This taiwanese fried chicken is super crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and so flavorful and addictive. Everything a good fried chicken should be. No wonder it's one of the most popular street food of Taiwan's night market!
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time10 minutesmins
Marinate Time15 minutesmins
Total Time38 minutesmins
Yield: 2servings
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Ingredients
1poundboneless skinless chicke thighscut into 1 inch, bite size pieces (about 3 to 4 chicken thighs)
15leavesThai basilmore or less to your preference (optional)
Oilfor frying
Instructions
Marinate and batter the chicken:In a mixing bowl, add the diced chicken thighs, Shaoxing cooking wine, soy sauce, five spice powder, ground Sichuan pepper, and white pepper. Give everything a good mix and let it marinate for 15 to 30 minutes.
While the chicken is marinating,preheat your fryer to to 350°F or add about 2 to 3 inches of oil into a pot and preheat on medium heat the oil to 350°F. Adjust the heat to maintain the temperature as needed.
Add the sweet potato starch and salt to the chicken and mix well. It'll look like a dry batter with small clumps of sweet potato starch.
Optional: Fry the Thai basilQuickly drop the Thai basil leaves into the 350°F preheated oil and cover with a lid. Let the basil leaves fry for about 10 seconds, or until dark green, and remove promptly. Place them on paper towels to drain.*Please be very careful with this step! The basil leaves will pop pretty violently when fried, that's why we recommend placing a lid on it. Do skip this step if you feel uncomfortable doing so. Your safety is always first!*
For the first fry:Keeping the oil at 350°F, carefully place each chicken pieces seperately into the oil. Let the chicken pieces fry for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until the chicken pieces floats to the surface and feels kind of crispy. Remove the chicken pieces.*Fry the chicken in small batches if needed, but never overcrowd the pot. Overcrowding will lower the oil temperature too much and not fry the chicken properly. *
For the second fry:Increase the oil temperature to 400°F. Carefully add the Taiwanese fried chicken back into the oil and fry for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and completely cripsy. Remove from the oil.*Do note that starch does not brown the same as flour. So some bits may look a bit paler, and that is totally normal.*
Optional: To finish the Taiwanese fried chicken:Mix together 1 teaspoon of salt with 1 teaspoon of white pepper. Season the fried chicken pieces with the seasoning mix to your preference and toss to help evenly distribute.
Serve:Arrange the Taiwanese fried chicken in a serving bowl/plate along with the fried basil leaves. Enjoy while hot!
Notes
Please refer the post above for step by step photo, tips, and FAQs!
Cut the chicken thighs into 1 inch chunks. The size of the chicken is very important for the frying time. So please try your best to keep the chicken pieces as close to 1 inch as possible, or you'll have to adjust the fry time accordingly.
If you're frying on your stovetop, make sure to adjust the heat as needed to maintain the frying temperatures.
Coarse sweet potato starch is the best option for Taiwanese fried chicken. However, if you cannot find any sweet potato starch, tapioca starch would be the next best option.
Thai basil will pop when fried. Please be very careful! If you feel uncomfortable, do omit it. The Taiwanese fried chicken will still tastes just as good.