Chicken Fire Poppers are bites of crunchy, sticky, sweet, spicy perfection!
Chicken Fire Poppers sound like a funny recipe name, perhaps you’re guessing there is jalapeno and cream cheese inside? When I first came across the recipe on Friday I looked at it and thought, “wow that looks dangerous and delicious!” Then I set off to my favorite two places to research this recipe, Google and Pinterest.
Pinterest interestingly enough came up with NOTHING. This Chicken Fire Poppers recipe was simply not a even on the radar of Pinterest even with all of its pinterest-y characteristics… sweet, crispy, sticky, spicy, chicken bites. You would’ve expected it to be a hit! 
Google on the other hand only brought up 2-3 pages with reference to the cookbook these Chicken Fire Poppers came from. So I knew, I had to make this recipe and put it on Pinterest. When it came out of the oven looking as amazing as it did I texted a picture to my friend who had shared the recipe with me and said “Holy crap, this is the best thing ever!”
Here is the one disclaimer I have to make about this recipe. When you take your first bite you’re going to think this is the greatest recipe in the world. I mean look at this…. 
And by your third bite you’re going to be doing a little fat kid happy dance because….well…this… 
But if you get bold and try to eat a lot of it, say I don’t know, a big plateful? You may be feeling the effects of it later. You see the sauce the chicken is coated in is a glorious mixture of sugar, brown sugar, honey and hot sauce. Tastes amazing but in mass quantities it will make you feel like there is a brick in your stomach.
So take this as your official warning. This chicken is dangerously, amazingly good…in smaller quantities. Eat the whole batch at your own risk. My husband would probably eat a dinner sized portion of it given the opportunity but I’m listing it as an appetizer because, well, I love you all.
Tools used in this Chicken Fire Popper recipe:
Lodge Cast Iron Skillet – I use this pan for SO much it lives on my stovetop (hey, it isn’t laziness…the pan is HEAVY!).
Pig Tail Flipper – I use this *almost* more than I use tongs in the kitchen. Flipping is so quick and doesn’t smash foods.
Panko Breadcrumbs
Breading Station – I use this because the pans are wide with a flat bottom. If you have small rectangular plates use those, I wouldn’t use curved bowls for breading stations as it could knock some breading off.
Frank’s Hot Sauce – Source it locally in your grocery store if possible to save on the price, but this is the hot sauce you want!
Kirkland Signature Honey – Any real honey will work, just make sure what you are buying is actually pure honey. The amount of fake honey being sold out there is astronomical and it is just colored corn syrup. This bottle is great, I get it straight from Costco, but for the price and for the fact I know it is authentic honey, I keep it as my standby. Also, it has a nice mild flavor which is what you want for this recipe. Avoid floral honeys that would have a flavor battle with your hot sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 pound chicken tenders , cut into 1-2 inch pieces
- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
- Canola Oil for frying
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup Frank's hot sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the garlic powder and onion powder.
- In a second bowl add the panko crumbs.
- Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then coat with the panko crumbs.
- In a large skillet or your cast iron skillet, heat about a half inch of canola oil over medium-high heat.
- Fry the chicken on both sides until golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes each side.
- Don't worry about if the center is done, just get it crispy and browned, then put the pieces into a 9x13 baking pan.
- In a bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, honey and hot sauce and mix to combine.
- Pour the sauce over the fried chicken and carefully stir to make sure it is coated.
- Bake the chicken, covered, for 15 minutes
- Remove the chicken from the pan, and with a spatula to scrape out the sticky sauce, pour the sauce over the plate of chicken.
Notes
Nutrition
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Have been making these for years…. delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for the five stars!
Does this recipe use frozen chicken tenders or chicken tenderloins? Thanks for clarifying.
Best recipe by far! So smart to add Panko for the extra crunch.
Love it! I make this recipe all the time. I do leave out some of the sugar cuz I find it to sweet but otherwise it is amazing!!!!
Hi, if i fry the chicken a day ahead do i skip the oven part and just do it before serving?
or can i have it ready with the sauce and in oven and just reheat the next day?
The oven part helps make it this super sticky melded deliciousness. I would still do the oven part. You can of course serve it as a dipping sauce, but if you do it the other way it is SO GOOD. Heavy, lol, but GOOD. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow! This was sooo good. I couldn’t believe how crunchy it stayed after I put the sauce on the chicken and put it in the oven. Next time I will serve it over some jasmine rice. T
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Becki!
hey there.
can you please explain why you fry a bit and then put in oven?
is it for health reasons as not to fry so much in oil, or does it enhance the whole crunchy thing?
thnks 🙂
It really does create a crispier outside.
Yes I did survived with a full yummy tummy but still had chicken to cook changed it up and baked chicken with planko like a shake and bake and then put on sauce just as good with no oil will keep you up to date as i play with this recipe ?
OMG I Renamed this crack chicken so good ate hole batch in one sitting I’m sure my blood sugar was sky high but couldn’t stop, made with side dish salad and corn, A+ recipe yum yum.
Yeah, this dish is no joke with all the sugars, but it is SO GOOD! Glad you enjoyed it, and survived it 😉
Can you line the pan with parchment first to make cleanup easier?
Yes, absolutely!
Thank you for your quick reply!!
Dinner tonight 🙂
I made this recipe, it was great! Nice and spicy.
So glad you enjoyed it Jeanine!
going through my pins tonight and the two I decided to go ahead and cook were from your blog! thought that was funny, then as I’m skimming through I realized most of my recipes are from you. That’s so awesome! I made this tonight and it came out perfect. I may or may not be eating this with my husband for dinner and not as an appetizer lol.
Not gonna lie – I have had this for dinner a few nights too! I’m so glad that a number of my recipes are striking your fancy!
Oh my goodness! This looks so good. Love that glaze….yum!
How funny you couldn’t find a similar recipe on Pinterest. Guess Pinterest needs to go back to school LOL
I’ve never heard of fire poppers and although I’m not a big fan of spicy foods, I would love to give it a try. You know, like you said, an appetizer.
These pictures looks great!
These look totally addictive! I could easily eat the entire portion and that glaze, irresistible!
I haven’t had breakfast yet but I totally want this for breakfast now…LOL! Yup… they look THAT good!
I may or may not have had some for breakfast yesterday! O:) Totally true story, and I’m only mildly embarrassed by it.
I love the sticky/spicy combination — these look amazingly delicious!
Thanks Laura!
I could eat this appetizer every night! Yum
Sweet, crispy, spicy chicken? Genius! Gotta try this one soon!
My mouth is watering all over my keyboard right now! I want to make these and not share with anyone, haha!
I have to be honest – I ate most of them before anyone else could have any! They’re that good!
I love panko bread because has a special crunch I can bet you these tenders are to die for!