🍢 SNACK
Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken)
Bite-sized chicken thigh marinated with garlic, soy sauce and five-spice, coated in coarse sweet potato starch, double-fried until craggy and crisp, and tossed with fried basil and pepper salt.
Taiwanese · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~511 cal · 39g protein · 34g carbs · 22g fat · 0g fiber · 1g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Yan su ji means salty crispy chicken, and it is one of the defining snacks of Taiwan's night markets, sold by the paper bag and eaten on a skewer while walking, often with a bubble tea. Accounts of where it began differ; one traces it to Tainan in the 1960s, another to street vendors of the 1970s making their own take on Western fried chicken.
What sets it apart is the coating. The chicken is marinated with garlic, soy sauce, rice wine and five-spice, then tossed in coarse sweet potato starch, whose gritty grains form a light, lumpy, shatteringly crisp crust quite unlike flour or cornstarch.
The pieces are fried, rested and fried again very hot, then a handful of Thai basil leaves goes into the oil for a few seconds until glassy and crisp. Everything is tossed with a pepper salt of white pepper, five-spice and a little chilli and eaten at once.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 600 g boneless chicken thighs, skin on or off
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp five-spice powder (for the marinade)
- 1/2 tsp white pepper (for the marinade)
- 1 egg
- 150 g coarse sweet potato starchHard to find? 150 g potato starch or tapioca starch - works, but the crust is finer and smoother, without the knobbly crunch
- 1 l , for deep-frying
- 1 large handful Thai basil leaves, washed and dried completely
- 1 tsp salt (for the pepper salt)
- 1 tsp white pepper (for the pepper salt)
- 1/2 tsp five-spice powder (for the pepper salt)
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder, optional
Instructions
- 1Cut the chicken into 2 to 3 cm pieces. Mix with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, five-spice, white pepper and egg and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge.
- 2Mix the salt, white pepper, five-spice and chilli powder for the pepper salt and set aside.
- 3Toss the chicken in the sweet potato starch, pressing it on so it clumps, and leave for 5 to 10 minutes until the starch looks damp in places.✎ Chef’s noteThose damp clumps are what fry into the craggy crust, so do not shake them all off.
- 4Heat the oil to 160C (320F) and fry the chicken in batches for 3 to 4 minutes, until pale golden and cooked through. Lift out and rest while the oil heats to 190C (375F), then fry again for 1 to 2 minutes until deep golden and very crisp. Drain.
- 5Stand back and drop the basil into the hot oil for 10 to 20 seconds, until it turns glassy and stops sputtering, then lift it out.✎ Chef’s noteWet leaves spit violently. Dry them thoroughly beforehand.
- 6Toss the hot chicken and basil with the pepper salt and serve at once.
Taiwanese night-market tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Taipei. The beef noodle soup Taipei argues about was not born in Taipei. It is traced to Air Force military dependents' villages at Gangshan in Kaohsiung in the 1950s, where mainland veterans built a Sichuan-style braise on a local hot bean paste, at a time when most Taiwanese did not eat beef at all.
🗺️
Taiwan. Beef noodle soup is a post-1949 dish. It arrived with the Nationalist retreat, when well over a million mainlanders came to an island where beef was barely eaten, and the leading account traces the Sichuan-style version to military dependants' villages around Gangshan in the south, where the spicy broad-bean paste it depends on is a local speciality. That account is a scholar's argument, not a settled fact.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Taiwan
Taiwanese Beef Noodle SoupChewy wheat noodles in a dark, star-anise beef broth with melting shank and pickled mustard greens.
Dan BingA soft, chewy egg crepe rolled up and sliced, Taiwan's favorite hot breakfast off the griddle.
Gua Bao (Pork Belly Buns)Taiwan’s famous night-market bun: a pillowy folded steamed bun cradling red-braised pork belly, tangy pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and sweet peanut powder.
Browse all Taiwan recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Taiwan meal
Bubble TeaDrink
Pineapple CakeDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
CoxinhaBrazil
Kottu RotiSri Lanka
Lahori Chicken KarahiPakistan
Poulet DGCameroon
Chicharrón de PolloDominican Republic
Chicken KaraageJapan
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken)?
Bite-sized chicken thigh marinated with garlic, soy sauce and five-spice, coated in coarse sweet potato starch, double-fried until craggy and crisp, and tossed with fried basil and pepper salt.
Where does Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) come from?
Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) is a Taiwanese dish from Taipei, Taiwan.
Can Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Yan Su Ji (Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Popcorn Chicken) take to make?
About 1 h 15 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.