Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Pizza
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken Pizza featuring a spicy gochujang tomato sauce, crispy Taiwanese popcorn chicken, charred sweet corn, cheesy mozzarella, Japanese mayo, drizzle of honey, and some crispy Thai basil. Trust me when I say this recipe below is ABSOLUTELY life-changing.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough (By David Tanis)
- 1 3/4 cup warm water
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 4 1/2 cup flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (Marinade)
- 2 chicken breast (cubed)
- 2 tbsp orange juice sub for lime juice
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 tsp five spice powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cup tapioca flour
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken (Topping)
- 1/4 tsp sichuan peppercorn (crushed)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
Toppings
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- Handful Thai basil washed & dried
- Kewpie mayo
- honey
- 10-12 garlic cloves
Instructions
Pizza Dough
- Combine water, yeast, and a ½ tsp of sugar together- let it dissolve for 2 minutes. Using a stand mixer with the hook attachment: add in flour, salt, olive oil, and mix until the dough comes together(around 5 minutes). The dough may look a little rough but that’s alright.
- Lightly dust a surface with some flour, knead the dough on the surface until it is smooth (3-4 minutes). Cut the dough into 4equal parts. Wrap each dough individually into a resealable zipper bag or into a bowl. Refrigerate overnight for best results.
Preheat pizza stone
- Preheat oven to 500F with pizza stone. You will want to preheat your stone for ~30 minutes prior to using for optimal crust. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a cast iron pan.
Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken
- Combine cubed chicken, soy sauce, salt, garlic, five spice powder, onion powder, egg white, lime juice, and sugar. Mix together and marinate overnight for best results.
Frying chicken
- Once your chicken has marinated overnight, remove from the fridge 15 minutes before you cook it. Heat up canola oil in a cast iron pan to 350F. Toss chicken with tapioca flour/starch until covered. Let it rest for 5 minutes to develop “beads”.
- Once your oil is heated, carefully add in the chicken and cook on each side for ~2-3 minutes. Remove and strain on a cooling rack. Carefully add in basil and cook for ~5 seconds (have a splash guard on hand). Remove and strain on a cooling rack.
- Combine basil and chicken to a bowl. Toss with Sichuan peppercorn, white pepper, salt, and sugar. Set aside.
Corn
- Using a small pan, heat up 1 tbsp of oil. Add in corn and brown sugar. Cook until slightly charred and caramelized ~3-5 minutes.Remove from heat and set aside.
Gochujang tomato sauce
- In a separate bowl, mix together gochujang and tomato sauce. Set aside.
Assembly
- Remove the pizza dough out of the fridge. Lightly dust your surface and roll out the pizza dough to desired thickness. Carefully remove your pizza stone of the oven.
- Add in 2-3 heaping tbsp of tomato gochujang mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella, layer in chicken, add in 2-3 heaping tbsp of corn, and minced garlic.
- Cook at 500F for 11 minutes until golden brown.
- Top with fried basil. Drizzle with Kewpie mayo and honey. Serve immediately.