Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞, “yán sū jī” literally translated means “salt crispy chicken”. It was first discovered in a food stand in Tainan, Taiwan in the 1960’s. There is a distinct Taiwanese signature to this dish as it uses sweet potato starch for its batter. For example, Taiwanese deep fried chicken steak, pork chops and baby oysters use this batter as well. Remember, don't use a corn starch batter, it would completely lose the authenticity and taste of the Taiwanese style batter…you’d just end up with fried chicken.
Sweet potato starch is a very common ingredient in many dishes from Fujian province. Since a large majority of early Taiwan migrants came from the province of Fujian, as a result, there are many similarities in food preferences and ingredients from the two regions.
Taiwanese popcorn chicken 鹽酥雞 is now a global phenomenon, for good reason! Firstly, it has juicy pieces of boneless chicken enveloped in a light crispy batter. It's then infused with the aroma of Thai basil and Five Spice Powder. As a result, it's a perfect appetizer to share, a snack or a dish served with rice.
It’s a very simple dish to make and something that the whole family will absolutely love! My Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞 recipe will let you make restaurant quality Taiwanese popcorn chicken from your own kitchen. Your family will certainly think that you ordered take-out! Lastly, complete the experience by serving this dish with bacon egg fried rice and a herbal tea. You can try the bacon and egg fried rice and apple fig tea recipes on my website.
The only difficult part maybe purchasing the sweet potato starch. I'm in Canada and I've found that some packages have very misleading names. It will say sweet potato starch 蕃薯粉 (fān shú fèn) or 地瓜粉 (dì gūa fěn) in Chinese only. In English, it says "tapioca starch". Unfortunately, tapioca starch can mean potato starch and cassava starch as well sweet potato starch. It turns out that, the contents are actually cassava starch (木薯粉 mù shú fěn or 樹薯粉 shù shú fěn). It has no sweet potato at all! Luckily both cassava starch and sweet potato starch get clumpy when it comes in contact with liquids. It’s these little clumps that give the distinct crispiness of the Taiwanese popcorn. So, don't buy potato starch by mistake!
If you like to deep-fry once in a while, consider getting a digital thermometer. I can now accurately determine the temperature of the oil before putting my food into it. Now, it’s so easy to get perfect results each time. No more guessing when the oil is ready. If you’re interested, check out the one I got from Amazon.
AstroAI Digital Laser Infrared Thermometer ( Not for Human) , 380 Non-Contact Thermomètre Infrarouge, Temperature Gun with Range of -58℉~716℉ (-50℃～380℃), Red, Cadeau
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Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞
Ingredients
- 2-3 Large chicken thigh meat , boneless with skin (approx. 1 – 1 ½ lbs)
- 1 Large egg
- 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp White pepper powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp 5 spice powder
- 1-2 clove Garlic , crushed (or ½ tsp garlic powder)
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 cup Sweet potato starch aka tapioca starch
- 2-3 cups Oil for deep frying
- 1 bunch Thai basil (approx. 20 leaves)
To sprinkle on the chicken after deep frying:
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1 tsp White pepper powder
Instructions
- Mix 1 tbsp soy sauce, ½ tsp white pepper, ½ tsp salt, 1 clove of crushed garlic, 1 egg and 1 tbsp cooking wine into mixing bowl to make marinade
- Cut chicken into approx. 1 ½ ”x 1 ½ ” pieces, add to marinade. Marinate for 15 minutes. Each piece of chicken should be completely covered with the egg marinade or else the starch will not stick
- Spread 1 cup of sweet potato starch onto plate evenly
- Place each piece of chicken into the starch. Each piece of chicken should be completely covered with starch
- Wait 5-10 minutes for the starch to melt onto the chicken
this way the starch won’t fall off as easily when frying - Heat oil to 150˚C or 300˚F
- Combine ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp 5 spice powder and ½ tsp white pepper powder in a bowl and set aside
- Add basil leaves to oil when oil is heating up
This is to infuse basil aroma into the oil When the leaves start to bubble around it, oil should be ready and remove leaves from oil - Place the pieces of chicken into oil and fry for 2 minutes or light yellow color, move the chicken around for even cooking. Do not overcrowd to prevent chicken from sticking together. Remove from oil
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Turn up the heat of the oil to approx. 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the chicken pieces again for 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Prior to removing chicken from the oil, put basil leaves into oil, stir for 5-10 seconds and remove chicken and basil from oil
- Sprinkle with the salt mixture set aside earlier and mix gently
Easy to cook, recipes easy to follow, kids love it 👍
Hi Wahbe. Thanks for trying the recipe! I'm so glad the kids love it! Hope you get the chance to try more of my recipes.