Achieving the crispiest and crunchiest fried chicken is easier than you may think, and I'm here to show you how! Through countless hours of experimentation, I have discovered a few foolproof tips for creating the best fried chicken recipe ever. These tips have never failed me and have always create the most delicious, and crunchiest chicken for me every single time. Let's get started!
Brine Your Chicken

You always want to brine your chicken because it gives you the juiciest and most moist chicken ever. Some like to brine it in buttermilk and hot sauce, but I like to keep it simple with a salt brine. Alternatively for even more flavor, you can always use a very wet marinade as well, as long as there's salt and water in it.
Always Use Starch
To get the crispiest and crunchiest chicken, starch is a must. You can make fried chicken with 100% starch or you can do a mix of starch with all purpose flour. I personally find mixing it with all purpose flour works best because all purpose flour gives the crust a bit of crispness. Using 100% starch usually makes a very hard and crunchy crust.
Corn Starch is the most common and easiest starch to work with, but potato starch adds a bit more flavor (but is trickier to work with because you can't over crowd the pan, or the chicken pieces will stick together)
Make Sure To Dry Your Before You Start
One of the worst things that can happen to fried chicken is when the entire crispy crust falls right off after taking 1 bite of it. This happens because there's too much moisture between the batter and the skin! Make sure you dry your chicken very well by patting it down with paper towel before you start the batter process.
Lightly Dust the Chicken With the Dry Batter
Once you have it dried, lightly dust it with the dry batter and shake it all off very well so you only have a light dusting. This is what will help the batter stick to the chicken.
How to Get the Nooks and Crannies (Step 1 of 3)
If you're like me, you love the nooks and crannies and think that's the best part of fried chicken! These took me a long time to figure out, but I finally figured it out after hundreds of hours of testing and failing.
It's a 3 step process.
You need to make sure you are working with a wet batter and a dry batter at the same time.
To get those nooks you need to:
Create texture in the dry batter by rubbing a bit of wet batter into with your hand
How to Get the Nooks and Crannies (Step 2 of 3)
Once you do a wet dredge and dry dredge, you want to squeeze a pile of dry batter onto the chicken
How to Get the Nooks and Crannies (Step 3 of 3)
Most important part, you need to shake it out really good. The shaking is what causes the nooks and crannies.
Now you are ready to deep fry it!
Are You Ready to Make Fried Chicken at Home?
If you're ready to dive into fried chicken, then give my fried chicken recipe a go! From my home to yours, I hope you enjoy!
Get the Recipe: My Ultimate Fried Chicken Recipe
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This article originally appeared on Pups with Chopsticks.
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