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7 Comments Looking for the best and easiest recipe for extra crispy fried chicken? This easy fried chicken recipe has you covered! It’s simple to make, and the chicken turns out incredibly tender thanks to the buttermilk marinade.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Golden, crispy fried chicken – entire businesses have been built on it. But making crispy chicken at home is not only more fun, it’s also way more delicious. You marinate the chicken pieces (use any cut you like, though similar sizes help with even cooking) in a buttermilk mixture. This makes the chicken juicy and tender. An overnight marinade is best, but at least 4 hours will do the trick.
Recipe Ingredients
This crispy chicken recipe uses a few more ingredients than a basic fried chicken recipe, but it’s absolutely worth it! Make sure to check the recipe card for full details and ingredients.
- Marinade – The base of the marinade is buttermilk. Don’t worry, you won’t taste it in the final dish, but it does make the chicken incredibly tender and increases the juiciness. Spices are added to boost flavor.
- Chicken – you can use any piece of chicken you like but I would recomment chicken thigh, drum sticks or chicken wings. Use your favorite cut of chicken
- Coating – For the crispiest coating, you’ll use panko (Japanese bread crumbs). The mixture also includes all purpose flour, grated cheese (so good!), salt, pepper and garlic powder. There’s no egg involved here – the marinade keeps the chicken wet enough for the coating to stick.
How to Make the Fried Chicken Recipe
Making crispy chicken is very simple. Start with the marinade. Do this at least 4 hours in advance, but ideally overnight. The easiest way is to place the chicken in a leak-proof plastic bag, mix the marinade ingredients, pour them in, and massage to coat. Refrigerate until ready. You can also use an airtight container, a bowl or dish – just cover with plastic wrap.
Once marinated, prepare the crispy coating. Combine the flour, panko, grated cheese and spices, and press the still wet chicken into the mixture. Set aside while you coat the rest.
For frying the chicken you can use a deep fryer or opt for a Dutch oven or a large cast iron skillet. That will work too. Heat your oil to 350°F (180°C) and fry the coated chicken pieces in the hot oil. I only did four at a time so the oil stayed hot and the coating browned properly. The cook time should be around 5 minutes to make them golden brown (and provided you will bake them in the oven some more.
But it depends on the size of the chicken. Drain the fried chicken briefly on paper towels. That will remove the excess oil. I then baked them in the oven for about 30 minutes to ensure the inside was fully cooked – depending on the size of your pieces, this can be helpful. If you want to make sure you can use a meat thermometer to measure the temperature.
What to Serve with Crispy Chicken
A good sauce makes this even better! Serve with BBQ sauce, garlic sauce, peanut sauce or cocktail sauce – they all work well. A delicious hot sauce is always a good choice too. Dip the chicken while it’s still warm and crispy. Prefer something lighter? Pair it with a fresh salad for a balanced meal. Your choice!
FAQ Crispy Fried Chicken
Yes! Wings, drumsticks, thighs or chicken breast pieces all work. Just keep an eye on cooking time – bone-in takes longer than boneless.
Buttermilk tenderizes the meat. The mild acidity breaks down proteins slightly, resulting in juicier chicken that absorbs flavor better.
Yes. You can replace it with yogurt plus a splash of milk, or milk mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar per 2 cups (500 ml). The texture may vary slightly but still works great.
For bone-in pieces, it’s recommended to ensure they’re fully cooked. Boneless pieces are usually done after frying, but always check — chicken should be cooked through with clear juices.
Ideally between 320°F-340°F (160°C-170°C). Without a thermometer, test with a piece of bread – it should sizzle and turn golden within 10-15 seconds.
Choose oils with a high smoke point such as vegetable oil, peanut oil or canola oil. Olive oil is not ideal for deep frying.
You can, but the crust will be different than deep-fried. Pat the chicken lightly dry, coat in flour, spray with oil and cook at 360°F (180°C) until crispy and cooked through. Panko gives a better crunch than flour alone.
Don’t pat the chicken dry after marinating – the moisture helps the coating stick. Press it firmly into the flour mixture, and avoid overcrowding the pot so the oil stays hot.
Absolutely! Try cayenne pepper, onion powder, oregano, Cajun seasoning, five spice or chili flakes. Adding extra panko or crushed cornflakes makes the crust even crunchier.
Crispy Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 750 grams chicken wings, drumsticks, chickenbreast or a mix
Marinade
- 500 ml buttermilk
- 1 tbsp Tobasco sauce or other hot sauce
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tsp dried tyme
- 1,5 tsp black pepper grounded
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
Coating
- 250 gr all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp panko Japanese bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp grated cheese
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper grounded
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- And:
- Oil to fry the chicken in
Instructions
- Put the chicken in a high ovendish (if you use chicken breast, first cut the breast in pieces of roughly 5x5cm). Mix ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and pour the marinade over the chicken (all the chicken meat must be submerged in the marinade), seal off with cling film and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours (it's best to marinate the chicken for a night). If you don't have a suitable oven dish, you can also use large re-sealable plastic bags to marinate the chicken in).
- Get the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before frying and heat the oven to 150°C/300˚F
- Pour the oil in a big deep frying pan and heat to about 160°C/320˚F.
- Mix the ingredients for the coating together very well and completely coat the marinated chicken with the flour mixture.
- Deep-fry the chicken in batches of 3 to 4 pieces until the crust is a golden, crispy brown (about five minutes per batch) and let briefly drain on some paper kitchen towel.
- The chicken can be a little pink in the centre still, therefore place the fried chickenpieces in an ovendish and bake off for 30 to 45 minutes in the oven
- Serve with a salad and some nice sauces on the side.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
This fried chicken looks amazing! The marinade must make it extra flavorful. I’ve been experimenting with different fried chicken techniques too—would love to share some ideas!
I cook my fried chicken a lot faster and don’t have to worry about blood because they are always cooked to the bone plus it is a knockoff of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Marinade chicken as prescribed and take out of refrigerator to come to room temp. Place a steaming basket or rack in a pressure cooker (you do not want chicken in stock as it will braise; raised above stock it will steam roast) and fill with 1 cup of strong chicken stock; place chicken on rack or steamer basket close lid; lock and bring to 15 lb. pressure and cook for 6 min; use rapid pressure release. Chicken will be almost cooked to bone and infused with additional chicken stock flavor; coat in your favorite breading mixture or add 11 herbs and spices; bring to 160°C (320°F) enough oil to deep fry chicken and be careful as you are finishing the cooking process and the chicken will fry up very fast (less than 5 min as you are creating the golden brown coating (GBC) at this stage); remove to wire rack to drain: Enjoy!
I do this with my in-house smoked baby back bbq pork ribs; dry rub marinade overnight in refrigerator; steam roast in pressure cook at 15 lb. pressure with pork stock and liquid artificial smoke for 15 min.; baste with bbq sauce and broil in an oven to finish cooking and bronze the bbq sauce for 15 min; total cooking done in 30 min. fall off the bone baby back smoked bbq pork ribs done in the house. Pressure cooking saves 70% of the cooking time.
Thanks for the additional recipe!
That chicken is much better than colored eggs. I have an egg limit at Easter. Once I’ve had my fill and the dog has had one, in the bin they go. I know it’s wasteful but I think of it as entertainment.
Egg limit is good. But next time make an eggsalad or something with the other eggs. Better
Fantastic and so crispy! Great party food.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks