Taiwanese Fried Chicken Cutlets (Keto, Paleo, Air Fryer, Stovetop)
Taiwanese Fried Chicken Cutlets with super crunchy coating and yummy! Whether you pan fry or air fry, this recipe shows you how to make the best chicken cutlets easily!
Halve the chicken breasts and lightly pound them to ¼-inch even thickness.
In a bowl, combine the dry spice seasonings from salt to ginger powder. Set aside ½ tsp + ¼ tsp of the spice mix in a separate small bowl for serving.
Season the chicken with the remaining spice seasoning mix, coconut aminos, baking soda, and white sesame oil. Coat them well on all sides and marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Best 1-hour.
Whisk the eggs with 2 tbsp water. Dip the chicken cutlets in the egg wash then dip in the sweet potato starch. Use your hands to gently press the starch into the chicken to help it stick well.
For stovetop:
Preheat the avocado oil, start with 3 tbsp and add more if needed, over medium to medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Test the temperature with a wooden chopstick, if it shows bubbles around the chopstick when inserting it into the oil, the temperature is hot enough.
Over medium heat, pan fry the first side for 3 minutes and the second side for 2 minutes. The chicken should be cooked through. The coating color won't be as golden as the regular fried chicken because the special kind of starch used. Repeat the process and pan fry them in separate batches.
For air fryer:
Preheat the fryer at 400F for 5 minutes. Spray the basket with a coat of avocado oil. Depending on the size of your basket, place the cutlets in the fryer with some space in-between. Spray some oil over the cutlet. Air fryer at 400F for 5 minutes on the first side. Flip the cutlets and spray a little more oil and air fry for 5 additional minutes.
To serve:
Transfer the cutlets to a large serving plate. Sprinkle with the reserved spice mix. Serve it street food style - a whole chicken cutlet, placed in a bag, that you can hold and bite, or cut them to pieces and eat with chopsticks. Serve hot.
Notes
To make it low carb, use panko pork rinds to replace the starch. If you want to use the regular tapioca or arrowroot starch, the flavor will taste the same but the exterior coating won’t be as crumbly.
Want a little spicy? Add a little cayenne pepper powder, Korean gochugaru power, Japanese chili powder (Shichimi Togarashi) to the dry spice mix.
The white sesame oil (also known as light or untoasted sesame oil) is my personal touch. It gives the chicken a light sesame fragrant without being overpowering. Avocado oil will work just as well.
The coarse granule sweet potato starch is a signature ingredient to make traditional Taiwanese fried chicken cutlets. The starch has larger granules and not as fine ground. This makes the coating extra crunchy and crumbly. You can use it for many things, including fried pork chops.
If use panko pork rinds, the net carb will be around 2g per serving.