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Why are these tips for better fried chicken “honest”? I have a confession to make.
I confess that I have failed pitifully at frying chicken in the past, and these tips are an admittance of those failures, and are an attempt to save you from making the same mistakes!
Hopefully, if you follow these ten tips, you can avoid some of the disasters that I’ve endured in my kitchen (and in my friend’s kitchens!) over the years.
No more rubbery, soggy chicken when it comes out of the fry oil. No more overflowing oil, spilling all over your kitchen floor (yes, this actually happened!).
Only crispy, crunchy, and flavorful pieces of juicy white and dark meat that absolutely oozes in flavor. Only good vibes and fried chicken.
Incorporate the Following 10 Tips and Earnestly Make Better Fried Chicken
I promise that if you aren’t already utilizing these ten tips, that if you start using them then you will see a sharp increase in the quality of your fried chicken.
1. Buy Quality Free Range Chicken
If you are lucky enough to have access to a farm or own your own chickens, then this is the best option for cooking your wings.
The meat will be fresher, packaged humanely, and untainted with the blight of animal trafficking.
Unfortunately, some major brands simply do not adhere to the standards that you would adhere to when raising farm animals.
While you won’t be led astray by supermarket chicken, you can do better.
2. Use Thin Layers to Dredge
There’s nothing worse than over encumbering your chicken with too much dredge.
Using too much of an outer skin will prevent your chicken from developing a crunchy crust while enabling the crust you form to flake off before you even get a change to eat it!
3. Marinade and Brine
As Chef Gordon Ramsay, acclaimed television chef and 16 star Michelin Chef, says throughout his educational videos, you should try to add extra layers of flavor with your efforts.
Which, in the case of fried chicken, is certainly what a brine and a marinade are meant for.
It does not matter much whether you choose to implement a simplified brine or a marinade, which are really just terms used to represent pre-soaking your meat before the cooking process to add a combination of flavors and attributes to your foods.
In my opinion, you should do at least one of each to see which you prefer, because you will notice the enhancements on the back end with better fried chicken.
4. Season and Sauce Immediately Upon Finish
I’ll bet you understand this point intuitively. When you go outside on a hot day and you perspire, what is happening on your skin?
Your pores are opening to enhance your body’s ability to cool down quicker!
The same principle occurs in chicken when you fry it, which is why, when you season and sauce your chicken, it is always best to do it when your meal is still hot so that the meat absorbs the flavors better!
Simply put, the longer you wait to season your food, the less absorption happens and the less wonderful your food will taste! Season and sauce it as quickly as is safe and reasonable.
5. Serve Right Away
Surely this point is simple, but I’ll relay it anyways because there is no point ignoring the little things that will make everyone happier.
Flatly put, for better fried chicken you should serve your chicken while still hot, allowing your guests to decide how hot they want their chicken when they decide to dig in.
Importantly, no one will be able to bite in to a scalding hot piece of meat upon removal from fry oil, because it’s too hot. However, there exists a mental heuristic where satisfaction is experienced from seeing the steam pour out of a freshly cooked chicken wing.
Human brains associate quite a lot with temperature, and seeing the effects of cooking on meat is sure to relay positive intention to your guests, who will remember the scenario fondly.
6. Eat Alongside Spunky Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
I’ve said it before an I’ll say it once more, make your own blue cheese dressing at home!
Making my own brilliant blue cheese dressing at home is easily one of the biggest eye openers to all of my friends and has received the most critical acclaim among my peers.
The process is shockingly easy and is fractionally cheap, especially if you have any of the ingredients in your kitchen already.
7. Double Fry for Complete Perfection
Have you been craving that extra je ne sais quoi for your fried wings, and you just can’t put your finger on it? I suggest that you double fry your wings for that extra crispy crunch.
Not only will this process result in a crunchier end product, but you’ll also be learn that you can prepare some wings beforehand that can be dropped into the fryer at a moment’s notice!
Since par fried wings can stay in a freezer for up to 30 days, you can pre-cook your food and finish it at your whim! Double frying your chicken is a surefire way to making better fried chicken.
8. Fry in Small Batches
Please, please, please follow this advice if you decide to listen to anything I say! I’m begging you, in the name of safety.
There are a number of reasons this is so important, but the primary ones are as follows.
2 Essential Reasons to Fry in Small Batches
- Your fry oil will stay hotter, longer, resulting in a more consistent product.
- You will avoid overflowing your fryer or pot.
First, you will be able to cook your food with a crispy crust and a juicy finish if you maintain the right temperature for your oil.
Have you ever cooked meat on too high or too low a temperature before? You’ll either come out with something resembling a shoe, but under cooked on the inside, or else something overdone and with no crust.
By maintaining your oil temperature where you want it, you’ll hit the mark every time
Second, if you’re like me and a complete dunce every once in a while, then you’ve overflowed your oil by adding too much too quickly.
This results in, at best, a messy and slippery kitchen, and at worst can result in death. I am not joking here, because if you are frying oil in a pot over an open flame, you can burn your house down and seriously hurt yourself and those around you.
So, keep the batches small, have a fire extinguisher around that can handle grease fires, and be careful!
9. Use the Right Oils
There are a number of good oils to use for frying, but primarily, you’ll want to use oils with high smoke points (high smoke point oils are generally over 400 degrees Fahrenheit).
What this means, is that your oil will not spew out cloying, noxious fumes as you try to cook your chicken.
Oils to Use and Not to Use
10. Use a Food Thermometer
Using a food safe thermometer will not only elp you detirmine the doneness of your food from a health safety standpoint, but it will also help you gauge if you are cooking your food incorrectly.
What I mean by this, is that if you are pulling chicken out when it looks done, but it is not at the recommended 165 degrees Fahrenheit recommended internal eating temperature, then you know you have cooked the chicken in oil that is too hot!
Plus, the same goes, but vice versa, if you pull out chicken and it is cooked, but not crispy.
Moreover, you can use a thermometer to check your oil temperatures, which will result in a more accurate and intentional product!
What get measured, gets managed, and that is absolutely the case with cooking temperatures and is key to making better fried chicken.
So, I recommend getting a good thermometer that can be used to measure the heat of the oil, and the internal temperature of your chicken so you can measure your optimal cooking numbers.
Last Point on Making Better Fried Chicken
Last of all, these are my experiences in the kitchen, so share below this post if you’ve had similar experiences.
Plus, if you have any more experiences to add, put them below as well!
This is a community and your input is highly valued in terms of our success.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on the next post!