Crispy Chicken Sandwich
Homemade Crispy Chicken Sandwich: Beats anything from a fast-food joint! A total flavor-bomb and so moist & juicy. You’ll love the bold spices!
Fried chicken sandwiches are all the rage right now! You can get one at just about every fast food restaurant, and they’re all so good!
- McDonald’s
- Burger King
- Popeye’s
- KFC
- Chick-fil-A
- Wendy’s, and
- Wawa
And honestly my boys and I consider all of them to be pretty amazing.
But the best one of all is the one you can make homemade, in your very own kitchen.
Once I perfected this homemade fried chicken sandwich recipe, it quickly joined the ranks with homemade pizza, crispy Buffalo wings, and broccoli cheese soup as one of my kids’ favorite dinner recipes.
It’s so incredibly moist and juicy, and the crispy coating is so light and crunchy and flavorful, I just can’t keep it to myself any longer!
HOW TO MAKE THIS CRISPY CHICKEN SANDWICH RECIPE
I can’t take full credit for this recipe, but I can’t give it to anyone else either. It’s weird- my younger son came to me one day a year or so ago with a piece of paper ripped from his spiral-bound notebook with a recipe on it, hand-written by him. He asked me to make him this fried chicken, so I did. And it legit blew my mind.
So I asked him where it came from but he insisted he made it up himself. A 12-year old boy. With very little interest in food, unless it’s of the pre-packaged, junk variety.
I know.
To this day I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of it, and I’ve adapted “his” recipe quite a lot, so I feel ok about claiming it as my own. But if it seems at all suspiciously familiar, please let me know so I can give proper credit to whoever originally inspired it.
The chicken gets brined before its crunchy breading is applied, and that breading consists of 2 components (wet batter and dry seasoned flour), so there are basically 3 steps to the prep, and then the cooking and assembly.
BRINING THE CHICKEN
The brine really helps the chicken to be juicy and it also infuses flavor into the meat.
It’s just hot sauce, water, chili powder, and salt. I like to add all the ingredients to a zip-top plastic bag (a big bowl would work too), pop in the boneless skinless chicken breasts, and shake it all around to get everything combined. Then I just let it chill for an hour or so to do its thing.
I also like to pound the chicken breasts a little bit first though. Don’t make them thin, like a cutlet, just flatten out the thick parts so it all cooks evenly.
If your chicken breasts are really big, you can cut them in half and get 4 sandwiches out of just 2 breasts. If they are small, you’ll probably want to use one per sandwich. Just keep in mind the size of the bun you’re using. You don’t want the meat hanging too far outside the edges of your sandwich.
THE COATING
While the chicken brines in the fridge, you can make the coating.
In one bowl, combine flour, salt, and garlic powder.
Stir them up a little to get them combined.
Then start whisking in the eggs.
The mixture will be very thick…
…So you’ll also want to drizzle in sparkling water, just a little at a time until you have a smooth batter.
In a slightly bigger bowl, prepare the dry seasoned flour.
Whisk flour, salt, white pepper, onion powder, paprika, dry mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, and thyme together.
Then stir in a few spoonfuls of the wet batter. This creates kind of a craggly surface on the fried chicken that is so killer!
Take the chicken breasts out of the brine and coat them first in the wet batter, then in the dry seasoned flour.
COOKING THE CHICKEN
The frying oil should be somewhere between 325 and 375 degrees F.
- Canola Oil
- Peanut Oil
- Safflower Oil
- Soybean Oil
- Corn Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Cottonseed Oil
Cook the chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. (Here’s a link to the kind of thermometer I use: Digital Thermometer for Cooking.)
Then remove it from the hot oil, allow it to drain on paper towels, and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes to seal in the juices.
ASSEMBLING THE SANDWICHES
I like to serve these fried chicken sandwiches on a soft brioche bun. If you really want to be a rockstar, you can make your own. Here’s the recipe: Brioche Hamburger Buns.
Or, try them on a buttermilk biscuit. I have a recipe for that too! Here you go:Southern-Style Buttermilk Biscuits.
Slip the buns into the toaster and hit the “bagel” button so it only browns the cut side. Then slather them with mayo. YUM!
For an extra hit of spice, you can douse the chicken with a few shakes of hot sauce. MORE YUM!!
And top it all of with a few tangy pickle slices. GAH!!!
IS THIS HEALTHY?
I’d be pretty hard-pressed to call this health food, lol! But I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s probably better for you than what you’d get at a fast-food joint. It’s all-natural, and homemade is always best, right?
If you are looking for specifics, they can be found in the recipe card below.
- For a gluten-free option, use a gluten-free flour blend that subs cup-for-cup for regular all-purpose flour.
- For an egg-free, vegan version, use a plant-based egg substitute that swaps 1:1 for regular eggs.
- This recipe is naturally dairy-free and nut-free.
IS THIS SPICY?
These fried chicken breasts have a TON of flavor. It’s complex, a little peppery, and very savory. There are a lot of spices, but it’s not hot-fire-spicy.
If you like a bit more heat, definitely douse them with more hot sauce. And you could even add some cayenne pepper to the brine, batter, and/or seasoned flour. Use as much or as little as you like to get the level of heat you are after.
HOW TO STORE LEFTOVERS
The chicken breasts are best when served fresh from the fryer, that’s always a no-brainer, right?
But if you want to make them ahead of time, I’d suggest placing them on a wire rack in a 170-degree F oven. They can be kept warm for an hour or so maybe? Just be careful they don’t dry out too much.
If you have any leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. They can be reheated in the microwave for a few seconds, then crisped up in a warm oven.
A FEW MORE OF MY KIDS’ FAVORITE DINNER RECIPES:
- Detroit-Style Pizza
- Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Easy Chili Recipe
- 4 (904 g) chicken breasts, , small (or 2 large, halved)
- 1/4 cup (60 g) hot sauce
- 1/4 cup (59.15 g) water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) kosher salt
- 2/3 cup (83.33 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) garlic powder
- 2 (88 g) eggs, large
- 1/2 cup (118.29 g) sparkling water
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) white pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) onion powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 g) dry mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon (2.25 g) garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 g) ground thyme
- oil for frying
- 4 (336 g) brioche buns,, toasted*
- mayonnaise, (optional)
- pickles, (optional)
- hot sauce, (optional)
- Combine the hot sauce, water, chili powder, and salt in a large bowl or plastic bag.
- Pound the chicken breasts lightly, to even out their thickness.
- Coat the chicken breasts in the brine and chill for approximately 1 to 2 hours.
- Place the flour, salt, and garlic powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Whisk in the eggs and the sparkling water, a little at a time, until a smooth batter forms.
- Whisk the flour, salt, white pepper, onion powder, paprika, dry mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, and ground thyme together in a large bowl.
- Stir in a little of the batter, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Heat a large pot of oil to 325 to 375 degrees F.
- Remove the chicken breasts from the brine and coat them first in batter, then in seasoned flour.
- Fry the chicken breasts until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (approximately 5 to 15 minutes).
- Drain on paper towels and allow the chicken breasts to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Dress the buns with mayonnaise and pickles (optional).
- Top the fried chicken breasts with hot sauce (optional), and sandwich them between the buns.
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This chicken sandwich is absolutely delicious. I’ve made them twice now. This time I was in the checkout when I remembered at the last minute I needed sparkling water, there was no plain sparkling water in the refrigerator cases so I grabbed what I thought was the best option…lol, sparkling lemon lime it was! I think it was a great choice. I served them on square rustic rolls (toasted) from Costco, and I used original Frank’s for my marinade. I also mixed some Frank’s with mayo for spread on the rolls. The only thing I would change next time (for my own taste preference) is to cut down the salt, I’m not a salt person, my husband loved it as written. Thank you (and your son) for a wonderful crispy chicken sandwich recipe.
It is our pleasure! So happy you like it. I’ve resorted to flavored water myself a few times and found the same. Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for the wonderful feedback!