Taiwan is well known for its night markets. Night markets have a variety of street vendors selling goods and foods. Today, I’m sharing with you our take on a Taiwanese street food classic… popcorn chicken.
Keep in mind, street food is typically eaten while standing. It’s meant to be easy to eat with a toothpick while roaming the streets, so these need to be smaller pieces of chicken. You want to use dark meat like thigh meat because it’ll stay juicy during the frying process. White meat chicken tends to dry out easily, so it’s better to avoid using chicken breast.
What makes Taiwanese popcorn chicken unique is the 5 spice flavor. You see 5 spice used in a lot of Asian cooking. Traditional 5 spice consists of ground cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, and Szechuan pepper. Don’t be too heavy handed when measuring the 5 spice because small amounts pack a lot of flavor!
Keep your 5 spice on your chicken, not the floor,
Your favorite alternative chefs, K & T
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1.25 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 egg
- 2 green onions
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tsp sweet potato starch
- ½ tsp 5 spice
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
Coating
- 1 cup sweet potato starch
- 1 tbsp five spice
- 1 handful Thai basil
Oil for frying
Instructions
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In a medium sized bowl, mix together all marinade ingredients and chicken. Let marinate for at least an hour or overnight.
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For the coating, mix together potato starch with 1 tbsp five spice.
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Coat chicken in the sweet potato starch mixture and place on a tray to rest for 10 minutes.
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Heat up the air fryer to 360 degrees F.
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Add about a teaspoon of oil to the air fryer and then fry for 6 minutes.
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After 6 minutes, toss basil in the air fryer with the chicken (give your chicken a toss to make sure they aren’t stuck to the basket) and drizzle with another teaspoon of oil. Fry for 2 more minutes at 360 degrees F.
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Season with salt and pepper before serving!