Baked Popcorn Chicken
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A healthier alternative to the deep-fried version with the best crispy potato chip crust!! No one will believe that this is baked!
Nope. The title is correct. This is baked.
Yes, completely baked from 0 to 100.
The secret? The epic potato chip crust!
And the beauty of the crust is how many variations you can use since Kettle Brand has so many bold flavors – pepperoncini, sriracha, maple bacon, etc. – you name it.
I used sour cream and onion here but you know Sriracha is next on my list.
Then the pepperoncini….then the roasted garlic……well, let’s just say I’m making my way down the list to hit them all.
Baked Popcorn Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 2 cups reduced fat buttermilk
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cups crushed Sour Cream and Onion Kettle Brand® Potato Chips
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a cooling rack with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet; set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, buttermilk, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, to taste; marinate for at least 30 minutes. Drain well.
- Working in batches, dredge chicken in crushed potato chips, pressing to coat. Place onto the prepared baking sheet; drizzle with butter.
- Place into oven and bake, turning pieces halfway through, until crisp and cooked through, about 20-25 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Kettle Brand. As always, I only partner with brands that I love and truly believe in, allowing me to create more quick and easy recipes to get us through the week without breaking the bank. All opinions expressed are my own.
You always knocking it out of the park, and you nailed it again. I cannot wait to make these. They look so yummy and very tasty.
OMG yum!!!! I could snak on that allll day. amazing (:
I’m always looking for good chicken recipes that are not fried.
You could use corn flakes (crushed) and just add some onion powder in them for flavor.
Oh my goodness! These look so good. I especially love that they are baked instead of fried. We don’t generally fry anything at my house so this is perfect. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Here in Canada we have Miss Vickie’s chips which come in many delicious flavours including, for those of us who need to control salt intake, Unsalted. They should work beautifully with this recipe.
Hi, it’s delicious but it’s not baked if you’re using fried potato chips…sorry…
Yes, but the chicken is baked, right? 🙂
Love this recipe!! I tried them tonight but I had the same issue as another commenter– the potato chip breading fell off. :(. Any suggestions on how to avoid this. I was thinking if I blended the chips in a blender or food processor maybe? Thank you for posting such a delicious recipe!
These were so yummy and moist. Mine didn’t look as golden brown as yours but that might be because I didn’t have a cooling tray to cook them on. I used a broiler pan instead but they still turned out so tasty! I matched them with a copycat Chick Fil A Sauce and some french fries made out of daikon.
wish these actually turned out like the picture. coating just falls off when you flip them, so you end up with steamed little nubbins of chicken. boo.
These are amazing! Normally when I bake breaded chicken it comes out dry, but these were perfect! Thank you!
FYI- the reason these are so good is because the breading IS FRIED, NOT BAKED. Potato chips are already fried, which is why the breading tastes so good and crispy.
That’s totally fine- I’m all for a good fried coating. But don’t be fooled by the “healthy” claims in this post.
Stupid question….so I bake them on the cooling rack? Or on parchment paper?
You can bake these directly on a cooling rack that is placed on a baking sheet.
Looking forward to making these! Do you think halving the recipe would be okay?
Yes, absolutely.
Do you have to put a cooling rack on it?
A cooling rack will help suspend the chicken as they bake, significantly uping the crunch factor! 🙂
These look incredible Chungah! I can’t wait to try them.
Can you freeze these?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I made this last night with chicken breast chunks. Marinated in homemade buttermilk for about 3 hours. This was very very good. Chicken was crunch and tender and juicy inside. Only thing I would do different (and this is my fault) I would crunch up the chips a little bit more so they would be finer and would coat the chicken a bit more. Thanks for a great dish!!
This looks utterly delicious, but also potentially dangerous as I would gobble this up so quickly!
Just an FYI, kettle cook chips are still fried in oil, so the claim of “Yes, completely baked from 0 to 100” is a bit mis-leading. My daughter cannot have ANY fried foods, so we’re very careful and have to look for baked chicken recipes.
Anyway, LOVE your recipes, but I will modify to use baked chips. Just thought you might want to update for other people in our situation.