Fried Chicken

For extra-juicy--and flavorful--fried chicken, chef Rupam Bhagat of Dum in San Francisco marinates his meat using the traditional two-step tandoori process: He first lets the chicken sit in a blend of aromatic spices for 12 hours and then folds in yogurt that helps tenderize the meat and caramelize the crust when it's fried.

This fried chicken from chef Shaun Doty of Bantam + Biddy in Atlanta is a no-fail, no-fuss version of classic fried chicken with a perfectly crunchy seasoned crust (the trick is the cornstarch) and juicy meat.

Instead of deep-frying chicken in a vat of oil, Angie Mosier prefers pan-frying, which creates delightfully crunchy and moist chicken without requiring quite so much oil. “For a covered-dish dinner, there’s nothing better than a tray of drumsticks, which are easy to eat standing up,” she says.

Sticky, spicy and delicious, this Asian-inspired fried chicken is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

To make this juicy and delectably crisp chicken, chef Thomas Keller soaks it in a lemony brine, then coats and fries it.

Try pairing this fried chicken with a Prosecco from northern Italy, which has a soft fruitiness, like the citrusy NV Mionetto Brut. Or drink a crisp pilsner like the pleasantly bitter Victory Prima Pils or the more delicate Pilsner Urquell.

This great fried chicken recipe can be baked up to three hours ahead and served at room temperature.

Crisco is used to fry this chicken to perfection.

Austin’s The Mighty Cone food trailer has become famous for its Hot-and-Crunchy Cones: fried chicken coated in an ingenious mix of cornflakes, slivered almonds and sesame seeds, then wrapped in a tortilla with a mango-jalapeño slaw and a spicy ancho “paint.” This version omits the chile “paint,” instead upping the amount of jalapeño in the slaw.

Nutty sautéed chicken dipped in a creamy mustard sauce delivers nicely varied textures and flavors. Using cornstarch rather than flour makes the crust especially crisp.

“Coconut connects with my African roots,” says Ethiopian-born Marcus Samuelsson about a key ingredient in F&W’s Challenge. The Top Chef Masters winner also had to use pickled peppers and chicken.

Chef John Hennigan says the idea for this chicken sandwich came from a small deli in New York City called Lenny's. Hennigan substitutes a creamy truffled artichoke tapenade for the mayonnaise used in the Lenny's version.

“Right in Tijuana’s red-light district sits Kentucky Fried Buches, where cooks fry chicken necks, skin on, to fill soft corn tortillas. I can’t stop eating them,” says Andrew Zimmern. “At home, I fry skin-on chicken thighs until they’re supercrisp, then eat them with avocado-tomatillo salsa, my family’s favorite.“

Chef Meg Grace’s specialty is this stellar fried chicken.

Linda Meyers serves these pounded, breaded and fried chicken cutlets with her own butter sauce, made with fresh sage and lemon.

“I admit that nothing can stand in for good fried chicken,” says John Currence. “But this is a hell of an impostor.” He adds sweet tea to his marinade; the tannins help tenderize the poultry while the sugar gives it a light cure. The accompanying gravy gets a ton of flavor from strips of caramelized onion.

Thomas Keller uses panko bread crumbs to give chicken a crunchy crust. "Pounding chicken breasts to a uniform thickness cuts down on cooking time," he says.

This is Chris Yeo’s riff on kung pao, a Szechuan dish made with stir-fried diced chicken and chiles. He also uses the cooked chiles as the base for the rich dipping sauce.

For Roy Choi, these crispy egg-and-panko-coated chicken cutlets, generally made with pork in Japan, represent something major. “People think frying chicken cutlets is simple, but it’s like cooking pasta,” says Choi. “It’s a dish that seems remedial, but when you get it right, it changes the whole ball game. I call it the cult of katsu.”

Thick-cut potato chips in this crust stay more crispy than the standard kind. Salt-and-pepper is delicious here, but any flavor works beautifully—even barbecue.

To make his phenomenal fried chicken, Tyler Florence first bakes it low and slow, so it's juicy. Then he coats the chicken pieces in seasoned flour and fries them in oil that's been flavored with garlic and herbs.

Chef JJ Johnson of The Cecil in Harlem, New York marinates the chicken thighs for his fried chicken sandwich in Piri Piri, a spicy Portuguese sauce, for an extra layer of flavor before breading and pan frying.

Bobby Flay's crispy fried chicken stays tender and juicy for two reasons: First, the tangy yogurt marinade and second, the fact that the chicken is roasted first, then quick-fried just before serving.

For the ultimate crispy fried chicken recipe, we turned to Scott Peacock, the chef at Watershed in Decatur, Georgia, and coauthor, with Edna Lewis, of The Gift of Southern Cooking. The chicken is deliciously tenderized by a nice long soak in tangy buttermilk. This recipe, which was originally published in F&W in March 2000, makes a generous amount of gravy; serve any leftovers with homemade biscuits.

Chef Ludo Lefebvre infuses his fried chicken with multiple layers of seasoning. Even before the bird touches the richly flavored duck fat (!) oil, it’s been marinated overnight in a blend of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Then he serves it with his homemade spicy-tangy-sweet ketchup for dipping.

At the 21c Museum Hotel in Nashville, chef Levon Wallace makes buckets of his old-school fried chicken, which is extra-crispy, extra-crunchy and just the right amount of salty. If you want to get really fancy, he says, drizzle the chicken with honey and your favorite spice blend, or serve it alongside some bubbly.

The first step in Seattle chef Eric Johnson’s incredibly moist, incredibly crisp fried chicken isn’t a spice rub or batter, but rather a whole-bird simmer in an aromatic, umami-rich broth. This allows the fat beneath the skin to render as the meat gently cooks. Once dried and fried, the chicken skin becomes lacquered and shatteringly crisp. Find cassia bark (a type of Chinese cinnamon) and maltose (a sweet, malty syrup) at Asian grocery stores.

This spectacularly delicious fried chicken is a variation of the much-loved dish served at NYC’s iconic Blue Ribbon Brasserie. This version is brined in water, salt, honey, lemon and herbs, then coated in a mix of matzo meal and flour before it’s fried to crunchy perfection. To make it even more decadent, chefs Bruce and Eric Bromberg toss it in luscious foie gras fat with crispy chiles and herbs just before it’s served. It’s the ultimate comfort food with a slightly elevated twist.