Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken (Copycat Recipe)

If you have followed me for awhile, you know that I have a thing for remaking restaurant favorites and this Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken is my latest little science experiment 🙂 If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my Jack in the Box Tiny Tacos. It has become a reader favorite!

What is a “Copycat Recipe”

Simply put, restaurants guard their recipes for good reason. What food bloggers like myself do is break down the recipe and eliminate any fillers or preservatives from the list. Then, I attempt to recreate the recipe as close to the original as possible while taking steps to make it easy for the home cook.

History of Jack in the Box

If you aren’t familiar, or don’t live in a state where this fast food chain is located, you are going to love this recipe. Jack in the Box first opened back in 1951 and currently has more than 2,200 locations across the United States. Back in 2020, they added this limited time menu item. Made from 100% white meat chicken and served with Jack’s Good Good Sauce, its popularity has convinced the chain to bring it back every year since.

Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken Review

Of course, never having tried it, I had to give it a little taste test and review. The chicken is really tender and tasty. You can see flecks of pepper and other spices running through the crispy breading. That breading was something I really wanted to nail down and I have a little trick that worked like a charm!

The Good Good Sauce has a little bite to it that I wasn’t actually expecting. I then ultimately tested the sauce recipe three more times to get as close as possible because that tangy flavor is really unique and I wanted to get it right.

What is popcorn chicken?

Popcorn chicken are small, bite-sized pieces of chicken that have been breaded and fried. According to Wikipedia, the recipe was initially conceived by KFC in the late 1990’s and has since become widely available. In 2015, KFC rebranded them as “KFC Popcorn Nuggets”. In other countries, they may be better known as “Chicken Popcorn”.

What is Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken made of?

According to the website, they are made from all white meat chicken so that is what we are using here today. I used two large chicken breasts and cut them into 1/2″ pieces. I found that this was the average size with some smaller, a few larger in the restaurant’s version.

How to make Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken (but better)

To make this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• 2 Large Chicken Breasts, cut into 1/2″ pieces
• All Purpose Flour
• Corn Starch
• Baking Powder to give a little rise to the batter
• Salt
• Granulated Sugar
• Buttermilk (regular milk or even water would work in a pinch)
• Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• 2 Large Eggs, lightly beaten

How to create the breading mixture

Whisk together the eggs in a medium bowl and add your small diced chicken breast. To that, season really well with salt. This is the only chance you’ll have to season that chicken.

You’ll need your flour mixture (plus a bit more if the clumps get too big as you go along) and your buttermilk.

CHEF’S TIP! Remember that trick I mentioned above for the batter? I wanted to replicate that same look of the breading on Jack’s chicken and I did that first by whisking together the dry ingredients. I then added buttermilk and using my hands, started working the buttermilk into the flour.

You could also use milk or even water in a pinch to create this same effect. Jack’s batter has buttermilk, so I stuck with that. As you can see, the result is that craggily mixture with lots of little bits. When you get to frying the second batch, you may need to add a bit more all purpose flour just to keep those bits small.

Take the chicken from the egg mixture and go right into that craggily flour mixture. Give each piece a really good squeeze to make sure it adheres well.

IMPORTANT! Make sure your oil is very hot. Typically deep fry is 375 degrees but because the chicken pieces are SO small, we really need the exterior to get golden quickly. Therefore, I used a thermometer and brought my vegetable oil to 400 degrees.

Once golden, remove the chicken from the oil using a spider or slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Continue until you have fried all of the popcorn chicken.

How to make Jack in the Box Good Good Sauce Recipe

I took all of the ingredients listed on the package of Jack’s Good Good Sauce, eliminated anything that looked like a filler or preservative and also anything you likely wouldn’t have at home, such as tamarind concentrate. Ingredients are listed in the order of quantities used and as you can see, it’s wayyyy down there at the bottom. We’ll use Worcestershire and a squeeze of lime to mimic that same tangy flavor.

As mentioned above, I tested this recipe not once, not twice but FOUR times to try and get it right. Somehow, it always came out too sweet and it has a bit of a kick to it. Because it contains raw egg yolks and cornstarch requires heat to thicken, I did cook it for a few minutes before placing into my Nutribullet to incorporate some air. Once at room temperature, I think I came really close to the original so let’s get started.

To make this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• Vegetable Oil (because I am pretty sure you don’t have soybean oil laying around 😉
• Water
• Brown Sugar
• Tomato Paste
• Prepared Yellow Mustard
• White Vinegar
• Egg Yolks
• Salt
• Buttermilk (or regular milk)
• Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Cornstarch (used as a thickener instead of xanthen gum)
• Molasses
• Sugar
• Ground Celery Seed
• Worcestershire Sauce + Lime Juice (to substitute instead of tamarind concentrate to heighten tangy flavor)

I wanted to show you a comparison of my popcorn chicken right next to the one I got from Jack in the Box. I am pretty happy with those results and I think you will be too!

A dip in our copycat of Jack’s Good Good Sauce and a little bite to show you that tender white meat chicken inside. The secret really was to cook more quickly at that higher 400 degree temperature. The batter was crispy and craggily, just what I was going for. If you can see how tightly the breading adhered to the chicken, that was from the squeeze I told you to give the chicken while breading them 🙂

Did you make my Jack in the Box Popcorn Chicken Copycat Recipe? Leave a comment below and let me know what you thought. And if you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to check out some of my other copycat recipes such as:

• Jack in the Box Tiny Tacos
• Cheesecake Factory Fried Macaroni and Cheese Balls
• Chili’s Awesome Blossom Petals
• The Original Orange Chicken by Panda Express
• Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe
• Olive Garden Breadsticks Copycat Recipe

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