Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken

Before You Start

Sweet potato starch, not cornflour. It is not substitutable here.

Squeeze the coating on and rest it 10 minutes before frying.

Basil for eight seconds. Bone dry, or it will spit dangerously.

How to Make Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken

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1. Mix all the marinade ingredients and fold the chicken through. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

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2. Put the sweet potato starch in a wide bowl. Take a piece of chicken straight from the marinade, drop it in the starch and press hard, then squeeze it in your fist so the starch clumps.

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3. Set the coated pieces on a rack and leave 10 minutes — the starch will hydrate and turn from white to translucent in patches. That is what you want.

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4. Heat the oil to 160°C / 320°F and fry in three batches for 4 minutes each, until pale gold and cooked through. Drain on a rack.

   Mark done Start 4 min timer

5. Raise the oil to 190°C / 375°F and fry each batch again for 60 to 90 seconds until deep golden and audibly crisp.

   Mark done Start 60 sec timer

6. Make sure the basil leaves are bone dry, then drop them into the hot oil for 8 seconds only. Lift them out immediately — they will be crisp and still green.

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7. Tip the chicken into a bowl, add the salt, white pepper and five spice mix, and toss hard.

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8. Add the fried basil, toss once more, and serve at once with extra chilli powder if you like.

   Mark done

Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Why the Method Works

Sweet potato starch is coarser than cornflour and fries into a knobbly, glassy crust that stays crisp far longer — it is the single ingredient that makes this taste like a night market rather than a nugget. The basil goes into the oil for eight seconds at the end, which crisps it without turning it black.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

Best immediately. Recrisp leftovers at 200°C / 392°F fan for 6 minutes; never microwave.

Swaps and Variations

• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Good With

• A cold beer
• Bubble tea
• Pickled cucumber

Questions and Answers

Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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