My Ultimate Super Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe

My Ultimate Super Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe is made with a mix of flour and potato starch. The chicken stays juicy and flavorful and the batter never falls off the chicken so each bite is crispy to the end!

My ultimate crispy fried chicken recipe has only 3 main requirements.

1. It has to be super crispy
2. The crispy skin cannot fall off the chicken easily, or with one bite.
3. It must be juicy (not dry or rubbery)

There isn't much to it because crispy fried chicken to me is meant to be simple, comforting, and delicious.

If you take a look around my blog, you'll notice that I have a lot of deep-fried recipes, so I've had a lot of time and practice with the different types of batters and techniques!

From the ever so popular, Sweet and Stick Crispy Beef, to the popular takeout recipes with flavorful batters like Chicken Manchurian, Chilli Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Chilli Chicken, Hong Kong style Sweet and Sour Chicken and Crispy Chicken Pakoras made with chickpea flour. If you're looking for something crispy and flavorful, I got you covered!

My crispy fried chicken is a very flexible recipe. You can make it with dark meat, white meat (for chicken tenders), or wings! My favorite way to make fried chicken is with boneless dark meat because it stays juicy, cooks more quickly, and has double the surface area for a crunchy batter.

There's a lot to cover, so let's get started!

Ingredients for Extra Crispy Fried Chicken

• Flour/Potato Starch - The key to a crispy chicken is adding a bit of starch into your flour mix. It can be either potato starch or corn starch but the chicken turns out a LOT crispier and stays crispier if you use potato starch.
• Spices - You can experiment and add and take out whatever spices you like for this crispy fried chicken recipe but make sure to always use salt, garlic powder and onion powder for the best flavor.
• White Vinegar - For the wet batter, I like to use white vinegar instead of egg. It adds extra flavor to the batter, and there's no extra protein in it so it creates a very crunchy batter.
• Cold Water - I use cold water because it reduces gluten formation during the battering process. Gluten will make your batter chewy and tough. Alternatively, you can also use carbonated water as well.

How to Make the Best Crispy Fried Chicken

A Brine is Must for Juicier Chicken

For the spices in the brine, you can pretty much go nuts. I like to add fresh garlic and a few bay leaves to keep things simple but if you're feeling fancy, you can definitely add more exotic spices in as long as the salt to water ratio is 3-4 tablespoons to 8 cups of water.

I keep this step optional because not everyone will want a juicy chicken and not everyone has the time to brine but whenever I fry chicken I definitely brine my chicken for a minimum of 4 hours.

Use a Mix of Wet Batter & Dry Mix to Get More Flavor in the Crispy Batter!

For the wet batter, there is no egg in it, because I found egg gave me a gummier batter. I just decided to use the dry mix that we already have created, and just add additional spices, vinegar, and water to it and lo and behold a wet batter! 🙂 It's a thin batter and it's meant to be just a thin coating.

How to Prevent the Batter From Falling Off the Chicken

Make sure you dry the chicken REALLY well (with a paper towel or air dry) right before you lightly coat it with the dry mix. This is a SUPER IMPORTANT step.

Many people don't mention this small minor detail but it makes a world of difference when it comes to making the crispy part stick to your chicken and is well worth the effort if you don't like your batter coming off easily and enjoy every bite of chicken to be crispy.

Once the chicken has been dried out, we are ready to lightly coat the chicken with the dry mix to remove the moisture from the skin even more from the starch and so that the wet batter will have something to actually cling on to and not just wick off the slippery skin.

For the initial flour dunk, it's important that you do a light coating only and shake off any excess mix because this will help the batter stick to the chicken - it's meant to be a thin layer for the batter to stick to if this layer is too thick the wet batter will not stick to the chicken.

How to Get A Lot of Nooks and Crannies For More Crispiness

The secret to getting a lot of nooks and crannies for the crispy texture is covering the freshly wet battered chicken with a pile of the dry flour mix and squeezing the flour onto the chicken and shaking it out vigorously!

The shaking will form all the nooks and cranny textures which means it'll be more crispy!

How to Get Even More Texture in the Batter (Optional)

You can even add a couple of tablespoons of the wet batter into the dry mix, and using your fingers break up the wet batter into the dry mix. This will give the dry mix a bit of texture. As time goes on, you will notice your dry batter will naturally have clumps from the wet batter anyways - just use your fingers and smush them back into the dry flour to break them into smaller pieces.

Deep Frying Temperatures

For this crispy fried chicken recipe, the temperature is important. I ate a whole lot of burnt crispy chicken with raw insides this year (blech) and I found that my biggest issue was the outsides were always cooking faster than the insides so I was getting a lot of dark brown (borderline burnt) crispy chicken with raw insides.

Here's how to avoid it by using the right temperatures.

• Oil Temperature below 340 - This gave me a greasy oil-logged chicken. It was crispy, but not super crispy but the batter was not burnt and my chicken was cooked all the way.
• Oil Temperature at 340-350 degrees - This was just right. It gave my chicken a non-greasy feeling and it was super crispy and golden brown. It cooked perfectly through to the center as well.
• Oil Temperature at 360-375 degrees - This made my chicken super dark on the outside sometimes burnt and raw on the inside. My chicken would become dark brown within 3 minutes which is not long enough for the chicken to cook all the way through.

What Type of Oil to Use to Deep Fry Chicken

For deep frying, I like to use canola or corn oil, this is not limited to just this crispy fried chicken recipe - I use it for any type of frying I have to do.

Peanut oil also works and has a super high smoking point, which makes it the ideal oil to deep fry with but it's a very expensive oil, and if you deep fry often and change the oil all the time the bill can add up!

You also want to keep in mind that there are a lot of peanut allergies out there and since a lot of deep-fried foods are meant to be shared, it's something to keep in mind when using it.

More Takeout Recipes You May Like

• Crispy Bite Sized Honey Garlic Ribs
• Korean Fried Popcorn Turkey Nuggets
• Crispy Buttermilk Popcorn Chicken
• Sweet and Sticky Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
• Umami Beef and Pork Burgers
• Crispy Lemongrass Chicken Tacos

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Recipe Card

My Ultimate Super Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe

My Ultimate Super Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe is made with a mix of flour and potato starch. The chicken stays juicy and flavorful and the batter never falls off the chicken so each bite is crispy to the end!

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Course: Main

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

8 pieces

5 from 12 votes

Recipe Notes

• For the brine, switch up the spices you add in there and have some fun with it! 🙂
• When you are coating your chicken in the dry mix, and you notice the batter making the dry mix clumpy - this is a good thing! You can run your fingers through the mix and smush the clumps to break them back down into smaller bits - these bits will be added textures for the crispy chicken.
• I like adding a cup of pickle brine to the brine for some extra flavor, when I have some on hand!
• After you finish deep frying your chicken, it's best to rest the chicken on newspaper, a cookie rack or parchment paper. Try not to use paper towel, the heat causes a bit of steam between the chicken and the wet paper towel.

Ingredients

 

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• ▢ 4 Chicken Legs (Separated into drums and thighs to make 8 pieces)

Brine

• ▢ 3 tablespoons salt
• ▢ 8 cups water
• ▢ 2-3 cloves garlic
• ▢ 2-3 bay leaves

Dry Mix

• ▢ ½ cup potato starch (or corn starch)
• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 2 teaspoon onion powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• ▢ 2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional ingredient, this makes a spicy chicken, start with 1 teaspoon for a less spicy chicken)

Wet Batter

• ▢ ½ cup "Dry Mix" (pre-mixed with ingredients above)
• ▢ ½ cup white vinegar
• ▢ ¾ cup cold water (or carbonated water but it must be cold)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

Brining

• In a large bowl, combine all the brine ingredients.
• If you are using chicken legs, separate the drums from the thighs so that it becomes 8 pieces of chicken.
• Add the chicken to the brine and let it sit for a minimum of 4 hours in the fridge

  Bring it out of the fridge 1 hour before you are ready to deep fry so that the chicken can come to room temperature. This will help the chicken cook all the way through and it prevents the oil from dropping to a very low temperature when you deep fry it.
  

Making the Dry Mix 

• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients of the "Dry Mix" from the ingredient list. Reserve ½ cup of it aside to make the "Wet Mix" and set the rest aside for later.
  
• (Optional) If you want a more textured crispy batter, add 2-3 tablespoons of the brine or water into the 'dry mix' and work it into the mix with your fingers until you get a slightly clumpier and moist dry mix.
  

Making the Wet Batter

• Add the reserved ½ cup of dry mix into another bowl and add in the white vinegar and ice water and mix well until everything is combined. Set this aside

Battering The Chicken

• When you are ready to batter the chicken, remove it from the brine and dry it out VERY WELL with paper towel
  
• One at a time put the chicken into the dry mix and coat it with a light dusting. Shake very well. You want a very light coating for the initial flouring only.
  
• Use a fork to re-mix the wet batter (it may have settled and separated)
• Dunk one piece of chicken quickly into the wet batter
  
• Quickly add the wet chicken piece back into the "Dry Mix" and completely cover the chicken in the mix.
  
• Use your hand and press the dry mix into the chicken. I like to give it a solid squeeze.
  
• Remove the chicken from the dry mix and vigorously shake off the flour to create the nooks and crannies.
  
• Remove the chicken from the dry mix and set it in a single layer on a plate.
• Do this for every piece of chicken.

Deep Frying the Chicken

• Fill a cast iron pan or deep fryer with oil and set the temperature to 350F (177C)
• Once the oil is hot (you can do a test if it's hot enough by sticking a wooden chopstick or wooden spoon into it to see if it bubbles) add in the chicken slowly.

  Do not overcrowd the pan, you don't want the oil temperature to drop. You may need to cook this in a few batches. I like to put about 2 pieces in per dutch oven.
• Cook the chicken for 18-20 minutes. (If you are using boneless chicken, cook it for 6-10 minutes instead)
• Once all the chicken has been fried, put it back in the oil and fry it for a second time for 1 minute. This will make the chicken extra crispy.
• Let it rest on a rack, newspaper or parchment paper for a few minutes before digging in. Enjoy!
  

Nutrition

Serving: 1Piece of Chicken | Calories: 350kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 18g | Sodium: 503mg | Fiber: 1g

*Nutritional information is calculated using online tools and is an estimate*

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Made with ♡ by Joyce | Pups with Chopsticks

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