Cornstarch is commonly employed for frying meats in Asian cuisine, and provides a gluten-free solution to fried chicken. While the cornstarch does create an extremely crisp exterior, the coating is not necessarily any lighter than the typical flour used for frying chicken, and it can easily provide a similarly thick coating to your chicken.
Cornstarch Coating Basics
Cornstarch creates a breading on chicken that is on par with an all-purpose flour coating. Use cornstarch only when frying small pieces of chicken, such as split wings or boneless pieces, as cornstarch browns more quickly than flour and does not withstand the longer cooking time necessary to finish cooking larger bone-in cuts. For a lighter coating on fried chicken, mix cornstarch with a lighter flour such as rice or brown rice flour in equal proportions.