As big fans of chicken, we’ve been happily making our way through the Archer Farms chicken offerings. Not too long ago, we checked out their Honey Barbecue Wings, which made us interested in trying more similar products from this Target sub-brand. Today we’re doing just that — we’ll be reviewing the Archer Farms Popcorn Chicken, which comes in a pretty large-sized bag. We went into this one with high hopes that all our chicken-eating dreams were about to be fulfilled.
These bad boys are definitely designed for the oven, though the package does contain instructions for heating these in the microwave. There is also a warning, however, that microwaved chicken won’t be as crispy as the stuff cooked in the oven, so we went with the full-on crispy oven experience. (If you want to see the full cooking instructions, check out our package scans at the bottom of this review.)
Even when cooked in the oven, we’d hesitate to use the word crispy to describe these chunks of chicken. While the breading has a nice dryness to it — which makes it perfect for dunking in a sauce of some sort — it’s not actually crispy. Some of the smaller pieces actually end up a little rubbery, but the bigger chunks come out just right.
The chicken itself is an inoffensive white meat, which is fine by us. It doesn’t do anything fancy, but it’s juicy and tender, just as popcorn chicken should be.
These chicken chunks are definitely designed to be paired with a dipping sauce. As true midwesterners, we dipped these in barbecue sauce and ranch dressing, though there are quite a few options for chicken-dipping. A good honey mustard would probably be wonderful on these things, or even sriracha. In fact, one of our staffers decided to try these with ketchup! Oh, the humanity!
According to the package, you should find about eight servings inside. A single serving contains about 190 calories (80 from fat) and 440 mg of sodium. While that doesn’t seem like a whole lot, we think you’ll end up eating double that amount. Plus, you’ll probably be adding a dipping sauce as well, so factor that in too.
The Archer Farms Popcorn Chicken is pretty alright, though you’re mileage will definitely vary based on which dipping sauce you choose. These breaded chicken chunks are a great complement to a delicious sauce, though they won’t do much to elevate a mediocre sauce.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen popcorn chicken, check out our package scans below.
