Korean Inspired Popcorn Chicken

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

 

• 500 grams chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
• 150 grams Korean rice cakes
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup cornflour
• oil, for deep frying

Sticky Sauce

• 5 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

To Finish

• sesame seeds
• spring onion, finely chopped

Instructions

 

Preparing the Chicken

• Into a large mixing bowl, place the chicken, rice wine, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• In batches, coat each piece of chicken in the corn flour thoroughly, shake off any excess flour.
• Add some oil to a deep saucepan and heat it until it reaches 175 °C.
• Deep fry the rice cakes, in batches, for about 1 min each (until the outside is crispy). Take them out and set them aside on paper towel while you cook the remaining rice cakes.
• Deep fry the chicken, in batches, until golden and cooked through (this takes approximately 2-3 minutes). Take out the cooked chicken and set it aside on paper towel while you cook the remaining chicken. You can also double fry the chicken to make it extra crispy.

Finishing the Chicken

• Place all the sauce ingredients into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Ensure you stir constantly so it doesn't burn.
• Add the chicken and rice cakes and stir to coat.
• Transfer to a bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onion. Serve immediately.

Popcorn chicken seems to be one of these foods that is trending hot currently. It can be summarized as little tasty morsels of fried chicken, usually served with a tasty dipping sauce. This recipe takes the concept one step further by coating the fried chicken in a sticky sauce that has Korean inspired flavors. So now not only do we have tasty fried chicken, but we have an incredible sticky sauce coating the outside that just makes these bite sized treats even more irresistible.

Preparing the Chicken

The recipe starts by taking some chicken and cutting it into bite sized pieces. Either breast or thigh meat works for this. The diced chicken is then coated in a mixture of ground ginger, rice wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. The mixture is then covered and left to marinade in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Following the marinade, the chicken then needs to be coated in corn flour all over. I originally started out doing this by placing corn flour in a bowl and adding the chicken to coat in batches. These days I add everything to a large zip lock bag, seal the bag and toss it around to get everything coated. It has cut down the time to do this step considerably.

Cooking the Chicken

Find a large saucepan and add some cooking oil. I find rice bran oil is good here, it tends to have a neutral flavor. Fill the saucepan about halfway and heat it to a temperature of 175 °C. You don’t want to have too much oil, or you risk it spilling over when you add the chicken. A deep fryer could also be used as an alternative instead of a saucepan of oil.

Start by taking the rice cakes and cooking them in batches. Don’t add too many at a time or you will lower the temperature of the oil too much. You want to fry the rice cakes for about 1 minute each, until the outside is crispy. Once the rice cakes are cooked, remove them from the oil and place them on some paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Once all the rice cakes are cooked, repeat the process with the corn flour coated chicken. Again, do this in batches. The chicken should be cooked until its golden on the outside and cooked through in the middle, this takes about 2-3 minutes each time.

At this point, you may choose to fry the chicken a second time briefly, to give an extra crispy exterior, or you might wish to proceed directly to making the sauce

Finishing the Chicken

In a large saucepan, add some tomato sauce, sriracha sauce, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce and a small amount of sesame oil. Stir it constantly over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly.

Add in the chicken and rice cakes and toss to ensure everything is coated in the sticky sauce. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with sesame seeds and finely chopped spring onions. Serve immediately. I like to serve the popcorn chicken with a sriracha mayonnaise dipping sauce on the side.

Recipe Notes

• Korean rice cakes are typically found at Asian grocery stores. They come fresh or frozen. I tend to use the frozen ones, and I typically add them to the saucepan straight from the freezer. If you can’t find them, feel free to leave them out. Just add in extra chicken to keep the correct sauce ratio.