Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken With Fried Basil Recipe • 4★

Published June 28, 2022

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

This spiced fried chicken is a staple in the night markets of Taiwan. You can order the chicken in cutlet form or small bites like these, which are served in paper bags with wooden skewers. This recipe uses a few spices that cannot be skipped: five-spice powder and white pepper. The Sichuan peppercorns are a bonus, adding a little numbing tingle. If you can’t find Sichuan peppercorns, use black peppercorns instead. You won’t get the same tingly feeling, but the chicken will be just as good. This fried chicken recipe happens to be gluten-free thanks to the tapioca flour, which imparts the dish’s signature crunch.

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1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

4 teaspoons kosher salt

6 cups vegetable oil

1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns or whole black peppercorns

1 cup/115 grams tapioca flour

1 cup fresh basil leaves

Step 1In a large bowl, season chicken thighs with soy sauce, sugar, five-spice powder, white pepper and 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside to marinate about 1 hour at room temperature, or refrigerate it overnight.

In a large bowl, season chicken thighs with soy sauce, sugar, five-spice powder, white pepper and 2 teaspoons salt. Set aside to marinate about 1 hour at room temperature, or refrigerate it overnight.

Step 2When ready to cook, fit a medium pot with a cooking thermometer and heat vegetable oil over medium to 350 degrees. Coarsely grind the peppercorns in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and mix with the remaining 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Set aside.

When ready to cook, fit a medium pot with a cooking thermometer and heat vegetable oil over medium to 350 degrees. Coarsely grind the peppercorns in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and mix with the remaining 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Set aside.

Step 3Wet your hands and toss marinated chicken with tapioca flour and about 1 tablespoon water until the tapioca flour looks like small beads and clings to the chicken. (Adding a little moisture to your chicken helps the tapioca flour form small beads that will also stick to the chicken and give it a very crunchy crust.)

Wet your hands and toss marinated chicken with tapioca flour and about 1 tablespoon water until the tapioca flour looks like small beads and clings to the chicken. (Adding a little moisture to your chicken helps the tapioca flour form small beads that will also stick to the chicken and give it a very crunchy crust.)

Step 4Working in batches, add the battered chicken to the hot oil and fry until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer fried chicken to a paper towel-lined plate and season each batch with peppercorn mixture.

Working in batches, add the battered chicken to the hot oil and fry until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer fried chicken to a paper towel-lined plate and season each batch with peppercorn mixture.

Step 5Fry basil leaves until translucent and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes, then scatter over the fried chicken. Serve with leftover peppercorn mixture for sprinkling to taste.

Fry basil leaves until translucent and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes, then scatter over the fried chicken. Serve with leftover peppercorn mixture for sprinkling to taste.

substitute for tapioca flour:

Corn starch Rice flour Arrowroot Potato starch Cassava flour

Using an air fryer for this recipe: I am taiwanese and we used to buy this street food a few times a week. I follow the recipe but use the air fryer instead of oil. I must say , the flavor is at least 85% correct vs a 70% for french fries on air fryer. The only thing I did differently was that instead of heating the oil, I used oil spray to coat both side of the chicken. Set it to 400° air fry mode and did 13 min in total. Be generous on the tapioca flour, made all the differences.

We made this recipe with half the salt and did a test of frying and baking the chicken. We sprayed a baking sheet with oil and lightly brushed the chicken again with oil once it was on the sheet. Baked at 425 degrees for roughly 20 minutes flipping pieces half way. It turned out beautifully and we couldn’t be more impressed!

This is a fairly easy recipe but it is way too salty using regular sea salt. Halved the amount and used low-sodium soy and it was still too salty so you'd have to experiment. Better to use breast for overnight marinade and thigh if you're doing a shorter marinade. The tapioca flour does create the 'beading' (crisy bits) and it was more like a karaage when using potato flour since it's silkier and hard to create that 'beading'.

I find that this is a forgiving and adaptable recipe. I went with a different flavor palate and it came off great--so that I really enjoyed eating the "popcorn" cold. Coconut aminos instead of the sugar and soy sauce and some thyme instead of the 5-spice powder.

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021582-taiwanese-popcorn-chicken-with-fried-basil