When it comes to chicken there just isn’t anything more delicious than a juicy, crusty piece of finger-licking good fried chicken. It might seem intimidating to fry your own chicken, but it’s actually pretty straightforward and it puts grocery store and fast food fried chicken to shame. If you have a thermometer for the oil and a timer, you can produce fail-proof fried chicken. If you’ve ever wanted to make your own fried chicken, now is the time to try!
Why Our Recipe
- We’ve got a flavorful buttermilk brine that not only keeps your chicken juicy but also flavors the meat itself.
- Our ultimate blend of herbs and spices puts the colonel’s to shame.
- A full walk-through video demonstration is included to make sure you have everything you need to replicate this recipe at home.
Cornstarch Secret
Cornstarch is one of our recommended ingredients for the crispiest fried chicken. Cornstarch is often used in Asian fried chicken recipes. The combination of the flour with cornstarch produces the crispiest result. You can replace all of the flour with cornstarch, or you can try using a similar non-gluten-based flour or flour blend in place of traditional all-purpose flour.
Troubleshooting: Keep the breading from falling off
One of the challenges that people face when making fried chicken is that their crunchy coating falls off. There’s usually a few reasons for this to happen. Here are some tips for making sure your breading doesn’t fall off.
- When coating and breading your chicken, be sure to tap off the excess buttermilk as well as the excess flour.
- Give your chicken a gentle pat after coating with the flour mixture to make sure that the flour sticks to the buttermilk.
- Make sure that you don’t overcrowd your pan. You want to make sure that the chicken isn’t bumping against other pieces of chicken which can knock off the breading.
- Only flip your chicken once while frying. The more you fuss with your chicken, the more likely you are to knock off or disturb some of the crunchy coating.
Some people recommend allowing your chicken to dry on a wire rack after dipping and dredging. This is not only useful, it’s also convenient when making large batches.
Frying Oils
There are lots of options when it comes to oil used for deep frying. Common options include peanut oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, safflower oil, and corn oil. Vegetable oil is the oil we recommend using for deep frying.
To reuse your oil, simply let the oil cool down completely, strain it, and return it to a storage container for later use.
Fried Chicken Cooking Time
The average piece of chicken will need to be fried for 14 minutes. Each piece of chicken will be different though so make sure you cook each one to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. White meat will have its peak juiciness at 165 degrees F. Dark meat can be cooked to 170-175F for the best texture.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Fried chicken is best when it is fresh and the skin is still crispy. Leftovers though will be good in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. The skin will not be as crispy when reheated.
For best results, reheat leftover fried chicken in a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
Looking for what to serve with Fried Chicken? You may enjoy these delicious classic American side dishes:
The Best Macaroni Salad
20 mins
Mom’s Creamy Potato Salad
2 hrs 30 mins
Best Summer Fruit Salad
20 mins
Classic Baked Beans
16 hrs 30 mins
Watch the video below where we will walk you through every step of the recipe with a video demonstration.
It was great but, I think next time I will double the spice’s . The reaipe is just fine the way it is we really enjoyed it. I on the other hand enjoy strong spices
Nothing but good cooking and good advice.
Thank you so much.
I love the secret
It’s a beautiful way to learn to have the delicious fried chicken. ❤️❤️❤️
I’m a 58 year man. I’m not much of a cook outside of a simple bacon & eggs breakfast, grilled steaks, and also BBQ ribs. I have never fried chicken before or battered and fried anything at all. I have never even heated up oil.
I followed the directions, except I made the flower mix 2-1/2 cups corn starch & 1 cup flour…just to test if it came out extra crispy, like she said (it did!). I also doubled the spices because I prefer a lot of popping flavor, like hot wings. I also added 1 tablespoon Sriracha powder & 1 tablespoon spicy hot wing powder.
Turned out nearly perfect. I was very impressed! I want a thicker coating of the crispy crust though, so…next time I might try adding sour cream or yogurt to the soaking mixture. I’m hoping that a thicker coating that is more sticky, might gather up & grab onto the cornstarch/flour mixture better. Hence…extra thick & extra crispy breading!
My chicken turned out perfectly crunchy. Gorgeous color and juicy. I Used yogurt tarragon aolie instead of buttermilk and brined the chicken before baking and then dredging. Amazing recipe and now Dad has a crispy chicken recipe for the family. Thank you.
Thank you for the awesome recipe and all the tips. I am 62 years old and although a pretty good cook, I have never been able to master fried chicken. I’m not one to buy specialized appliances, so I particularly appreciated the info about the oil and frying temps. I took the advice about putting the dredged chicken on a wire rack for awhile to dry as well.
I am not one to have vegetable oil on hand (mostly use olive oil), but upon your advice I sent my husband to the store. I didn’t have all of the ingredients suggested, but I winged it on a few — for example, substituting some hot chili powder if place of the cayenne pepper. I also didn’t have buttermilk on hand, so I made my own using 1 cup milk to 1 TBSP white vinegar. I also substituted potato starch for the corn starch. Even so, the chicken turned out great.
For those seeking to master this recipe: the tips about TEMPS and using the right kind oil were the most helpful. Thank you!
Used the recipe when making dinner for my family this evening. It was a hit! They licked their platters clean!
it is super good its a five star from me
Don’t set the Fried Chicken on paper towels as I will create steaming and reduce the crispness of your chicken
This is a good recipe for Fried Chicken, it’s not Fried-Baked Chicken. Oil to be used is listed, or use another high smoke point oil like Canola or Peanut (even good old Crisco). Any other oil will NOT work as well and will burn faster including the meat. No need to ‘poke holes’ or ‘cut slits’ into the meat. (Do you want to make chicken jerky or lose some of the flavor you spent hours making)? Great fried chicken joints in the south NEVER do this and have the BEST chicken anywhere! Temperature is the key. Only do a few pieces at a time and watch the temp as it will drop when you add the meat. No LESS then 350 degrees (375 is the actual sweet spot). Also, make sure you have enough oil in a DEEP frying pan or Dutch Oven (1 inch minimum at all times) 5-7 mins turn and repeat. Trial and error of course based on your skill set and cooking set-up. Pro tip- cool the chicken on a wire rack set inside a baking tray…no soggy bottoms either!
Best fried chicken in the world 10 out 10 must try again