Next Post
Coconut Curry Salmon with Garlic Butter.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
This Oven Fried Southern Hot Honey Popcorn Chicken is spicy, saucy, and so delicious. It’s an easier, yet still fun, twist on the famous Nashville Hot Chicken. Breaded popcorn chicken bites are oven baked until crispy. Then they’re finished with a beyond perfect sweet and spicy honey butter sauce with crisp garlic and chili flakes. Out of this world good. Great for dinner or served as a game day appetizer.
With the Olympics starting up on Thursday, and the Super Bowl to follow, I’m all about creating some fun recipes with sports in mind. That said, these have been on my “to-make recipe list” for a while now.
My brothers are big chicken guys, especially bite-sized chicken covered in sauce. They usually request some kind of buffalo chicken, but I thought I’d throw them a curveball and do something southern-inspired. If you’re not familiar with it, there is a Nashville hot honey chicken that people rave about. It’s deep-fried and covered in a spicy honey butter sauce.
I’ve only been to Nashville once, and it wasn’t a long trip, so I’ve never gotten to try this chicken. I’ve googled the recipe and everyone’s is slightly different. The biggest thing is lots of cayenne, honey, and butter.
I’ve made a version in the past, but wanted to do something bite-size.
What ended up happening was simple. I made my own hot honey sauce as I was cooking this chicken. It’s very different from the Nashville sauce, but it sure is delicious.
I did a little combo of chili crisp garlic oil and hot honey. It turned out so well, I’ve been excited to share this ever since I made it!
The details – the chicken
Like a lot of my “oven fried” chicken recipes, this doesn’t require much effort. I love to use finely crushed corn flakes for the breading. Then bake the chicken in a super hot oven until it’s crispy all around.
While I love using cornflakes, you could also use Panko or gluten-free bread crumbs.
The sauce – the most important part
I’m not sure there’s a better sauce for these, this sauce is extra special.
It starts with cooking butter and garlic together until the butter slowly browns around the garlic and the garlic turns golden crisp. Basically, I’ve been really into the chili garlic crisp sauce everyone also seems to be into right now. I love the slight crunch of the garlic and all the chili flakes. So I took the concept and applied it to the butter sauce.
When the sauce is off the stove, add the honey, cayenne, and spices. Then some chili flakes. Make sure to add the cayenne and chili flakes to your taste.
If you love sauce like we do, I would double the recipe. Never enough sauce.
As soon as the chicken comes out of the oven, drizzle that hot honey over the chicken and give it a little toss. It’s important to use most of the sauce right away. As the sauce cools, the butter separates from the honey, making it a little tricky to drizzle.
Serve the chicken warm. It doesn’t need any extra sauces or garnishes. Just the chicken and that honey sauce! So delicious.
If you want to make this into an easy dinner, I’d serve the chicken and sauce over rice. Then add a side of roasted vegetables and a nice big house-style salad.
Everyone really enjoyed this, my dad, brothers, mom, I even think Asher loved it. Though it may have been a little spicy for her…but she had rice, so all was good! Excited to make this for the Olympics this week!
Looking for more game day recipes? Here are a few to try:
Sheet Pan Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Soft Pretzels
Fried Buffalo Goat Cheese Balls
Baked Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls with Cilantro Lime Ranch
Buffalo Cauliflower with Spicy Tahini Ranch
Lastly, if you make this , be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Oven Fried Southern Hot Honey Popcorn Chicken
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 541 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 1 1/4 cups corn flakes – finely crushed, or use Panko
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- kosher salt and black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Hot Honey
- 6 tablespoons salted butter
- 4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, to taste
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the chicken and toss well to coat. In a separate bowl combine the cornflake crumbs, flour, paprika, and a pinch each of salt and pepper.3. Dredge the chicken through the crumbs, covering fully. Place on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking.4. Just before the chicken is done cooking, make the sauce. In a small skillet, melt together the butter and garlic over medium heat. Cook until the butter is browning and the garlic turns golden. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the honey, cayenne, chili powder, paprika, onion powder, and chili flakes. 5. Drizzle or pour the warm sauce over the chicken, tossing to coat. The sauce thickens quickly, so be sure to use while still warm. Serve um up!
Notes
Sauce: if you like extra sauce for drizzling/dipping, double the hot honey recipe.
This post was originally published on February 1, 2022
I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!! I make almost exclusively HBH food (I’m a Nightshift ICU nurse and meal prep a lot) and I just made these and I’m obsessed. The perfect amount of heat, the cornflakes make everything so crispy, I love it. I love it so much.
Hi Natalie,
Happy Sunday!! Love hearing that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it!! xxT
Love this recipe and the sauce is super good- I added just a bit more garlic ( we are garlic lovers) The popcorn was crispy and perfect with the sauce- Will be making again!
Hey Pattie,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a winner. Have the best weekend:) xT
This is amazing!!! I made it like thin chicken cutlets in the air fryer and drizzled the sauce over, even my husband loved it!
Hey Renae,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a winner. Have the best weekend:) xT
Yet another winner! Since I live alone, I put a handful of chicken pieces in a bowl and put the sauce over them as opposed to putting the sauce all over the whole batch. I took leftovers today and kept the sauce in a tiny container separate from the chicken and heated them both up. The sauce went back to exactly how it was yesterday with a little heat and some shaking. So good, will definitely make again!
Hey there,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was a winner. Have the best weekend:) xT
Loved this chicken!! Used about 1.25 lbs of chicken and kept the amt of sauce the same. For the hot honey sauce, I used 2 tbsps of honey and equal parts of Red Hot instead of the cayenne. It came out amazing!! Perfect amt for the chicken. Would make this again. It had an asian taste and could see myself making it again in an asian chicken salad.
Highly Recommend! I dont love things too sweet so reducing the honey was perfect.
Hey Cat,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Sooo yummy. I didn’t have panko crumbs so I used chex cereal instead and it worked out great. My family and I thought it was delicious. Thank you for the recipe. It’s definitely a keeper!!
Hey Staci,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Thanks for another awesome recipe! The sauce was amazing! I made them in the air fryer and they came out so crispy.
Hey Beth,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Terrific recipe! My 16 year old son gives your southern hot popcorn chicken a 200% approval rating. I thought that was cute when he made a point of saying that. Just thought you might like to know. We love your chili recipe too, and it’s a family favorite I’ve made often. Thank you so much for these fantastic recipes!
Hey Kristen,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Amazing recipe! Absolutely love it! It was easy and quick.
Hey Rama,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Made this for dinner tonight. It’s maple syrup season so I substituted the honey with maple syrup. It was perfect! We are planning to use the leftovers for chicken and waffels in the morning!
Hey Kelly,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
This was completely delicious! I made it with homemade waffles for a perfect, very easy version of “Chicken and Waffles.” My family loved it! Thank you so much.
Hey Alice,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
I made this tonight, and it was SO GOOD! Such a nice sweet/heat blend. I think it would also be awesome with waffles in the morning.
Hey Jill,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Hi! Has anyone made the chicken in their air-fryer? Wondering if it turns out the same?!
Thank You
I made these in the air fryer and they came out great. I set it at 400° and cooked them for about 12-14 minutes, flipping half way through.
Hey Beth,
Happy Friday!! I am thrilled to hear this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for giving it a go! xxT
Hey Abi,
Sure, I bet that would be just fine to do! I hope you love the recipe, let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan!
This looks delish! How biggish do you recommend cutting chicken cubes? Look forward to trying this and so many more of your recipes!
Many thanks,
Janiece
Hey Janiece,
I do them a little bigger than bite size chunks. Let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan, The recipe above does not say to drizzle the chicken with olive oil before putting in oven. I think when I saw the video you included that step. Looks delicious and I love how dark and crunchy your chicken turned out!
Thanks.
Thanks so much Donna!! I will add this to the recipe:) I hope you love it!