Have that deep hankering for some of your favorite fast food chicken after a Saturday night out on the town, only to remember they are closed on Sundays? Well, I have a treat for you with this copycat chicken recipe! This can be made as a sandwich or as simple nuggets/tenders, but trust me when I say this chicken will make your hangover disappear faster than your own taste buds can thank you. You can prep the chicken ahead of time so when you roll out of bed Sunday afternoon all you have to do is drop the chicken into the fryer and let Calgon take your troubles away! Grab a beer, start that pregame action, and hang on as I walk you through the best damn crispy fried chicken of your life!
Everyone knows chicken thighs make the best breaded cutlets, tenders, and nuggets, but if you want to be "that guy" go ahead and use chicken breast for this recipe. It will still be pretty good, just not the best damn good, if you know what I mean, eh? Anyway, we need to do a simple overnight brine/marinade to help flavor and tenderize the chicken itself. Go ahead and steal about a cup of pickle juice from the dill pickles, add it to another cup of buttermilk, and combine the two in a ziplock bag or sealable container. If you are trying to make a chicken sandwich, just toss in the whole boneless, skinless thighs (or breasts, Karen!) and let them soak up that yum yum umami flavor overnight. Otherwise, slice your chicken into tenders or nuggets and do the same. It is definitely not rocket science!
Now that the chicken has been brined, we need to set up our breading station. We are going to want 3 containers for this process and a cookie/drying rack. You can use zip top bags or little trays/bowls here so go ahead and create your station. In the first section, put about 2 cups of corn starch in the bag/bowl. Whisk 3-4 eggs for the second section and finally use another 2 cups of all purpose flour in the final bag/bowl. Feel free to experiment with rice flour, coconut flour, or even corn meal if you want a different texture/breading style. You can to add any of your favorite seasonings/flavors to the flour, but at a minimum be sure to at least throw in a tablespoon or two of salt and pepper. Drain the brined chicken in a colander for a few minutes to get that excess pickle juice/buttermilk liquid off, but since we are starting with corn starch there is no real need to pat dry anything. Evenly coat the pieces in the corn starch, then move over to the eggs, and then finish coating with your seasoned flour. Place the chicken on your drying rack and repeat the process until all your chicken is ready for that hot oil bath sauna. Speaking of which, now would be a good time to get that up to temperature, 350-375 degrees F, while you are finishing the breading process.
IT'S FRYIN' TIME! Quick note before this chicken gets its hot oil bath, though. Shallow frying in a pan or deep frying both work for this step so do whichever you feel more comfortable with and try not to burn your house down. Once the oil is up to temperature, around 375 degrees F, place 2 or 3 pieces in being careful not to overcrowd or drop the oil temperature down too much. No one wants greasy, soggy chicken after all this effort! For whole boneless skinless thighs, cook about 10-12 minutes total and tenders/nuggets should be done around 6 minutes, but use a thermometer and just make sure you get that internal temperature up over 165 degrees F. You chicken breast Karens are on your own for timing since you had to go and be different now didn't you? We want that famous GBD look here.....Golden, Brown, and Delicious! Remove the chicken from the oil and place on another wire rack or some paper towels to drain off any excess grease. Repeat the process until all your chicken has been cooked to perfection, duh!
BAAAAM! You have done it! As long as you didn't royally screw the pooch here, you should have some of the juiciest, tender fried chicken on the planet, straight from your own kitchen! Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Chick-Fil-A's sauce, some boring combination of mayonnaise and ketchup, so I decided to do a take on Popeye's spicy mayo, which you can try here, to eat with my chicken, but you do you. Barbecue sauce, mustard, mayo, whatever floats your boat should taste just fine along side or on this chicken. Pro tip: go out and find some Sweet Hawaiian Burger Buns for this....just trust me when I say it's is like eating a piece of heaven! Give this recipe and try and let me know what you think with an instagram tag or angry letter to the editor complaining how I did it all wrong. Call your local news station or go live on Facebook....I am just here trying to help you eat some tasty chicken any of the seven days of the week!
SUNDAY CHICK-FIL-A CHICKEN SANDWICH/TENDERS
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