When you think about chicken and popcorn, you’re obviously not just serving two foods on a plate. You’re actually cooking these items together in a single process. This is not the same as eating popcorn separately as a snack, and fried chicken as a meal, this is about mixing raw chicken pieces with popcorn kernels and cooking them at the same time so they will both finish cooking at the same time in the same container.

There are a couple of ways you can do this. The first is to use an oven. You would use small seasoned pieces of chicken and unpopped kernels in a baking dish or sheet pan. You need to use high heat to get the kernels to pop but give the chicken enough time and heat to fully cook can be tough to get right. If the chicken is large, it may not be fully cooked before the popcorn burns. If there is not enough heat you will not get the kernels to pop.

Another way is to use a stove top pan with a lid. Add oil, pieces of chicken and popcorn kernels to the pan. The weight of the lid keeps the popcorn contained once it pops. But the biggest problem in this approach is moisture.