Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken 鹽酥雞

🧂 Ingredients

• 2-3 Large chicken thigh meat

  , boneless with skin (approx. 1 – 1 ½ lbs)
• 1 Large egg
• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• ½ tsp White pepper powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp 5 spice powder
• 1-2 clove Garlic

  , crushed (or ½ tsp garlic powder)
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 cup Sweet potato starch

  aka tapioca starch
• 2-3 cups Oil

  for deep frying
• 1 bunch Thai basil

  (approx. 20 leaves)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 1 tsp White pepper powder

Instructions

• 1 Mix 1 tbsp soy sauce, ½ tsp white pepper, ½ tsp salt, 1 clove of crushed garlic,
  1 egg and 1 tbsp cooking wine into mixing bowl to make marinade
• 2 Cut chicken into approx. 1 ½ ”x 1 ½ ” pieces, add to marinade. Marinate for 15
  minutes. Each piece of chicken should be completely covered with the egg
  marinade or else the starch will not stick
• 3 Spread 1 cup of sweet potato starch onto plate evenly
• 4 Place each piece of chicken into the starch. Each piece of chicken should be
  completely covered with starch
• 5 Wait 5-10 minutes for the starch to melt onto the chicken this way the starch
  won’t fall off as easily when frying
• 6 Heat oil to 150˚C or 300˚F
• 7 Combine ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp 5 spice powder and ½ tsp white pepper powder in a bowl
  and set aside
• 8 Add basil leaves to oil when oil is heating up This is to infuse basil aroma
  into the oil When the leaves start to bubble around it, oil should be ready and
  remove leaves from oil
• 9 Place the pieces of chicken into oil and fry for 2 minutes or light yellow
  color, move the chicken around for even cooking. Do not overcrowd to prevent
  chicken from sticking together. Remove from oil
• 10 Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Turn up the heat of the oil to approx. 375
  degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the chicken pieces again for 1-2 minutes until golden
  brown. Prior to removing chicken from the oil, put basil leaves into oil, stir
  for 5-10 seconds and remove chicken and basil from oil
• 11 Sprinkle with the salt mixture set aside earlier and mix gently

Nutrition Info