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.
Oh God… Just what I needed. A new addiction. Oh my goodness….. so very delicious. Thank you Jesus!! Yum, yum, yummy
Took me back to my childhood in NC (: I personally prefer double battering it, so you get more of that yummy crispy coating, but the flavour is spot on.
It’s just what I’m looking for. Thank You so much!
I made it and it’s wonderful, I’ll definitely make it again
This was great. Took me a little time to figure out the time to fry but the flour and season mixture was perfect. I’ll make it again. I love fried chicken and never make it but will continue trying to perfect. All the issues I had were on me and my inexperience using a electric skillet. On a learning curve. 5 stars from me.
Top Tips! 1) Score your chicken with a fork to allow marinade to penetrate to the bone.2) Use a peanut blend oil for an extra crunch. Just make sure you’re not allergic 3)Make sure your chicken isn’t dripping when you dredge it. The coating actually sticks better to moist, not soaked chicken.4) Dredge your chicken at room temp, not direct from the fridge. It allows for better coating and cooking and won’t impact the temp of our oil so much.5) Swap salt for seasoning salt, taco seasoning or any salt based ready made blend.6) fry potatoes in your oil why the chicken stands for a well seasoning french fry.7) Enjoy, and be sure to keep your eyes open, cause The Sky Is Falling!
My husband loved this, but I must say that they were very darkly burned on the outside before they hit 170 degrees on the inside. It is so hard to control the oil temperature. After you add the chicken in, it drops temp, but then you have to put it up to high to get it back up to 350, and it takes a while, and then it’s too hot again.
First time making fried chicken and it tasted amazing even though I failed to maintain the temperature & some pieces got side burned, still great in taste.
Very good and easy to make. Every one in my family Love’s this chicken. And I have 2 kid’s, and my daughter is very picky. And she will eat it.
One word: perfection!!