Salt Pepper Chicken Or Taiwanese Popcorn chicken is a famous street food in Taiwan.  You can find the chicken from a stall in the alley when you crave for a midnight snack to a stand at a busy intersection frying up a batch after school.  Many people outside of the country only know of the chicken but you can actually get a variety of other items to be ‘salt pepper’ fried such as green beans, sweet potato, calamari, fish cakes, etc.

I remember when I was a student in Taiwan, I would always keep a few coins tucked away in my backpack so I can pick up some popcorn chicken after school.  Near my home in Taiwan, I discovered a popcorn chicken stall that opens very late.  Whenever I crave for some of that fried goodness, be it staying up late and trying to cram for an exam or getting snacks for the whole family, we would head over to that stand and grab two large variety packs of deep fried food.  Those were the good times.

The only thing that made it to the shores of America was the chicken but not the other items.  Here, it’s usually called Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken or Salt Pepper Chicken.  It’s actually pretty simple to make.  Just mix the ingredients and then deep fry.  The key is to have lots of Thai basil to flavor the oil and chicken.

Popcorn Chicken Ingredients:

• 14 oz of chicken breast (about 1 piece)
• 2 cloves of garlics (1~2 tsp of minced garlic)
• 0.5 tsp of five-spice powder
• 1 tsp of white pepper
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of egg mix
• 1 tsp of soy sauce
• ½ cup of sweet potato powder

The only special ingredient here is five-spice powder and there isn’t a good substitute. The reason why popcorn chicken gets its unique fragrance and flavor is all because of this! Please note that this is different from allspice.
If you prefer thigh meat, you are welcome to do so.

Each ingredient has its very own unique function in our marinade. Five spice powder and white pepper is the key to popcorn chicken’s aroma. Without these two key ingredients, your chicken will taste very ordinary and bland. Soy sauce and sugar are very common marinate ingredient in Chinese dishes that gives it a savory and sweet taste.  Then we have garlic to add to the flavor. Last but not least, eggs will make the chicken  stick to the sweet potato powder better in order to achieve the crispy and juicy popcorn chicken.
Cut chicken breast into little chunks as shown below.

Mix all marinade with chicken and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Coat it with sweet potato powder. Pro Tip: After you coat your meat in powder, let it rest for 15 minutes before frying.  This allows the powder to become a little dampened so it sticks to the chicken without falling apart during frying.  Moreover, your frying oil will last longer since you won’t have as much powder contaminating your frying oil.

After the chicken has been coated with powder, heat the oil up to about 300° F at medium heat. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can stick a wooden chopstick into your frying oil. If it starts to bubble, then the oil is ready.

Be careful since the oil is much hotter than boiling water. The trick here is to gently drop the chicken into frying oil close to the surface to reduce splashing, or use a colander to lower in the chicken. Fry for 2 min so the chicken is cooked, remove and let them cool 10 minutes.

Heat the oil up to 350° F, fry the chicken the second time. This technique is called double frying and it will make the chicken really crispy. In general, the first fry is to cook the meat and it is lower in temperature, and the second fry is to force out the oil and it is higher in temperature. The double frying is a technique used by all street vendors to make the chicken extra crispy. Pro Tip: you can actually make a batch of chicken after single frying and then just double fry the portion you want to eat and keep the rest in the fridge for another day.

After you fry your chicken, you can fry some basil leaves to go with your popcorn chicken! Personally, I love the fried basil more than the chicken! it’s crispy and full of flavor!. Just to remember you have to dry them with paper towel before frying. Even then, the leaves are still full of water within so don’t be surprised if you hear popping sounds. Just be careful!
Now you have it! The most authentic Taiwanese popcorn chicken made in your own kitchen!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞

 

Author:

Jeff Kang

Recipe type: Appetizer

Cuisine: Taiwanese

Serves: 2 ppl serving

Prep time: 40 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Print

 

Ingredients

• 14 oz of chicken breast (about 1 piece)
• 2 cloves of garlics (1~2 tsp of minced garlic)
• ½ tsp of five-spice powder
• 1 tsp of white pepper
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of egg mix
• 1 tsp of soy sauce
• ½ cup of sweet potato powder

Instructions

1. Cut the chicken breast into about 1 inch cubes
2. Mince the garlic
3. Add minced garlic, five-spice powder, white pepper, sugar, salt, egg mix and soy sauce to cubed chicken breast, marinate for 15 min at least
4. Put sweet potato powder in one small plate
5. Evenly coat the marinated chicken with sweet potato powder
6. Let it sit for 15 min
7. Heat up the oil to 300°F
8. Fry all chicken for 2 min and let it cool down for 10 min at least
9. Heat up the oil to 350°F
10. Fry all chicken for 2 min
11. Fry basil leaves (optional)
12. Plate and serve

3.3.3077