There’s a reason fried chicken shops have taken over the high street: well-seasoned, crispy, golden chicken is irresistible. The beauty of cooking it at home is that you can control the quality and enjoy it at its best.
We’ve made our fried chicken easier to cook by choosing boneless thighs, which also makes it more versatile – it could be used to fill a burger bun or sandwich. For the coating, we’ve gone one step further and come up with a method that results in the crispiest finish we’ve ever tried.
Tips for next level fried chicken
1. Making buttermilk
Soaking chicken in buttermilk is the classic method for keeping it juicy and helping the coating to stick. Buttermilk isn’t always readily available, but it’s very easy to make. When you add vinegar to milk, the acid helps turn it into buttermilk.
2. Secret seasoning
To ramp up the chicken flavour, we’ve added a crumbled chicken stock cube to our spice mix – it transforms the final seasoning into a ‘chicken salt’.
3. Spice layers
We’ve made our own spice mix, and instead of just using it once, we’ve incorporated it into every step – including a spiced salt to season the fried chicken at the end.
4. Flatten for tenderness
Boneless chicken thighs are uneven bits of meat, so we’ve flattened them out to make them neater and tenderise them. This also helps them to cook more evenly.
5. The right cut
Traditionally, fried chicken is cooked on the bone, but this can make it hard to ensure it’s cooked through. Skinless, boneless thighs are succulent, easy to cook and more versatile than bone-in choices, like legs.
6. Double-dipped
We tried to get away with coating the chicken just once, but it’s much crispier when it’s double-coated. The second layer of coating creates a thick, crispy layer between the chicken and hot oil which keeps it juicy.
How to make it
Next level fried chicken
Ingredients
- 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
- sunflower oil for deep-frying
For the spice mix
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 chicken stock cube
For the buttermilk marinade
- 500ml whole milk
- 2 tbsp cider or white wine vinegar
- 1 egg
For the coating
- 200g self-raising flour
- 200g cornflour
- ¼ tsp turmeric
Method
1. To make the spice mix, combine all the ingredients. Whisk the milk with the vinegar, egg, ½ tsp salt and 1 tbsp spice mix in a bowl or deep plastic container to make the buttermilk marinade. Open the chicken thighs and put between two pieces of baking parchment, then flatten using a rolling pin. Transfer to the marinade, then cover and chill for 4 hrs, or overnight.
2. Make the coating by combining the flours and turmeric with most of the remaining spice mix (reserving 1 tsp) and a generous pinch of salt. Drain the chicken thighs, reserving the marinade. One by one, dredge each thigh in the flour, then dip in the reserved marinade, then dredge again in the flour, pressing on as much as you can to coat. Transfer the coated thighs to a large plate.
3. Heat a 10cm depth of oil in a shallow saucepan or deep-fat fryer until it reaches 175C. Lower two or three of the thighs in at a time and fry undisturbed for 3 mins, making sure the temperature doesn’t drop below 160C (it should stay at about 170C). Flip the thighs, then fry for another 2-3 mins until deeply golden and crisp on both sides. Lift the chicken out and transfer to a tray lined with kitchen paper to drain, then put on a rack and keep warm in a low oven while you fry the remaining thighs.
4. When all the chicken has been fried, combine the reserved spice mix with 1 tbsp flaky sea salt and sprinkle over the chicken to serve.
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