Easy Popcorn Chicken will be exactly what you need when you’ve got hungry people in your household. Great for snacks and dinner.
Fried chicken ranks pretty high on the list of the best comfort foods of all time. It’s honestly a lot of work to make fried chicken for the entire family and don’t even get me started on the mess that it creates.
Emmet loves to get popcorn chicken from the drive-thru and I have been known to snag a bite or two for myself. My homemade version is even better than take-out and it’s ready in less than 20 minutes!
I started by cutting up chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. I threw them into a bowl and poured buttermilk over the top.
I added flour and season salt to a plastic bowl with a lid, you know the kind you keep for leftovers.
I added about a dozen pieces of the buttermilk-coated chicken into the bowl of seasoned flour, placed the lid over the top and give it a good shake. This was the best for containing the mess. You can use a zip top bag too. I repeated with the remaining chicken and set it all aside while I heated the oil.
I cooked the chicken in 2 batches using my big cast iron skillet. Each batch cooked up in about 8 minutes and I drained them on on a wire rack as they came off the stove.
Dipping sauces could be their own food group at our house. Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce is always our top choice for popcorn chicken. My Sriracha Comeback Sauce is another favorite and you can’t go wrong with good old ranch dressing.
The guys were milling through the kitchen snagging bites as the popcorn chicken came out of the skillet. I was starting to wonder if I was going to get any or not. They are quite irresistible.
Most weekends I have to whole clan around and they are always hungry and very willing to be my taste testers. The Popcorn Chicken was a definite hit. But let’s face it, what’s not to love? Juicy chunks of chicken coated with a crispy crust and then dunked in sweet barbecue sauce, it is simply delicious.
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Easy Popcorn Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chicken Breast cut into bite-sized chunks
- 2/3 cup Buttermilk
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- 3 cups Vegetable Oil for frying
Instructions
- Place chicken pieces into a bowl and top with buttermilk, stir to coat.
- Add flour to a bowl with a lid or zip top bag. Add seasoned salt and stir until well combined.
- Add about 12 pieces of chicken to flour mixture at a time, cover and shake to coat. Shake excess flour from chicken pieces and set aside in a single layer.
- Place oil in a large cast iron skillet and place over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees.
- Cook chicken in batches, turning to brown both sides, about 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Place on a wire rack over a paper towel to drain.
- Serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauces.