My mother loves fried chicken. Her Mother’s Day treat for years was having Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner, so of course I grew up loving it too. I won’t lie, when we had smaller, cramped kitchens, I didn’t try making it myself because the process does require a little space. If you have smaller spaces, clear some things out while you deal with raw chicken. Whatever touches raw chicken has to be sanitized afterwards.
For me, the required sides are: mashed potatoes (I have a recipe and video for my buttermilk potatoes), brown gravy, sweet corn, coleslaw, and buttermilk biscuits. My favorite brown gravy mix is made by Pioneer.
3-Step Dredge
The three-step dredge is the term for dipping something into a flour mixture and wet mixture. It’s used for making fried chicken, chicken fried steak, chicken tenders, and anything you want to coat for frying.
Tips & Tricks
- Just use your fingers. I have tried using tongs to do the 3-step dredge and I get bald spots on whatever I’m trying to coat. Yes, your fingers will get messy, but it’s the best way.
- Marinate your chicken in buttermilk overnight. It’s easy to dry out your protein in the fryer, soaking it in buttermilk overnight will help the chicken stay moist during frying.
- KFC motto is “from flour to fryer”, I find this is the best practice (though I made that mistake in the video)
- Put your fried chicken in the oven to finish. Using a cooling rack inside a baking sheet will help leech out excess oil from your fried chicken.
Copycat KFC Feast at Home
Ingredients
Fried Chicken
- 4.5 lbs fryer chicken
- 2-3 cups buttermilk
- oil for deep frying
Seasoning Mix
- 2 cups AP Flour
- 4 Tbsp paprika
- 3 Tbsp white pepper
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp celery seed
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp ground dry mustard
- 1 Tbsp pepper
- 1 Tbsp salt `
- 1 Tbsp Graziano's Italian seasoning
Egg Wash
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 cup 2% milk
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Sides
Instructions
Day Before
- You will place your chicken into a marinating container or solid ziplock bag. Cover chicken with buttermilk and place in fridge overnight. I let mine sit for a full 24 hours.4.5 lbs fryer chicken, 2-3 cups buttermilk
- If you are making homemade cole slaw for this dish, prep that the night before as well.Cole Slaw
Frying Chicken
- Pour oil into electrical fryer or cast iron skillet and preheat it to 350°, preheat your oven to 300°. Don't begin coating chicken until oil is heated through. Place your oven safe cooling racks into your baking sheets.oil for deep frying
- Prepare your 3-step dredge. Mix all your seasonings into your flour and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk your milk, eggs, and lemon juice together well.2 cups AP Flour, 4 Tbsp paprika, 3 Tbsp white pepper, 2 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp celery seed, 1 Tbsp ground ginger, 1 Tbsp ground dry mustard, 1 Tbsp pepper, 1 Tbsp salt, 1 Tbsp Graziano's Italian seasoning, 2 large eggs, 2/3 cup 2% milk, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- Pull a piece of chicken from the buttermilk and allow to drain a bit. Carefully dip your chicken into the flour mixture, covering completely, then dip into the egg/milk mixture, and back into the flour mixture. You will want to place the chicken from the final flour dip straight into the hot oil. Repeat the 3-step dredge with all your chicken. Don't over crowd the oil, this will drop the temperature too much.
- Once chicken is fried golden, set on cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Place chicken inside 300° oven for 30 minutes or until chicken reaches internal temp of 165°.
Sides
- Make your mashed potatoes or use leftovers. Cook sweet corn. Make brown gravy according to packaging. Bake your biscuits.Sweet Corn, Easy Mashed Potatoes, Brown Gravy, Buttermilk Biscuits