Popcorn Chicken
“Kids love fast food” – that’s a common perception that I strongly disagree with. Given so many healthy choices around, do I have to introduce this unhealthy stuff to my son? No, of course I don’t. To set a good example to my son, my hubby and I have decided to stop eating fast food since we moved to Singapore five years ago. For that, my son also happily follows our footsteps. The only exception was that he had a KFC happy meal during his school field trip, which is pretty fine for him to enjoy this once-in-a-while treat. Even after that, he never requests to go to fast food restaurant. I’m really glad that he can understand and fully support our stand.
Although I dislike those deep-frying, unhealthy fast food, I do welcome the idea of creating healthy “fast food” for my family. These baked popcorn chickens are one low-in-fat “fast food” version that I can’t wait to share with you. We named it popcorn chicken because they resemble KFC popcorn chicken. How close they are to the real one, I will leave it to your own judgement.
These popcorn chickens are made of bite-sized chicken pieces. They are pounded and lightly marinated for a tender and tasty inside, and then breaded (or double-breaded) with cornflake crumbs, cheese and spices for more irresistible tasty and crispy crunch. The way to assemble them is extremely simple and straight forward, just like how I did for my oven baked fish fingers. You may get your kids to help out as this is such a fun and interesting baking activity. A great parent-and-child bonding too!
When served warm, these popcorn chickens are so moist, delicious and super crunchy. I have made them many times and they remain popular with my family. Served with dips, it makes a superb finger food for kids. They also make a good brunch for the whole family during weekends.
Get the recipe and step by step tutorial at PAGE 2 BELOW.
48 Comments
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Sweet! Hope to try out this recipe soon over the year-end hols. Thanks for sharing again. BTW, I still haven’t try out your biscotti…oops.
Ling: That will be a fun holiday activity for parent and child. Happy Trying!!
mmmmmm, this is my kids favourite….mine too…lol!
Peteformation: Yeah, a great hit for everyone!
U know what, I am a big fan of popcorn chicken!! Lovely clicks!
MyCookingHut: Do give it a try! Thanks for your compliment!
These popcorn chicken are perfect. I’ve never thought of making them at home and my family seldom eat fast food as well.
Good these goodies are oven baked and is a much healthier version compared to the fast food version. Can’t wait to try this.
Amy Tong: Do let me know how it turns out.
OMG such a cute post!!! My husband LOVES popcorn chicken. I’m going to check the recipe now.
Nami (JOC): Thanks!! I’m sure your two little tots will love it too.
Omg, cant take my eyes from those attractive popcorn chicken.
Priya: Hahaha! Seriously addicted!
[...] I am making this for tea tomorrow and I am already drooling. HOLY FREAKIN CHICKEN, I think I might die of happiness if I found a box of this. Bless you, Food4tots, for this recipe. [...]
Lovely! I bet my son will love this to bits!
Alice: Oh really? You got to do it fast!!
my most wanted ever, yummmm…
Willyn: Now, you can have this homemade version… and best ever too!
OOo, lovely. Good idea with cornflakes. I tend to use the leftover crushed up bits of weetabix for my chicken nuggets – only sometimes there are raisins left in there and it ends up tasting a little weird. Love your popcorn chicken – oven cooking is nice and healthy too.
Wokandspoon: Thanks!! Give it a try! Hope your kid loves it as much as we do!
Is there anything else I can substitute for the oyster sauce?
Angela: There is no direct substitute for oyster sauce. But you can try to replace the amount with light soy sauce. Hope it helps!!
This looks really tasty!
Elaine: Thanks!! Do give it a try!
your cooking is far superior to the fast food sold outside =)
Noobcook: Thanks!!
This looks so good, it’s making me hungry.
Megan: Thanks for your wonderful comment.
Hello,
I loooove your blog. Saddly I have not being very successful at none of the recipes.
We’ve been living in Pakistan for a while and it is HARD to find really good and trustworthy scale to weight all the ingredients.
Is there a way to get the version in cups/tablespoon etc of the ingredients? Any unit converter easy to use? Please let me know.
Thanks!
Karla: Thanks for your lovely comment. You can try the following links for the conversion:
a) Diana Desserts: http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/tools.measures/Measures.cfm
b) Joy Of Baking: http://www.joyofbaking.com/ConversionsEquivalencies.html
Hope it helps! Happy trying!
Tried this and love it. I have half a box of cornflakes left and decided to try this recipe. I have most of the condiment n spices from other of your recipes I had tried and I must say all e recipes I have tried from this website are really easy to follow and I always end up with “good endings”. Thank you so much for helping a newbie cook like me… Keep up the good work!
Noon: Thanks for sharing your kind feedback. So glad it’s up to your expectation. Thank you for your words of encouragement!!
I like to add that the chicken is juicy and moist on the inside right after its done. Best eaten straight away!
Noon: Yup, you said it all!!
Hi, can I ask how to spray or drizzle oil before putting in oven?
Can wait to try your recipe
Thks!
Lux: Some use cooking spray. For me, I use my baking brush to drizzle the oil. Happy trying!
no kidding, really looks tasty, i’m craving right now
I think I can consume a box of it..Mmm..gonna be making it this Xmas 
Wilyn: Thanks! Hope you will love it!
Emma Loved these!!! Thanks for sharing great recipes.
Karla: Thanks for sharing your feedback!! So glad to hear that!
[...] Food-4tots.com [...]
Many thanks for the recipe! I tried it today and they are very tasty. Only thing is they are not crispy. Is there any tips to make them crispy? Not sure if it is because I left the chicken in the cornflakes for too long :p It gets really messy as I did the coating :p
Baking Scientist: Did you try double breading for extra crunchiness? Use a tong to do the coating so that it won’t be a mess.
I didn’t try double breading.. okok shall try that next time
I used a pair of chopsticks to do the coating and the chopsticks were coated and it was messy in the end :p hehe.
Baking Scientist: Don’t worry, it happens to me too. If the chopsticks are getting messy, use kitchen paper to wipe away the coating that stick on them.
I tried this last night with the help of my 4yo and we had so much fun! The popcorn chicken did not turned out as crispy as we thought it would be and the breading wasn’t tasty. Not sure why, I tried your fish fingers and they were lovely tho. We did not double bread them as we were getting hungry
Using tong is such a great tip.
Nezzy: Glad to know that you have great fun making these popcorn chicken. Did you omit anything from my recipe? You can try double-breading the chicken in your next attempt. Make sure your cornflakes crumbs are not too small. Hope it helps!
Just tried this awesome recipe! I needed a recipe for chicken breast that i can rely on thats low fat and easy. This dish is one that i eat regularly now! thanks!
Smgoh: Thank you for your kind feedback! It’s great to know that you love it too!