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Total time elapsed between seeing this recipe on Instagram and eating it: less than an hour. So simple and so good. Thanks!
Today’s post is sponsored by Kettle Brand Chips! Crunchy-fun times ahead.
Game day! …er, uh, more like food day!
Game day food day is my favorite kind of day. You know what I mean – those Sunday afternoons, sitting around in comfies, snacking on everything under the sun because “we’re watching the game.” For 12 hundred hours. I don’t know about the rest of the football-loving world, but this epic snacking-while-watching behavior is a core part of Midwestern culture. And being a Minnesota born and raised girl with a love of SNACKZ I guess can embrace that. 👅 I’m just so cultured, you know?
As is usually the case when I rebound back to everyone’s fave white meat, I feel the need to let you all know that there are only a few ways that I like to handle a chicken situation.
Number 1: coated in tomato butter sauce and nestled into a pile of pasta.
Number 2: shredded in a creamy chicken wild rice soup – which is conveniently also great for game day.
Number 3: swimming in a lemon butter sauce with capers.
Number 4: rolled up and stuffed with a creamy spinach ricotta mixture.
But today I introduce to you Number 5 on the list of Ways That I Eat Chicken:
Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites. 👇
What does this even mean? Popcorn? Bites? Chicken huh? Say what?
Lezz break it down. This is cross between a chicken strip 👏 and a piece of popcorn chicken 👏. And it’s a little spicy, if you want it to be.
How to choose, really? I mean, chicken strips have that awesome chicken that just pulls apart so perfectly for you, but the popcorn chicken has the adorably clever tiny-popper size, the great coating that is a little more substantial that the chicken strip, and most importantly: the ability to dip more frequently.
These Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites have the best of both – you still have the pull-apart texture of regular chicken strips, but you also get the one-and-done pop-in-mouth functionality of the popcorn chicken.
Better yet: we’re baking these little guys. Normally I’m not a big fan of baked chicken things that are supposed to resemble FRIED chicken things. It’s just… no. That generally does not lead anywhere fast.
But today I’m doing just that because 1) I like to break my own rules, and 2) with the introduction of some Kettle Brand Chips, we get just enough natural oil and crispiness to make the chicken feel and taste borderline fried. Friends, one thing I LOVE about Kettle Brand: their chips are made without MSG or preservatives. Hallelujah. Do you know how hard it is to find flavored chips without MSG? Thank you, Kettle Brand! So with the addition of these fabulously textured chips, the breading stays on the chicken really nicely and it truly resembles the texture and of the best fried popcorn chicken.
Hi, Kettle Chips! 👋
The flour and chips make something of a crust that the chicken gets breaded in, and then suddenly you find yourself staring at a pan full of these glorious little things and wondering if you will actually have any left to share with your football friends when this is all said and done.
Of course, for me, there’s always the sauce.
This sauce that you see pictured here is going to sound really weird when I describe it, but here goes: it’s this honey mustard sauce (made in 5 minutes YAAAS) and a little bit of ketchup. Combined. Oh my gosh, I’m definitely four years old. But it’s so weirdly good and you should try it if you might have an inner four year old that needs to be dealt with sometimes.
Popcorn chicken bites!
Football!
We are living in exciting times. 😍
Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Everyone LOVES these! Baked popcorn chicken that tastes fried! Easy recipe, ready in 30 minutes. SO yummy and fun to share!
Ingredients
- 3 cups Kettle Brand Chips – I used Buffalo Bleu flavor
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- a pinch of cayenne – about 1/4 teaspoon to start, more for additional spiciness (or omit if you don’t want them to be spicy)
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup half and half (milk works, too)
- 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- olive oil, salt, and pepper
- honey mustard dipping sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Crush the chips in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add 1 cup flour and cayenne and pulse again until incorporated into an even crumb-like mixture.
- Place remaining 1/2 cup flour in a shallow dish.
- Whisk eggs and half and half together in a shallow dish.
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Rub a baking sheet with olive oil to coat or place a wire rack on the baking sheet if you have one.
- Set up an assembly line of sorts: flour, egg mixture, kettle chip mixture. Dip each chicken piece in each bowl, moving through the assembly line and making sure it gets coated at each step – starting with flour, then egg, then crumbs. Place on the baking sheet.
- Bake chicken for 5 minutes, flip if needed, and bake another 5 minutes. I found my total time varied but generally ended up between 12-18 minutes to get the right amount of crisping and browning. These go perfectly with the honey mustard dipping sauce!
Notes
Nutrition does not include sauce and accounts for a little bit of extra breading that will likely get discarded.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 18 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: baked popcorn chicken, popcorn chicken, spicy popcorn chicken
Thank you to Kettle Brand Chips for sponsoring this post!
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I just made these Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites, and they were a hit at my gathering! The spice level was perfect, and the crunch was amazing. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe! Can’t wait to try out more from your blog!
Wow, these Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites look amazing! I love how crispy they seem, and the spice blend sounds perfect for a fun movie night snack. Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing!
This Spicy Popcorn Chicken Bites recipe looks absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to try it this weekend—perfect for movie night. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic and easy recipe!
I LOVE potato chips, thanks for receipe and picture, OMG
Yummyyy! This perfect… l like u so muchhh… Thanks for recipe…
Receita bem diferente acho que é muito boa meus filhos irão gostar muito.
I’m on a chicken kick! I am defrosting my chicken as I read this. It’s snowing here in the Northeast today but I am heading out for the Kettle Chips! I hope I can do this by lunch time! I’m giving this 5 stars before I try it. How can it be anything less?!
Enjoy, Jackie! 🙂
So I’m on a chicken kick!
I am defrosting my chicken as i read this! It’s snowing here today but I am running out for the kettle chips. Hoping this can be done by lunch time! Thank you! I am giving this 5 stars before I even try it, how can it be anything less?!
Hi! Do you think it’s ok to prepare the chicken the day before – including the chip crumbs – refrigerate overnight and then bake the next day? Or would the chips lose their crunchiness and it would just be a bad idea?
Hi, Jeanne! Good question – we have never tried it this way. I would caution against prepping ahead of time because you’ll risk losing the crunchy texture of the chips.
Yeah that’s what I figured – thanks for getting back to me so quickly!
I love the idea to add crushed potatoes chips, it adds probably a little oily touch for those beautiful baked chicken nuggets!
Thanks!
I made these tonight… Love the flavor! I couldn’t find the buffalo blue chips, so I went with jalapeño and my husband enjoyed it. Technical question… My bites turned out very floury and never really “browned” (as much as baked can brown) even though I cooked for longer than called for. Is there a way to fix this? Did I use too much chip/flour mix? Did I grind it too finely? Is it my oven potentially? I told my husband it was execution not the recipe 🙂 we will definitely try again!
Thanks, Carolyn! Sounds like you may have had too thick a layer of the breading. You could also try spritzing the outside of the breaded chicken with cooking spray prior to baking – this might add in just a bit of extra moisture.
I had that issue too so the second time I did them I cute way back on the flour but then the chops are so oily without the flour that they kind of processed into a clump. Soooo….for my 3rd attempt, I’m gonna bag the flour, mash my chips with a mallet and coat them that way. Just my thoughts, I don’t know that it’ll work but chicken coated in these chips is worth the trial and error!
Thanks for the feedback, Marci! Third time is the charm. 😉
I made these tonight. I was expecting something great because the chips were completely awesome. But they seemed too heavy on the flour. The flavor and crunch of the chicken seemed to get lost in all the flour. I’m gonna try them again but use maybe 1/4 cup of flour and cook the chicken directly on the pan instead of on the rack. I’m thinking the oiled pan may help them crunch up a bit better. Just some thoughts!
Thanks for the feedback, Marci.
These are dreamy!!! Love Kettle chips. THE BEST 🙂
Total time elapsed between seeing this recipe on Instagram and eating it: less than an hour. So simple and so good. Thanks!
Ha! That’s awesome, Tracy!
Definitely will be trying this out. I love chicken and I’m always surprised when I hear people say they do not like chicken because it’s boring; there are so many great recipes such as this one. This would be excellent in a buffalo po’ boy sandwich. hmmmmmm! lol. I also agree with the baking, so things are just supposed to fried but anything is worth a try. Many thanks in advance for posting.
Blessings….
Love the idea of the po’ boy sandwich! Yum! 🙂
I am oh so totally jealous of your Sunday game day experiences. As a huge sports fan (yes, it’s true… I watch waaaaay more sports on TV than shows on the Food Network!), that’s basically my idea of bliss. And combined with my infatuation with potato chips… I probably would never leave your house if you served these. But I promise I’d offer to do the dishes! 😉 They look absolutely amazing, and your photos are gorgeous like always Lindsay!
Thanks Amy! 😀 appreciate that!
This is a great alternative to McNuggets. Now you’re more assured they’re made from real chicken. I can serve this to the kids for lunch.
Glad you like them Jane!
Can you substitute sour cream instead of mayo for the honey mustard sauce or what would you recommend if you don’t like mayonnaise? Thanks!
Honestly, I’m not huge on mayo but the sauce really doesn’t taste like mayo at all IMO. You could use sour cream or Greek yogurt but it might be more tangy that you would want. Texturally it should work though!
Kettle chips are my absolute favorite, so seeing them as a coating for this chicken makes me want to cry tears of joy! 🙂
haha glad you love Kettle chips too!
These are actually genius.
Thanks Rachel!
OMG these look incredible!! Such a smart idea using the chips. I’ve made chicken fingers before with pretzels as a coating, but for some reason never thought of chips. Will have to try this ASAP. Also, nice choice of chip flavour. I love me some spice!!
I love the pretzel idea!!
Mind = blown.
I am a lifelong binge-eater of chips, but I honestly never thought of coating my chicken in them!! (My go-to is sweet sauce with crushed crispy fried onions: http://www.asamatterofsnack.com/crispy-onion-chicken/ )
I’m not a fan of spicy, but this would be so good with so many kinds of chips! Thanks for being alive, girl 🙂
I love that idea! The onions! Yum!
Yippee!!!
I have been waiting for more football friendly recipies!!! We just moved back home (where there is not an NFL team) but we fell in LOVE with the Texans when we were living in Houston, so every Sunday the family comes over to our place to watch the game (some days there are 9 of us). I have made your egg bake, your French toast muffin tin things (and the Sally’s baking addiction recipie that inspired them), and am sooo looking for more suitable recipies… This should help!!! Yay!!
Oh how fun! I’m not sure I know which SBA recipe you are talking about but she has tons of great recipes, doesn’t she? Love Sally. 🙂
Love your Blog! Can’t wait to add this one to the rotation!
Outnumberedlove.wordpress.com
Thank you Traci!
Yum! This chicken sounds amazing and who doesn’t love an excuse to eat chips for dinner ; )
Right? 🙂