Texas Ditching Nuggets? Popcorn Chicken Makes a Big Comeback

If tiny bite-sized morsels of chicken breaded and fried to a golden brown is your jam, then you are in luck. Many in Texas are ditching the nugget and downsizing their chicken into popable popcorn-sized mini-chunks.

Popcorn Chicken was invented by the same guy who invented the Steak-umm. It was first marketed back in the early nineties at KFC.

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That same concept is popping up again in fast-casual restaurants all over. According to NRN.com, menus are starting to see more popcorn chicken than ever.

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Boneless battered chicken chunks deep-fried in oil are much more palatable when you call them popcorn chicken. In November of 2024, P.F. Chang's started offering Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken to its patrons.

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They use a five-spice seasoning dry rub with a highly battered chicken thigh in roasted guajillo chili and basil leaves. Popcorn chicken is usually made from chicken breast, not dark meat like the thigh.

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That could be the change it needed to be even more delicious. This is quite the elevation from an item that started life as KFC looking for something else to put in a cup to sell.

Popcorn Chicken Pops Up On More Menus

Research firm Datassential found that popcorn chicken is on 1.4% of restaurant menus in the US. That is a 53% increase over the past 4 years.

They also found it was known by 93% of the population, and 82% of consumers have tried popcorn chicken before. If you were thinking it was time for popcorn chicken to make a comeback, you were right.

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