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Healthy Popcorn Chicken, made at home and ready in minutes just like the store bought kind, but without all the nasties!
Healthy Popcorn Chicken
In all honesty, popcorn chicken wasn’t even on my radar until fairly recently, perhaps the last couple of years or so. I didn’t know what it was when one of the kids came home having bought some popcorn chicken from that well known fast food place on the way home from school with some friends.
Yep, ahemmm, for all my effort the older ones are still drawn to fast food (and who can blame them really…) and so while I’ll accept this is gonna happen from time to time and i’m okay with that, I’m definitely going to be making my own and it’ll definitely be a Cleaned up version :)
Essentially, I think it’s the names these places give their food that’s as appealing as the taste of the food itself. I mean, popcorn chicken. It makes you want to eat it, right? I’d probably go more with mini chicken nuggets or teeny chicken tenders but hey ho, in the interests of recreating what they had, popcorn chicken it is. Just….healthy popcorn chicken!
The fast food version is one of those things I used to tell myself was ‘just chicken and a few breadcrumbs‘ back when I’d happily feed these types of foods to my small children.
But it’s not.
Apart from the fact the chicken is not the same chicken I buy and cook with now, there are so many additives, oils and unpronounceable ingredients, I knew I could make them better. And this recipe is the result.
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Perfect Party Food
This popcorn chicken, I’ve discovered is pretty awesome for parties.
If you’re making a spread and a whole load of finger foods, especially for little ones, popcorn chicken should be right up there on your list. Being miniature kids love to grab a few of these, they can be eaten in one (or two for tinies) and are the perfect size for dipping into a little pot of sauce.
Because they cook in a few minutes in a hot oven you can have a batch or two ready made in the fridge and just pop them straight into the oven just before you need them and they’ll be hot and crispy and crunchy for when the kids get hungry. And if they go cold? Doesn’t matter, cold chicken bites taste every bit as good. And they’re moorish so you can’t have just one, you keep on picking at them :)
More Healthier Fast Food Recipes
- Chicken tenders and fries
- Homemade fish fingers
- Clean eating fried rice
- Fussy eater Tacos
- Black olive homemade pizza
- 2 Ingredient real pizza dough
- Cheesy pizza swirls
Chicken For Popcorn Chicken
I use chicken breast meat to make popcorn chicken because it’s easy to cut up into the small pieces you need, it’s less fatty than other cuts and because it cooks so quickly it doesn’t dry out. While you could use other cuts of chicken, I recommend you stick with chicken breasts for this recipe.
If you have chicken thighs and would prefer to use those, you absolutely can but it’ll take a little more time to cut the meat and find the parts that you can use. I have tried this once with chicken thighs and found there was quite a lot of wastage, if I’m using thighs in a casserole for example, because they’re cooked in a sauce we tend to get every last bit of chicken off the thigh, whereas with popcorn chicken you’ll only be taking the pieces you can use.
Crispy Coating
The crunch and crispiness you get on popcorn chicken comes from the breadcrumbed coating you toss the chicken in before it’s cooked. I use Panko breadcrumbs to coat my chicken. You can buy Panko breadcrumbs in most supermarkets, and there was a time when Panko breadcrumbs were a little mystical to me. I didn’t know what they actually were and why they were different to usual breadcrumbs.
As it turns out, they’re breadcrumbs that have been dried out before you use them, the result being you get an extra ‘crunch’. While they’re easy to grab from the shops, wholemeal ones are not as easy to find.
If you want to make your own and have some time, simply process a loaf of wholemeal bread into large-ish crumbs and then either dry them out in a very very low oven for half an hour until they’re dry but not discolored, or leave them spread out on a tray in the open air for a few hours.
Once you have dried them out, store them in an airtight jar until you want to use them.
I add a few spices to the breadcrumbs before tossing the chicken in them for some added flavor, I use onion powder, a little sweet smoked paprika and garlic powder but this is optional. For very simple, basic popcorn chicken, leave out all the spices and simply coat the chicken and then use plain breadcrumbs.
What Goes Well With With Popcorn Chicken?
If you’re asking my kids, you’ll get a resounding ketchup! Being a finger food kinda thing these aren’t something that forms part of a meal and so they’re pick up finger foods. Anything you’d usually put on a party food table can go with these and sometimes you can just offer a little dish on their own as a snack.
If you’re feeling particularly virtuous you might add a salad or some veggies :)
You might like to give these with mayonnaise, tomato sauce or a honey mustard dip also goes really well.
How To Make Healthy Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 Skinless Chicken breasts Cut into popcorn sized pieces
- 1 Cup Panko bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 Eggs Whisked
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Sweet paprika
- ½ tsp Onion powder
- ¼ tsp Garlic powder
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190c or 375f depending on your oven and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Trim the fat off your chicken breasts and cut them into popcorn sized pieces
- In two bowls, add the whisked egg in one bowl and the flour into the other
- In a third bowl, add the breadcrumbs and spices, salt and black pepper and olive oil, and then using your fingers make sure the olive oil is worked well into the Panko crumbs
- Take each piece of chicken, dip it into the flour and then shake any excess flour off, dip it into the eggs and then the breadcrumb mix making sure the whole chicken piece of covered in breadcrumbs
- Place each piece of chicken on the baking sheet in a single layer and repeat until all the chicken is coated
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes, turning once in the middle to crisp up the underside and stop them sticking to the baking sheet
- Cut open the largest piece of popcorn chicken to make sure it’s cooked throughout and then serve!
Healthy Popcorn Chicken Recipe
Healthy Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 Skinless Chicken breasts Cut into popcorn sized pieces
- 1 Cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp Flour
- 2 Eggs Whisked
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Sweet paprika
- ½ tsp Onion powder
- ¼ tsp Garlic powder
- Salt & Black pepper To season
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 190c or 375f depending on your oven and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper
- Trim the fat off your chicken breasts and cut them into popcorn sized pieces
- In two bowls, add the whisked egg in one bowl and the flour into the other
- In a third bowl, add the breadcrumbs and spices, salt and black pepper and olive oil, and then using your fingers make sure the olive oil is worked well into the breadcrumbs
- Take each piece of chicken, dip it into the flour and then shake any excess flour off, dip it into the eggs and then the breadcrumb mix making sure the whole chicken piece of covered in breadcrumbs
- Place each piece of chicken on the baking sheet and repeat until all the chicken is coated
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes, turning once in the middle to crisp up the underside and stop them sticking to the baking sheet
- Cut open the largest piece of popcorn chicken to make sure it's cooked throughout and then serve!
