Salty with a hint of sweetness, Taiwanese popcorn chicken is a popular dish at restaurants; air fry chicken with just a small amount of oil for a healthy meal anytime!
Notes for Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
- Use any type of basil, but Thai basil has a bold, anise-like flavor that complements the chicken nicely.
- Brining the chicken beforehand is optional. Brining adds extra time to the preparation process, but helps meat turn out more tender and less dry. A standard brining procedure is described in this post “How to Brine Meat.”
- Tapioca starch is sticky, so the chicken can adhere easily to the air fryer baking pan unless greased or lined with parchment paper. Likewise, keeping the chicken pieces spaced apart prevents them from sticking together on the baking pan.
- Optionally, you can remove or replace the parchment paper in the air fryer before flipping the chicken pieces. This ensures that the flipped chicken pieces are not sitting on a damp sheet of parchment paper.
Equipment
- Air fryer baking pan
- Cuisinart® Digital Air Fryer Toaster Oven
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (Air Fryer)
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Loading...Salty with a hint of sweetness, Taiwanese popcorn chicken is a popular dish at restaurants; air fry chicken with just a small amount of oil for a healthy home meal anytime!
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb. chicken cut into 1” pieces
- Chicken marinade:
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 3/4 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
- 3/4 tsp five spice powder
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/8-1/4 tsp salt
- For the coating:
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt (or 1/8 salt + 1/8 garlic powder)
- 1/8 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
- Seasoning and basil:
- Handful of basil leaves
- 1/4 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1-2 tbsp. oil
Instructions
Marinate the chicken. In a container place chicken and add minced garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce, five spice powder, white pepper and salt. Toss chicken with marinade ingredients until chicken is coated and ingredients are well combined. Set aside or refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours for best taste.
In a small bowl make the seasoning. Combine ¼ tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder and ¼ tsp salt. This may be more seasoning than needed.
Line an air fryer basket with parchment paper. Sprinkle a pinch of seasoning over the parchment paper.
In a bowl combine tapioca flour, garlic salt and Sichuan peppercorn powder. Place chicken into the flour mixture and coat each chicken piece completely. Place chicken pieces spaced apart, without touching, on the parchment paper.
Baste chicken pieces lightly with oil and sprinkle a few pinches of seasoning over the chicken.
Air fry for 12 minutes at 375F. Flip chicken pieces and sprinkle with seasoning (optionally, you can remove or replace the parchment paper with a new, dry sheet). Air fry at 400F for 6 minutes. Repeat in batches if necessary.
Toss basil with oil and a pinch of seasoning. Place basil in air fryer basket and air fry 1 minute at 400F.
Gently toss chicken with basil, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Tapioca starch is sticky, so chicken can adhere easily to the air fryer baking pan unless greased. Take care to space chicken pieces apart so they do not touch and stick together on the baking pan.
Optionally, you can remove or replace the parchment paper in the air fryer before flipping the chicken pieces. This ensures that the flipped chicken pieces are not sitting on a damp sheet of parchment paper.
