What if you wanted to eat popcorn chicken, but wanted a healthy rather than deep fried treat? What if you wanted popcorn chicken not just in name, but literally speaking? Well these thoughts entered my mind a little while ago so I decided to try making a healthy, literal popcorn chicken. The result is this tangy baked popcorn chicken recipe that’s has some really nice flavours to it.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes, plus 2 hours marinating / Cooking Time: 20 minutes / Serves 2-3
Ingredients
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 10g tamarind paste
- juice of 1 lime
- 10ml extra virgin olive oil
- a pinch of salt
- x g popcorn kernels
- x g masa corn flour
- 2 egg yolks, whisked
Method
- Dice the chicken breasts into approximately 3cm pieces.
- Combine chicken, tamarind paste, lime juice, extra virgin olive oil and salt into a bowl. Mix well, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Pop x number of popcorn kernels in the microwave.
- Blend the popcorn in a food processor until it turns into crumbs.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and coat each piece with flour, then egg, then popcorn crumb
- Place the chicken evenly onto a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Enjoy individually, or with your favourite dipping sauce.
Notes
If you don’t have any masa, you can use regular white flour, the chicken just will just have a slightly less intense corn flavour. If you want things a bit crunchier, you can pan fry rather than bake the chicken.
I like to use my yoghurt Sriracha sauce with this popcorn chicken. You can find the recipe here.