Simple recipes for fried chicken

Simple recipes for fried chicken. Who doesn’t love that extra crispy, crunchy fried chicken?

Almost no one.

Even the fussiest eaters will warm up to this amazing delicacy.

Whether you’ve always wanted to fry your chicken, (just the way its fried at KFC) or you’re curious about knowing the many ways you can fry chicken; this article is for you.

Read on to find out more about these simple recipes for fried chicken.

• Fried chicken breast recipe
• KFC fried chicken recipe

1.   So how do you fry chicken in a pan with oil?

It’s really simple to fry chicken in a pan with oil.

With a few key pointers, you should be able to easily and perfectly fry chicken in a pan.

• One-inch-deep- this is the amount of oil you’ll need if you’re frying chicken in a skillet. The food you’re frying, or chicken for this matter should be halfway submerged in the oil.
• Crispy, crunchy texture- if this is what you’re after, then you should ensure the heat is neither too low nor too high while trying not to overcrowd the pan. Cook in batches if you must. Also, after you’ve fried the chicken pieces, instead of placing them in a serving bowl/plate, use a rack instead.
• Deep a wooden spoon in the oil once it heats up- before you toss in the chicken pieces, do this to check if the oil is hot enough. Bubbles forming around the spoon is a good indication that the oil is hot enough to begin frying.
• Fry the white chicken pieces separate from dark chicken pieces. The reason for this is white chicken pieces (i.e. chicken breasts) tend to cook much faster than dark chicken pieces (i.e. thighs); so cooking them separate works to prevent overcooking other pieces.

More of the tips on frying chicken in the recipes below.

How to cook chicken wings? Read it here.

2.   Southern fried chicken recipe.

Procedure.

• Start off by first seasoning the chicken pieces. Do this with salt (1 teaspoon) and freshly ground pepper (1/2 a teaspoon).
• Prepare your marinade. In this case, we’ll go with a basic marinade. Marinate the chicken pieces in about 2-3 cups of marinade. If you can prepare this in advance, let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. However, if you don’t have the time, 1 hour will do.
• In a fairly sized bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, cornstarch and the spices. In this case, use garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper. (1 teaspoon each for the spices).
• Dredge your chicken pieces in this mixture.
• Crack eggs (3 large) in a bowl. Add half a cup buttermilk. (Additionally, you can add spices to this, but it’s optional). Stir this mixture properly.
• Dredge the chicken mixtures in this too.
• Once again, dredge the drenched chicken pieces in the flour, spices mixture.
• Heat a cast iron pan or skillet on medium high heat. Add vegetable or canola oil to the skillet, and let it heat up to 350^oF. (The amount of oil should be as in above. It should be at least 1-inch-deep in the skillet.
• Once the oil is at 350^oF, carefully add the chicken pieces to the hot oil using tongs.
• Do this in batches, frying the white chicken pieces separate from the dark chicken pieces.
• Let the chicken pieces cook for at least 15 minutes, or until juices in the chicken are clear. Alternatively, you can check if the internal temperature of the chicken is at 165^oF. (To do this, insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the chicken pieces)
• Once the chicken pieces are properly cooked, transfer them to a rack.
• Let the chicken pieces rest for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy

3.   KFC fried chicken recipe.

While no-one has ever gotten the exact recipe KFC uses with their fried chicken (at least, that’s what KFC insists), there have been several tries that’ve gotten quite close to actual KFC fried chicken.

With this simple recipes for fried chicken, it’s probably the closest you’ll get to recreating that amazing fried chicken made by KFC.

Spoiler alert! This recipe is drawn from an interview, of one Chicago Tribune reporter with a nephew of Colonel Sanders, a certain Mr. Ledington.

Dig in

Procedure.

• First off, we’ll start with the eleven secret ingredients. These are: thyme (1 tablespoon), basil (1/2 tablespoon), black pepper (1 tablespoon), white pepper (3 tablespoons), ground ginger (1 tablespoon), garlic salt (2 tablespoons), paprika (4 tablespoons), dried mustard (1 tablespoon), salt (2/3 tablespoon), oregano (1/3 tablespoon) and celery salt (1 tablespoon).
• Cut up your chicken to get 10 pieces.
• In one bowl, crack one large egg and mix it with one cup, buttermilk. Stir until properly mixed.
• In another bowl, mix the 11 “secret” ingredients until properly combined. Alternatively, you can mix these herbs and spices in a food processor, and the advantage with this is, not only are they mixed properly, but you get the spices come out in a uniform size.
• To the bowl with the herbs and spices, add about 2 cups, all purpose flour. Stir this mixture properly, or even better, whisk this mixture for best results.
• Proceed to add the chicken pieces to the bowl with the buttermilk-egg mixture. Now depending with the amount of time you have, you can let the chicken marinade in this mixture for 30-40 minutes, or even up to a whole 12 hours. The longer you let the chicken marinate, the better.
• As the chicken marinates, add low linoleic soybean oil or canola oil to a deep fryer. The oil should be sufficient enough to allow the chicken pieces to submerge. Heat to 350 degrees.
• Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade. Once the excess marinade has dripped off, dredge the chicken pieces in the spice, flour and herb mixture; ensuring the chicken is fully coated. Shake off any excess spices/ flour.
• Using tongs, carefully add the chicken pieces to the hot oil. It should be at 350 degrees at this point.
• Let the chicken pieces cook for 15-20 minutes, turning the chicken pieces halfway through the time.
• Once the chicken pieces are properly cooked, (after the 15-20 minutes) remove the chicken from the deep fryer and place them on a rack.
• Let the chicken cool for 10 minutes, then serve. Enjoy!

Conclusion.

MSG has been used in the original KFC recipe. However, owing to the controversy surrounding its use, it has not been included in this recipe. However, if you wish to, feel free to use in the recipe.

You can use a large pot in case you do not have a deep fryer.

That’s it for simple recipes for fried chicken.

Done right, these recipes are sure to turn your chicken to finger licking delicious. With a little experimentation and variation, you’ll surely get the elusive flavor you’ve been after all along.

As a note, according to KFC, they pressure cook their chicken. In the above recipe, the chicken was deep-fried, but if you like, you can also pressure cook the chicken and you’ll no doubt get amazing results.

Read my other post on how to reheat fried chicken.