Snacks & street food · International

KFC-Style Fried Chicken

A copycat of the famous bucket: bone-in chicken brined overnight in buttermilk, double dredged in an 11-spice seasoned flour and deep fried until craggy, golden and juicy.

KFC-Style Fried Chicken

Prep 30 min · Cook 35 min · Total 65 min + 4 hr to overnight brine · Serves 4

Ingredients

Buttermilk brine

  • 1.2 kg Chicken pieces on the bone, skin on
  • 500 ml Buttermilk
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1 tsp Hot sauce

11-spice seasoned flour

  • 2 cups Plain flour (maida)
  • ¼ cup Cornflour
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp Paprika
  • 2 tsp Ground white pepper
  • 1 tsp Ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 2 tsp Onion powder
  • 1 tsp Ground ginger
  • 1 tsp Celery salt
  • 1 tsp Dried thyme
  • 1 tsp Dried oregano
  • ½ tsp Dried basil
  • ½ tsp Mustard powder
  • 1 tsp Baking powder

To fry

  • 1.5 l Oil for deep frying

Method

  1. Brine the chicken. Whisk the buttermilk, egg, salt, garlic powder and hot sauce in a large bowl. Add the chicken, turn to coat and cover. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
  2. Mix the flour. Whisk the flour, cornflour, salt, all the spices and herbs and the baking powder in a wide tray. Drizzle in 3 tbsp of the brine and rub it in with your fingers so you get little shaggy clumps; these become the crunchy bits.
  3. Double dredge. Lift each piece from the brine, let the excess drip off and press it firmly into the flour. Dip it back in the brine, then into the flour again, pressing hard so the coating sticks. Rest the pieces on a rack for 15 minutes while the oil heats so the coating sets.
  4. Fry the dark meat. Heat the oil in a deep heavy pot to 160 to 165 C. Fry the drumsticks and thighs 3 or 4 at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, turning now and then, until deep golden and 75 C at the bone.
  5. Fry the breast pieces. Fry the breast pieces for 9 to 11 minutes the same way. Let the oil come back to temperature between batches.
  6. Drain and serve. Drain on a rack set over a tray, not on paper, so the bottoms stay crisp. Rest for 5 minutes and serve with coleslaw, fries or a soft bun.

Tips

Keep the oil at 160 to 165 C. Hotter and the crust burns before the meat is cooked through; cooler and it turns greasy. A probe thermometer takes the guesswork out of bone-in chicken.