Popcorn Chicken Recipe

Popcorn Chicken Recipe, beautifully golden-brown and so crispy on the outside, but juicy on the inside, these fried chicken bites can rival the famous KFC popcorn chicken. Quick and easy to make, coated in nicely seasoned tempura batter and crushed cornflakes, my homemade popcorn chicken will be a big hit with kids and grown-ups alike.

If you missed fast-food during these crazy times when life turned upside down, I'll show you how to make your own, more delicious and way better fast-food favourite chicken recipe: popcorn chicken. The name might sound weird, but it's just crispy chicken bites coated in cornflakes for a crunchy touch.

My shock was not that the popcorn chicken turned out so yummy, but that my little girls demolished them. They are not quite the fussiest kids, and since we've been home they started eating even better than before, but seeing them wolf down bite after bite was quite funny.

That always tells me the food I make is delicious; well, with a few exceptions, when I think my food is so good, yet them refuse to even look at it. You can't always please kids, can you? But it's definitely such an achievement when you do.

These popcorn chicken balls might not be that healthy, since it's deep fried, but at least it's 100% chicken, and there are not dodgy ingredients at all. Plus, the oil has only been used for this chicken, and nothing else. So yeah, better than take-away!

Jump to:

• Ingredients needed
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• Can I bake the popcorn chicken?
• Popcorn Chicken Recipe

Ingredients needed

• chicken breasts - minced/ground
• plain flour
• baking powder
• water
• paprika
• garlic granules
• salt & ground black pepper
• cornflakes
• oil - to deep fry

Step-by-step photos and instructions

• season the minced chicken with salt and pepper, and shape into balls
• coated them with plain flour, and shake off any excess flour
• dip them into tempura batter (mixture of flour, water, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic granules), and coat them well
• coat with crushed cornflakes
• deep fry until golden-brown and the chicken is cooked through

Expert tips

This might not be an authentic recipe, but it's as close as it can get. The chicken, instead of being cut into chunks, it's minced, then shaped into meatballs. It would work perfectly fine if you used chicken pieces instead of mince, and you can follow exactly the same steps, it's up to you.

If you don't have minced/ground chicken, cut up the chicken breasts into chunks, then blitz them into a blender, you will get the same texture as in the minced chicken. Blenders are such a great invention!

I coated the chicken into a fabulous tempura batter, but you can coat them in egg or buttermilk too, but I think the tempura works wonders here. If you don't have cornflakes, you can use crushed witabix, or any other crispy, unsweetened cereal.

Can I bake the popcorn chicken?

I don't usually go for deep-frying, so that's a pretty rare event for me, instead I tend to use my oven more often than a bakery. I think it is such a waste of oil, first of all, since I wouldn't reuse that oil, not to mention that the nutritional value goes right out of window.

But, to recreate a fast-food favourite, I had to compromise and deep fry the chicken pieces. Not bad, I would say, you get amazing taste and perfect crunch. But, if you go for baking, you can get (almost) the same fantastic results. I baked my chicken nuggets and they were delish.

For this recipe, follow the exact steps, preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit), spray them with plenty of cooking oil spray, and bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown. You might have to turn them around half the way through to ensure even baking.

If you’ve liked my POPCORN CHICKEN RECIPE or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.