Taiwanese Fried Chicken
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 time
- 10 min
- Cook time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicke thighs (cut into 1 inch, bite size pieces (about 3 to 4 chicken thighs))
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce ((we used light sodium soy sauce))
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- ½ teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn (ground (optional))
- ½ teaspoon white pepper (plus more for finishing)
- ½ cup sweet potato starch (preferrably the coarse version*)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (plus more for finishing)
- 15 leaves Thai basil (more or less to your preference (optional))
- Oil (for frying)
Instructions
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
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!*
- 5
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. *
- 6
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.*
- 7
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.
- 8
Serve:Arrange the Taiwanese fried chicken in a serving bowl/plate along with the fried basil leaves. Enjoy while hot!