popcorn chicken

We usually have a holiday party, but this year the holidays were crazy.  Chanukah started with the CQ’s milestone birthday and then flew by and was over before we knew it.  We didn’t get our tree until the 22nd.  We barely had time to cram in our NYC holiday traditions — the Christmas markets, walks through pretty areas, picture-taking, and date-night.  Meanwhile, our absent holiday party was always in the back of our minds (and in the minds of some of our friends who jokingly asked if they didn’t make the list this year).

So, we made it happen this January and it went well.  We had a great and generous crowd (we are lucky to have such amazing friends) who brought incredible amounts of drinks and snacks.  The one thing we will change for our next party is the type of food we prepare and the quantity.

We skipped the corn dogs, beer cheese and hummus and we brought back the ever-popular quesadillas.  But we wanted something snack-y for the meat-eaters (not to mention that one of A’s coworkers asked with concern if everything at the party was going to be vegetarian).  And so we came up with the recipe below.

We’ve halved the quantities because although we had 45 people, 4lbs of chicken was unnecessary and very very time consuming.  Also, we made half of it “popcorn” style and cut it into small pieces, and the other half we cut into longer chicken-finger-style strips which is what we would recommend as a sanity and time saver.

Popcorn Chicken

(Easily serves a party of 25)

2 lb chicken (cut in 1″ cubes or longer strips 1″ x 3″)

2 c flour

2 eggs

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

Wash and dry the chicken breasts.  Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Then whisk the eggs together in their own separate bowl.  Meanwhile heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan.

all the spices and dry ingredients

whisked eggs

Chop the chicken to your desired size.  Dip the chicken in the egg and then in the flour mixture.  Fry up.

popcorn chicken, another view, more like chicken fingers here

epic amounts of popcorn chicken

The recipe itself is delicious and we recommend making it for dinner guests or for a larger party.  You may end up hot and sweaty and smelling like fried food, but they will get eaten and people will love them.

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