions
For the marinade (day before):
Add all the marinade ingredients in a medium/large bowl and mix to combine well
Throw in the chicken nuggz and mix to coat the chicken
Add this marinated meat into a large Ziploc bag and allow to marinade overnight (NOT optional)
For frying (day of):
Rinse and leave the Thai basil to dry on paper towels, if using; try to get as dry as possible before frying
Set up your frying station:
Combine the SP starch, 5-spice powder, and white pepper powder; mix well
I use a large plate for the batter and pour out the SP starch around the perimeter of the plate; I do this because I coat the next batch of chicken about to go into the pot and leave it in the middle so it doesn’t make the unused starch too gummy/wet
Heat up the oil to ~ 350° slowly
Prepare a wire rack close by; I prefer to have half with paper towel and the other half just by itself so the chicken doesn’t get soggy
Get your heatproof tongs, slotted spoon, etc. (I use non-metal chopsticks) ready -- 2 sets (one for removing chicken from the marinade and coating and another for the actual frying)
Once the oil is ready -- you can check this by throwing in one of the basil leaves, one of chunks of garlic/scallion/etc. from the marinade, etc. in and if it immediately starts bubbling and floating the oil is hot enough (don’t forget to remove your test item from the oil otherwise it will burn and make everything bitter) -- take some pieces of the chicken, taking care to remove as much of the chunks of garlic, scallion, ginger, etc. as possible, and get a light coat of the SP starch onto each nugg
I usually (due to the size of my fondue pot) fry about 5 - 6 nuggz at a time; make sure to stir so clumps don’t form and fry until a deep golden brown
When each nugg is a deep golden brown, remove and put onto the paper-toweled side of the wire rack; start your next batch of 5 - 6 nuggz (or whatever number is your sweet spot)
[Once your first couple batches of nuggz have cooled off enough, I would bite into one and see if the meat is opaque all the way through; adjust cooking time if not cooked through and try your very best to not eat all the chicken now haha]
Once you’re done frying the chicken, pat the Thai basil leaves to get any remaining moisture off and throw into the oil; stir frequently but be careful of spattering
The Thai basil leaves are done once they crisp up (imagine the texture of...a kale chip for example), ~ 1 minute; don’t take out too early or else they’ll just be oily/soggy leaves
Taste the chicken and see if you want to add a sprinkle of salt; dust with some more white pepper powder and 5-spice powder before enjoying
How to Enjoy!
By itself! Again, the meat is already very flavorful and well-spiced
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper powder
Kewpie + togarashi (pictured)
Kewpie + Szechuan chili oil
Kewpie + crumbled fried Thai basil leaves
Kewpie alone
Do NOT recommend lemon over the chicken — you are thinking of Japanese chicken karaage, which is also delicious. The lemon will interfere with, not complement, the spices
As an appetizer/side/snack
As a meal; I usually make lightly blanched and chilled broccoli with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil (actually a Korean side dish) and an assortment of homemade Japanese-style pickled veggies as sides that are the perfect balance
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