Popcorn chicken – RecipeTin Eats

This is a KFC popcorn chicken copycat recipe. It’s downright addictive – I challenge you to stop at just one! Surprisingly quick, they take just 2 minutes to cook, and just shallow fried at that.

Popcorn chicken

Many people have tried this popcorn chicken now, including an entire crew of builders at my home which is under renovation. I won’t repeat what they actually said when they tried it. Let’s just say Aussie builders are liberal users of flowery language when they are frustrated – or when they’re extremely enthusiastic! 😂

The flavour is a copycat of KFC popcorn chicken, with it’s distinct seasoning. But there is one big standout difference – this homemade popcorn chicken is actually crispy. KFC’s is not! It’s rather soft and quite greasy.

For those who are nervous about fried recipes, this popcorn chicken is a good place to start because we are only shallow frying and each batch takes just 2 minutes to cook. Much easier than deep frying whole chicken pieces!

Ingredients in Popcorn Chicken

Popcorn chicken is made by marinating small pieces of chicken then coating in a heavily seasoned “KFC 11 secret herbs and spices” flour mixture. The coating is especially formulated so the chicken cooks up really crispy – no soggy popcorn chicken around here!

Chicken and marinade

This recipe uses a buttermilk marinade, like Southern Fried Chicken, to keep the chicken meat juicy. Marinating is quite important for popcorn chicken because the pieces of chicken are so small, they can overcook and dry out in a flash.

Don’t have buttermilk? Don’t worry, there are easy substitutes, see below the photo or the recipe card.

• Chicken – I like to use breast because it’s easy to cut into small cubes. Tenderloin is also easy to cut into small even pieces.

  However, you really can use any cut of chicken meat – thighs, drumstick meat, anything that can be cut into cubes.

• Buttermilk – Brilliant for tenderising the chicken and injecting it with salt to add seasoning into the flesh as well as helping to keep it juicy when it cooks. Buttermilk is the traditional liquid of choice used for marinating in Southern Fried Chicken. It is slightly thicker than regular milk but thinner than pouring cream, and combined with egg it creates a good batter thickness for the right amount of flour to cling to the surface of each piece.

  Find it alongside milk at the grocery store, usually in small 600ml cartons ($2.75). This recipe calls for 180ml (3/4 cup) so use the leftover buttermilk to make Blueberry or Choc Chip Muffins, or Red Velvet Cake.

  Substitutes – you can use yogurt mixed with milk, or make your own buttermilk with milk and vinegar. Both these substitutes work just as well, I tried them both!

  Non dairy – You can use any non dairy milk mixed with any non dairy yogurt as long as they are neutral flavoured eg. they don’t taste nutty. If the yogurt has no acidity in it, like dairy yogurt does, then add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar into the marinade, then it will have a similar marinating effect like buttermilk does.

• Egg helps the flour stick to the chicken.

• Salt – To season the flesh of the chicken.

Flour coating (“breading”) and seasoning

“Breading” refers to coating the chicken in the seasoned flour mixture. It’s is a term used in the US which refers to coating things in breadcrumbs or other dry mixture (like seasoned flour we’re using here) that becomes a crispy crust when cooked.

Here in Australia, we tend to use the word “crumbing” when we coat foods with breadcrumbs, but I never felt it was the appropriate term when there’s no breadcrumbs involved. So I use the term “breading” which seems a little more universal in the culinary world these days, even though yes, I know breadcrumbs aren’t involved!

• The Seasoning is a KFC copycat. It’s the same ingredients used in my KFC Copycat Fried Chicken recipe, although quantities tweaked slightly to suit Popcorn Chicken. For example, the quantity of salt is drastically reduced because we’re working with tiny pieces of chicken rather than giant bone-in, skin-one pieces which is much harder for seasoning to penetrate. Also, I like to crush the oregano and thyme with my fingers to make them a little smaller so they meld better onto the surface of the small bites of chicken.

• Flour and cornflour/cornstarch – Using a combination of flour and cornflour produces the best result for a crunchy, golden crust for fried chicken. Flour (just regular, plain/all purpose flour) is standard for coating fried foods, but it doesn’t become all that crispy. Well, it is quite crispy straight out of the fryer but it loses crispiness quickly.

  Cornflour, on the other hand, fries up really crispy but it doesn’t go a nice golden colour. And if you coat things too thickly in cornflour it becomes too hard and gets stuck in your teeth.

  By using a combination of the two, we can achieve crispy fried chicken perfection with just the right texture!

• Oil for cooking – canola, vegetable or peanut oil, for neutral flavour and ability to heat to the temperature needed without burning the chicken or the oil smoking.

How to make Popcorn Chicken

If you’re a capable cook, this is all you need to know for how to make popcorn chicken:

1. Marinate chicken 1 hour;

2. Toss 3 tbsp marinade liquid in the flour mixture, then coat chicken; and

3. Fry 2 minutes at 180°C/350°F.

However, this section is a little lengthier than 3 steps so even up-and-coming cooks can have the confidence that this is a rather straightforward recipe. I have some tips capable cooks probably already know for working with lots and lots of little pieces of chicken. Coating and cooking them one-by-one would be a pain!

1. Preparation

1. Cut the chicken into small 1.25cm / 1/2″ cubes.

   I cut the chicken into 1.25cm / 1/2″ strips, then cut the thin end into cubes, and cut the wider end in half lengthways then into cubes.

2. Whisk marinade – Put the buttermilk marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Marinade – Add the chicken, mix to coat and marinade for 1 to 3 hours, but don’t go beyond 24 hours else the chicken can be a little too salty.

4. Mix breading – Mix the flour, cornflour and “11 secret herbs and spices” in a bowl. The wider the better – easier to scatter pieces across the surface and toss to coat.

2. breading

The goal here is to get all those little pieces of chicken coated in the breading mixture without having to handle them one-by-one which would take forever! The extra goal is a simple little trick that makes our popcorn chicken cook up extra crispy. 🙂

Bonus: Follow my left hand / right hand instructions so you don’t end up with batter-caked fingers!

Also – see Ingredients section above for comment on “crumbing” v “breading”. Because it’s being raised!

1. Scoop up 3 tablespoons of the marinade out of the chicken bowl. (This is for the extra-crispy trick).

2. Dribble this marinade across the surface of the flour mixture.

3. Mix / rub the marinade through the flour so you get lots of little clumps of flour. These become extra crispy bits on the chicken, it’s so good! Excellent crispy chicken trick picked up Kenji’s Fried Chicken recipe on Serious Eats.

4. Drip – Using your left hand (I’m right handed), pick up a handful of chicken and let the marinade drip through your fingers.

5. Scatter the chicken across the surface of the flour bowl. This is our opportunity to separate each piece of chicken because once coated with the flour, they won’t stick together.

6. Spoon – Using your right hand, spoon flour over the chicken then, still with your hand hand, use your fingers to toss and press flour onto the chicken.

7. Shake – Pick up some of the chicken (still with your right hand) and give it a shake to remove most of the excess flour.

8. Spread the chicken on a tray. Leave the excess flour on the tray, we will need it to do a last minute toss just before cooking. Repeat with remaining chicken.

AND VOILA! Did you notice how your hands aren’t caked with sticky thick flour batter!? 🎉

3. COOKING THE POPCORN CHICKEN

Cooking vessel – I find it easiest to use a large saucepan or small pot around 20cm/8″ in size though if you are a confident cook you can use a larger one around 25cm/10″. Popcorn chicken only takes a couple of minutes to cook so if you use a large cooking vessel you need to move faster – see FAQ for more information.

Shallow frying – Because the pieces of chicken are so small, we don’t need much oil. Just 2.5cm / 1″ depth in whatever cooking vessel you are using. It will range from ~2 1/2 cups (625 ml) for a 20cm/8″ small pot to 3 1/2 cups (875 ml) for a 25cm/10″ pot.

1. Final toss / separate – The chicken will sweat and the white flour coating will darken as it sits around on the tray. So if yours has darkened a bit, give the chicken you’re about to cook a little toss on the tray in the excess flour to re-coat them and make them white again, and to ensure they are not sticking together.

2. Use scooper for safety (or hands, if you’re a pro) – Then use a large scooper with large holes (rather than fine mesh) to pick up a handful of chicken pieces and shake off excess flour (ie falls through the hole).

   Hands – If you’re a confident cook, feel free to use your hands but be careful of oil splash-age. I prefer to use hands because then I can drop the chicken in one-by-one to ensure they aren’t sticking together.

3. Lower the chicken into oil pre-heated to 180°C/350°F using the scooper.

   Use a food thermometer to test the oil temperature, or see recipe notes for how to test the oil temperature if you don’t have one.

4. Fry 2 minutes – Then cook the chicken for 2 – 2 1/2 minutes until the surface is crispy and golden. Agitate the chicken halfway through the cook time and separate any sticking together.

5. Scoop – When the chicken is done, scoop it out.

6. Spread – Then spread it out on a paper towel lined tray, to absorb excess oil. Then continue to cook remaining chicken, remembering to do a little final flour toss on the tray before cooking each batch!

Oven and air fryer methods – please see the FAQ for why it is not recommended for this particular recipe without alterations which I haven’t figured out yet!

Matters of serving

Dipping sauce

And though I can assure you that this popcorn chicken is flavoured enough and crispy enough on the outside and juicy enough on the inside to want to shovel handfuls into your mouth plain, a little dipping sauce certainly never goes astray.

My favourite is Honey Mustard Sauce, pictured – 4 ingredient, 1 minute sauce (you understand why it’s a dipping fave!). Use what you want – ketchup, BBQ, sweet and sour, sweet chilli. It’s chicken. You can pretty much use any dipping sauce for it!

HOW TO SERVE IT

Tumble it all into a big serving bowl and let everybody dig in (hands!) and help themselves.

Or, serve it like movie popcorn in paper cups or popcorn boxes, if you’re feeling extra fun! I picked up the ones pictured in this post from a discount store, they were $2 for 5 (here they are on Amazon Australia).

WHAT TO SERVE WITH POPCORN CHICKEN

For a real KFC experience at home, complete your meal with a side of homemade slaw (here’s my favourite no-mayo Slaw, if you want a lighter option) and KFC copycat potato and gravy (makes an excellent dipper too!).

Else, some other excellent side options include baked potato wedges, homemade fries or crispy smashed potatoes, plus a simple garden salad or any leafy greens tossed with my go-to simple salad dressing.

Hope you enjoy! Oh, and a little trick I shared with a reader I bumped into yesterday when I told her I was sharing this today (hi Charlotte!) – use leftover marinade and flour to cook up some little lightly steamed cauliflower florets. It looks just like the chicken. What a way to sneak vegetables into the kids, eh?? A popcorn box filled with a mix of popcorn chicken and popcorn cauliflower!! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

And watch me make it! Shout out to Kenji’s Fried Chicken recipe on Serious Eats for the excellent extra crispy trick that I apply to all my fried chicken recipes (here, here and here).

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Popcorn chicken – better than KFC!

Author: Nagi

Prep: 25 minutes mins

Cook: 10 minutes mins

Total: 35 minutes mins

Mains, Snack

Southern, Western

Servings4 as a meal

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. This is better than KFC because it’s actually crispy – KFC popcorn chicken is not, it’s soft and greasy! The flavour is remarkably similar with my copycat of the KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices. It’s ridiculously good – you want to shovel it in your mouth by the handful!Relatively straightforward and on the easy end of frying recipes because it’s just shallow fried and takes just 2 minutes. Serve in cups or mini popcorn boxes with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce for a fun meal or snack that everyone loves! Air fryer and baking options – not covered in this recipe, please see FAQ above for reason.

Ingredients

CupsMetric

Popcorn Chicken Breading (Note 4):

KFC 11 Secret Herbs and Spices (Note 4):

Dipping sauce suggestions

Cook ModePrevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

Marinade chicken:

• Cut chicken into small 1.25 cm / 1/2″ cubes.

• Marinade – Whisk marinade in a bowl. Add chicken, stir to coat, then refrigerate for 1 hour (no longer than 24 hours).

Prepare breading:

• Breading mixture – Mix together Breading and all KFC Secret Herbs & Spices in a large bowl (larger surface area = coat more chicken in one go).

• Clump = crunchy! Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the Marinade into the flour mixture. Use your fingers to rub in so you get lots of small lumpy bits all throughout (this fries up into extra crunchy bits, secret trick!).

Prepare to cook (work in specified order of steps):

• Frying vessel (Note 5) – Large saucepan / small pot ~20cm/8″ recommended for beginners. Large pot / deep skillet ~24cm/9.5″ or larger recommended only for capable cooks. Use heavy based (not light and flimsy), for safety and heat retention.

• Preheat oven to 50°C/125°F, to keep cooked chicken warm.

Breading (PS I’m right handed):

• Bread chicken – Pick up a handful of chicken from the marinade with your left hand, then scatter across surface of the flour mixture. Spoon flour over chicken then toss with the spoon to coat.

• Shake off excess (use right hand) – Separate the chicken pieces and press the clumpy flour onto the chicken pieces. Pick up a handful, shake excess flour off through fingers (no need to be thorough). Spread chicken on tray. Repeat with remaining chicken. Voila! No clumpy flour-batter-caked fingers!

• Separate and last minute coat (Note 6) – Just before frying, use your fingers to briefly re-toss the chicken you’re about to cook in the residual flour on the tray (to freshen up the flour coating, as it sits around it sweats/gets wet), and make sure the chicken pieces are not stuck together.

Frying:

• Line a tray with paper towels (for draining cooked chicken). Preheat oven to 50°C/125°F to keep cooked chicken warm.

• Heat oil – Add oil to your pot to a depth of 2.5 cm / 1″. Heat it over medium high to 180°C/350°F (Note 7).

• Fry 2 minutes – Pick up some chicken and put it in a spider with large holes (Note 8) and shake so excess flour falls through (or use hands to shake off excess flour then then transfer into a scoop to lower into oil). Carefully lower chicken into the oil. Fry for 2 – 2.5 minutes until golden, separating any that get stuck together around halfway through.

• Drain – Scoop out with a spider and spread on a paper towel lined tray Keep cooked chicken warm in the oven and cook remaining chicken.

• Serve chicken – in popcorn boxes, for extra fun factor! – with dipping sauce of choice (pictured, Honey Mustard).

Recipe Notes:

Classic sides: Fries, coleslaw, KFC copycat potato and gravy, steamed or grilled corn, cornbread or soft rolls, fries, potato salad, Southern Baked Beans!

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1. Chicken – This can really be made with any cut of chicken meat. I use breast because it’s easy to cut into small cubes. Lean, but the marinade protects it from drying out.
2. Buttermilk – Substitute with 1/4 cup yoghurt whisked with 1/2 cup milk (ends up buttermilk-like), or make your own buttermilk: add 3/4 tsp white vinegar into 3/4 cup of milk, stir, leave 10 minutes. Will curdle. Use per recipe.
Non dairy – Use plain flavoured non dairy yogurt and milk (quantities as above), and it the yogurt is not acidic at all like dairy yogurt is, just add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar.
3. Salt – Halve if using fine table salt, increase by 2% if using salt flakes (and crush with fingers to make it finer).
4. Breading notes:

• Cornflour makes it crunchy while flour makes it fry up golden (cornflour stays white). 
• Add 1 tsp cayenne pepper for hot & spicy!
• Spices – Fine if you’re missing one or two, maybe even 3, there’s plenty of other spices to keep it flavourful. See ingredients section for what to substitute with for each spice.

PS In my world, crumbing = breadcrumbs, crushed cornflakes etc, breading = flour coatings. Mash up of Aussie/US culinary speak that seems practical to me, and also, I just can’t use the word “crumbing” when there’s no breadcrumbs involved!!
5. Frying vessel – You’re working with volume here, lots of little pieces of chicken that cooks fast. Up and coming cooks – I recommend using a smaller cooking vessel (~20cm/8″) and cooking in smaller batches which is easier, less speed to worry about. Capable cooks – feel free to use a larger cooking vessel ~25cm/10″. With a skillet, you can cook all the chicken in 3 batches in 6 minutes flat!
6. Batch cooking – Depending on how fast you work and how well your chicken is flour coated, the chicken may sweat (ie change from white to dark) while it is waiting around on the tray. If so, just toss the chicken in the flour on the tray just before frying.
7. Oil temperature – use a thermometer to check the temperature. If you don’t have one, test by throwing in a lump of breading – should sizzle straight away but not burn quickly. OR stick a bamboo chopstick in and touch the base of the pot – if bubbles rise from floor of pot, oil is hot enough.
8. Spider – Cooking utensil that is like a handheld colander / wire mesh, very useful for scooping things out of water / oil. See pictures in post / video for the one I have.
If you don’t have one with holes large enough for the flour to easily fall through, shake excess flour off before transferring into a regular finer mesh spider or slotted spoon before lowering into the oil.
9. Recipe source: Some techniques adapted from Kenji’s recipe on Serious Eats with some steps simplified / amended based on my testing. Spices are my KFC copycat “11 secret herbs and spices” mix.
Leftovers will keep for 3 to 4 days in the fridge but crust will lose crispiness and inside is not as juicy as freshly cooked. Reheat with a quick 30 second fry or 3 minutes in a very hot oven.
Oil reuse – Oil gets infused with the seasoning flavour so while it’s ok to re-use once or twice more, be mindful that whatever you cook will be infused with the seasoning flavour from this recipe. I used the same oil to make this same popcorn chicken 3 times. I let the flour bits settle then poured off the clean oil, and topped up a bit as needed.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 100gCalories: 280cal (14%)Carbohydrates: 9.4g (3%)Protein: 21.8g (44%)Fat: 17.3g (27%)Saturated Fat: 3.7g (23%)Sodium: 589mg (26%)Sugar: 1.5g (2%)

Keywords: KFC popcorn chicken recipe, popcorn chicken

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

Re-use the oil to make these!

These have similar / their own strong seasoning so it’s ok to use the oil from this recipe for these. Don’t re-use the oil from Popcorn Chicken to make things like Churros, Beer Battered Fish, Honey Chicken etc as it will alter the flavour of the batter.

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Life of Dozer

Dozer’s routine to address his old-man medical condition includes 30 minutes after each meal on his digestion bed which is set on an incline so gravity can help his food move down into this stomach. He always starts off so well, perfectly position:

Then about halfway through, he starts to get bored and squirm off….

And by the end, I usually find him like this:

If he could talk, I’m sure he’d be declaring “I’m still technically on the digestion bed, mum! My right paw is!”😂

Background: Dozer’s digestion bed is my practical/viable alternative to a feeding chair that hold dogs in an upright position during and post eating – too hard for a large dog like Dozer, and also his spine is not strong enough! It’s a routine to address side effects of his laryngeal paralysis condition which he was diagnosed with earlier this year. I’m so happy to be able to tell you he recovered and is enjoying life to the max, albeit a little slower these days as a senior dog (he’s 12, almost 13!), he’s in remarkably great condition and still able to enjoy romping at the beach. I’m so grateful he’s ok! ❤️

Proof of beach romping: