Chicken nuggets are great, but popcorn chicken is far superior when it comes to fulfilling your bite-size chicken needs. If you’re unaware of these needs just think about a salad. You can put chicken tenders on a salad, but you can’t use nuggets. I’m from Arkansas where rivers flow with ranch dressing and we don’t even put nuggets on salads.
There’s popcorn chicken, there’s the chicken tender, and then there’s chicken nuggets somewhere in no man’s land right in the middle.
Okay, now that you know my feelings on the superiority of popcorn chicken, allow me to introduce a fire (pronounced fi-yah) recipe for spicy popcorn chicken. Each serving has 105 calories, 15 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbs, and virtually zero fat. You’ll need three ingredients and a handful of spices, an oven or an air fryer, and about 25-30 minutes.
Spicy Popcorn Chicken Ingredients
Other than the spices, this spicy popcorn chicken calls for three ingredients:
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Tenderloins
- Honey
- Corn Flakes cereal
Easy enough, right?
And you might as well stock up on chicken tenderloins and make my naked chicken tenders while you’re at it.
Can I use chicken breast?
Totally. You could easily dice up some chicken breast like in my sweet chili air fried chicken and brussels sprouts or Ninja Foodi Greek chicken and veggies recipes.
Spicy Popcorn Chicken Seasoning
For the spices, I’ll first say that you could always use a premixed chicken seasoning to cut down on steps and ingredients. This would be a great way to reduce the spice without sacrificing flavor as well. If you’re rockin’ the recipe as-is, here’s everything you’ll need:
- Black Pepper
- Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Ground Mustard
- Salt
If you make my recipes often, there’s a good chance you have everything on the list except maybe the ground mustard. And if that’s the case, you can roll without it or try substituting something like turmeric.
Making Crispy Popcorn Chicken
The secret sauce to this spicy popcorn chicken recipe is the combo of honey and crushed Corn Flakes. The honey binds the chicken, spices, and crushed cereal and even lends a hint of sweet flavor. It also removes the need for any egg washes or messier set ups.
As you can see in the image below, this recipe can be as simple as adding the chicken to a large bowl and tossing with all the other ingredients.
Air Fryer Popcorn Chicken vs Oven Baked Popcorn Chicken
This spicy popcorn chicken works fine in both, but the air fryer is really the star for any type of fried style recipe.
If you’re unfamiliar with air frying, it’s an amazing cooking method that cooks food with circulated hot air instead of oil. It leaves foods extra crispy and without any of the added calories from frying in oil. Hashtag magic.
I’ve provided cook times for both the oven and air fryer, and I used a 5.8L Air Fryer. I mention in the notes that you may need to cook your popcorn chicken in multiple batches if your air fryer is too small. And with any equipment difference, cook times may vary.
Using the oven? Use a wire rack on top of a baking sheet like you see above so the chicken can get crispy on all sides. If you don’t have an oven safe rack, you can flip the nuggets halfway through cooking.
Ways to Use It
I have an entire category on my blog dedicated to frozen chicken breast bites recipes. This popcorn chicken would work for all those recipes like tacos, sandwiches, stir fries, protein bowls, and more. Here’s a handful of examples:
- chicken parmesan sandwich
- black pepper chicken and peppers
- chicken caesar wraps
- pesto chicken pasta
- chicken and protein waffles
Okay, you should be ready to get it poppin’ in here. When you try this spicy popcorn chicken, I wanna see it. Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff.
Spicy Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast or Tenderloins
- 1 Tbsp 21g Honey
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Ground Mustard
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 C 56g Corn Flakes Cereal, crushed
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with a wire rack if possible. Or if you’re using an air fryer, spray the basket with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix the spices in a small bowl. You’ll combine the chicken, spices, and honey in later steps.
- Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. (I calculated the nutrition facts on a batch of 48 pieces.)
- Add the Corn Flakes cereal to a resealable bag or deep bowl to crush the cereal. You want some flakes remaining so avoid blending or crushing too finely.
- For optimal flavor, place the chicken in a resealable container with the honey and spices to marinate for 20-30 minutes. To skip marinating, place the chicken pieces in a large bowl before coating them with the honey and spice mixture. Add the crushed Corn Flakes and stir until each piece is evenly coated.
- Transfer the chicken pieces to the baking sheet or air fryer. Bake for 13-15 minutes or air fry at 400 for 10-14 minutes start on the lower end if you’re using a different air fryer). Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to cook in two batches or slightly layer the chicken and shake halfway through frying. If you’re baking directly on a baking sheet, flip halfway through baking for crispier chicken. (If you cook smaller batches, reduce the cook time to 8-10 minutes and increase as needed to fully cook the chicken.)
Notes
- Each serving has 2 Smart Points.
- One serving is 8 pieces (may vary based on how many pieces of chicken you cut). Multiply the macros by 6 to find the recipe’s total nutrition facts.
- If you’d like to reduce the spice, cut the black pepper and paprika in half.
- To easily turn this popcorn chicken into a meal, check out my copycat KFC bowls recipe.
Made this last weekend and OMG, they were delish! Especially good with a little honey mustard. Mason, your recipes do not disappoint!
Purchased an air fryer recently and this was the first recipe that I made. These are so delicious and so easy to make.
I made these Sunday night-had to make in 2 batches and let’s be honest by the time the 2nd batch was finished the 1st batch was nearly gone. I had to refrain from eating all of them so as to not go over my protein macros for the day!! Used the remaining chickys in my sandwich Monday night. I ate it cold. It was STILL delicious. I’ll be making these weekly. ALSO–used Special K cereal instead and I’ll have to say, the sweetness w/ the heat was PHENOMENAL.
Made this last weekend and OMG, they were delish! Especially good with a little honey mustard. Mason, your recipes do not disappoint!
Purchased an air fryer recently and this was the first recipe that I made. These are so delicious and so easy to make.
I made these Sunday night-had to make in 2 batches and let’s be honest by the time the 2nd batch was finished the 1st batch was nearly gone. I had to refrain from eating all of them so as to not go over my protein macros for the day!! Used the remaining chickys in my sandwich Monday night. I ate it cold. It was STILL delicious. I’ll be making these weekly. ALSO–used Special K cereal instead and I’ll have to say, the sweetness w/ the heat was PHENOMENAL.
I made these last night in the air fryer and wow. The ingredient list is super short, I had everything (besides corn flakes) already. It was also so quick and easy. My fiancé’s exact words: “Add this to our menu”. So I think it’s a hit.
I made these last night in the air fryer and wow. The ingredient list is super short, I had everything (besides corn flakes) already. It was also so quick and easy. My fiancé’s exact words: “Add this to our menu”. So I think it’s a hit.
I am always skeptical about anything being “fried” in the oven because it’s never crunchy and I so patiently waiting on an air fryer that I had to use the oven .. anyways they came out AMAZING, they we crunchy and delicious, definitely becoming a staple for dinners .. can’t wait to try in an air fryer
Love this recipe! We baked them in the oven and even kept some as leftovers and they were still great the next day!