How To Make Crispy, Juicy Fried Chicken

Whether you’re a first-time fryer or your skillet is well-seasoned, this step-by-step guide for making the very best fried chicken at home will create the most honest-to-goodness, crispy, juicy, finger-licking delicious chicken — a fried chicken with a glistening coating so full of crunchy ripples, herbs, and spices that it is hard to stop eating it once you start.

The chicken and breading is loaded with spices — garlic, onion, pepper, and even smoky paprika — that will make your first bite (and every bite after) a real stunner. As you dig in, the crust cracks audibly and reveals juicy chicken that is as flavorful as that irresistible crust.

The very best part of eating this chicken is that you made it yourself. You didn’t swing by the local drive-thru, you didn’t fork over 20 bucks at some trendy chicken joint. No — you, my friend, are the creator of this delicious dinner!

What makes this dish of humble origins so well-loved can actually make it intimidating to home cooks: the coating and frying.

This recipe and technique is a culmination of the little tips I’ve learned over the past 10 years, including advice from Alton Brown (IRL, no less) partnered with knowledge gleaned from Kitchn’s own editors.

Frying chicken is definitely a weekend cooking project, which is to say you’ll need a couple of hours to accomplish it. But once you’ve got the technique down, you can fry more than one batch at a time for family picnics or just to have cold leftovers to eat from the fridge on a whim.

Here are the six essential things you need to know about frying this crisp, juicy chicken at home.

Let’s be real here — everybody wants a drumstick. Avoid arguments over the two you’ll get from buying a whole chicken and breaking it down and simply buy the pieces you like best. Personally, I skip the breasts because of their longer cook time, and go straight for a 50/50 split of drumsticks and thighs.

Dry brine (meaning salt) the chicken itself first. You can do this overnight in the fridge or for just 30 minutes before coating and frying the chicken at room temperature.

This salting step is critical for moist, flavorful chicken, as it gives the chicken direct contact with the salt. This helps to tenderize it, but also infuses it with flavor.

In 2016, KFC’s secret spiced blend was reportedly leaked to the public via the Chicago Tribune. KFC uses a lot of spices and a large amount of them. I tried the recipe as written and found it too salty and too strong, so the seasoning mix you’ll find below reflects a lighter touch.

The egg white addition is a trick I learned from my favorite tempura recipe. Alton Brown taught me to add bourbon to my buttermilk and egg mixture, although I’m more likely to use vodka. And my friend — recipe developer and Southern food expert Erika Council — taught me to use cornstarch in my flour for frying.

These seemingly unrelated ingredients come together to make a super-crispy coating on the chicken full of ripples, nooks, and flakes — all the good things we love on fried chicken. Here is what each one does in the batter.

• Egg white adds structure in the form of protein. It also helps the flour coating stick to the chicken like culinary glue. Use whole eggs and you’ll have a softer crust because of the yolks’ fat content.
• Alcohol evaporates quickly in the frying oil. This sets the coating and creates flaky layers. You often see this ingredient used in pie crust recipes too.
• Cornstarch in the flour makes the crust crispier. Cornstarch weakens the all-purpose flour’s protein just enough to make the coating tender.

The cast iron skillet is an icon of Southern fried foods, but its shallow depth makes a mess (and is a fire hazard if you aren’t careful) when frying.

Instead, use a Dutch oven for frying. The high sides keep splatter to a minimum, while its heft helps to regulate the oil’s temperature as chicken pieces go in and out.

Use a deep-fry or candy thermometer for the oil and a probe thermometer to monitor the chicken’s internal temperature. You’ll notice that the oil drops in temperature as chicken pieces are added to the pot. You’ll need to monitor the temperature by adjusting the heat as you fry.

The probe thermometer will guarantee that you have juicy chicken that is properly cooked. You can’t just rely on the chicken’s golden-brown coating to determine doneness, as the spice mixture will brown pretty quickly before the chicken is cooked.

The chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165°F in the thickest part of each piece; make sure the thermometer is not touching bone when taking the temperature for the most accurate reading.

I get it — frying at home is kind of intimidating. There are all the perils that come along with hot oil: displacement can that result in overflow, the splattering, and then the What the heck do I do with this used oil now? question. And then there’s the mess, right? So let’s address each of those concerns head on.

Don’t try to fry in a shallow pan, which can overflow easily. Instead, fry in your Dutch oven.

At the center of your fry station should be your Dutch oven, half full of oil (save the oil bottle!) and fitted with a deep-fry thermometer.

One side should have your pan of prepped and ready-to-fry chicken, while the other side should have a cooling rack set on a baking sheet for draining and cooling the finished chicken. You may also want a plate, small baking sheet, or sheet of foil for resting oily tongs or equipment on while frying.

The Dutch oven’s high sides will reduce the amount of oil that splatters out of the pan, but you can also reduce splashing by using long tongs to lower your chicken into the hot oil. Use another pair of tongs to remove the chicken from the oil, holding the finished chicken over the hot oil for 10 to 15 seconds so excess oil can drip back into the Dutch oven and not all over your stovetop.

Another benefit of the Dutch oven for frying is that after you’ve enjoyed your chicken you can cover the oil with the pot’s lid and let it cool on the back of the stove. I usually do not even deal with the fry oil until the next day. Set a reminder on your phone to move the oil and clean the pot the next day.

After your frying oil is cooled to room temperature, set the empty oil bottle (or a large, clean glass jar) in your sink, attach a funnel, and then fit a small strainer inside the funnel. Pour the oil through the strainer back into the bottle.

Once strained, the oil can be saved at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator for one more use. Alternatively, you can seal the bottle and throw the whole thing away, or find a local recycling center that takes cooking oil.

Move your finished fried chicken to a cooling rack set over a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Setting the chicken directly on paper towels (or brown paper) might wick away some excess grease, but it can also create a steamy spot where that crust we worked so hard for gets soggy.