The crispiest, spicier, homemade fried chicken I have ever had is created with this batter for frying chicken! It has long been a family favorite for picnics and is delicious both hot and cold.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 quart vegetable oil for frying
- 4 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 ½ tablespoons garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 ½ cups beer, or as needed
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
Instructions
- Heat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix 3 cups flour, garlic salt, 1 tablespoon pepper, paprika, and poultry seasoning together in a medium bowl.
- Stir 1 1/2 cups beer, remaining 1 1/3 cups flour, egg yolks, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a separate bowl; thin with more beer if batter is too thick.
- Moisten chicken pieces with a little water, then dip in seasoned flour mixture. Shake off excess and dip in beer batter, then dip in the seasoned flour mixture once more.
- Lower chicken pieces carefully into the hot oil in batches. Fry until crispy and well-browned, about 15 to 18 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
- You can use water instead of beer if desired.
- We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. Amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and specific type of oil used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 661 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 73 g |
| Cholesterol | 168 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 42 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1840 mg |
| Sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’m a seasoning addict… Never enough seasoning for me… I double all the seasoning, add the cumin as suggested, don’t separate the flour mixture until I coat the chicken the first time. I then set in the fridge for a couple hours. Then I separate some ingredients to make the wet batter. From that point on I follow the directions. I love this recipe as a base recipe.
Chicken came out delicious. Though the amount of beer for that much flour was way off. Ended up using 2.5 cans of beer just to get it moist enough to batter the chicken. And I did not separate the flour I just mixed it all together, did not see a need to separate. Also did a 1.5 tbs of cumin and also lemon pepper. Used a hand held temp gauge to check rack piece as they were cooking and removed each piece at 165 deg and the chicken was perfect and very plump and so good. Highly recommend!
It was good! I took the advice of another and added more salt. I used drumsticks. It did take longer to cook, more like 30-40 minutes. The batter was incredible, thick, and crispy. I also added some cornstarch, they say it adds extra crisp.
Great recipe, is fantastic as is, but I would recommend adding some more of your favorite seasonings(reaper pepper powder). As I often say, more beer! We made breast strips which were as much if not more coating than chicken, not a bad thing but ratio was off a bit. Looking forward to leftovers.
I think of this as a “process” recipe rather than an “ingredients” recipe. The “process” is exceptional and the choice of spices up to to each of us individually.
Before making the fried chicken I read the reviews, so i added my own herbs and spices garlic powder,chicken bouillon instead of poultry seasoning, Cajun spices, seasoning salt, rosemary and lemon juice, turned out to be the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted.
This is by far the best fried chicken recipe I found so far. As other reviewers have said the amount of salt used has to adjusted to suit individual taste. I don’t know about the beer. It was good. I may sub chicken broth next time to compare.
I made it twice but instead of using chicken pieces I made chicken strips from chicken breast my family loved it and so did I I’m going to make more today this will be my third time using this recipe very good recipe
Very good but I seasoned my chicken overnight because after reading the recipe I knew there wasn’t enough flavor in the flour and then used the recipe for frying, I used water instead of beer the taste was great!!! Thanks for sharing this batter.
NEEDS MORE SEASONINGS BUT OTHERWISE VERY GOOD !
Would not recommend doing this recipe in the air fryer. In the oil it was amazing.
This came out so fabulous! I did 6 large breast pieces with the amount in the recipe, and I did my own herbs/spices combo. Super crunchy, fried up beautifully.
Love this recipe…. I omit the beer as I don’t like the taste of beer, & instead of paprika, I use same amount of Frank’s red hot powder.
Very good recipe my chicken came out extremely crispy and well done. I added Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, yellow mustard, salt on the chicken itself to let it marinate. I did not use beer( I drink it all)I use water instead and I cook the chicken wings for 10 minutes even. Will definitely do this again.
Insanely good! Have made it about 12 times. Change the oil out between batches if pan frying.
This was fairly easy and so very tasty. Loved that the coating stayed on and didn’t fall off. Would add a light coat of garlic salt before the first coat, just for our taste. Better than KFC! Will be adding this to my favorite fried chicken recipes! Thx for sharing!
Added extra seasoning after reading the reviews and still bland.
Yes, crispy! I made chicken fingers using this dredge with my own creole seasonings and it was wonderfully crisp! My family ate it up . Very pleased and will use again. Thank you. See my pic.
I followed this recipe 3 times and even cooked it for less time and lower heat. Each time my chicken is dark and under cooked. Taste good after finishing in a skillet. Maybe my chicken too big idk. But this recipe isn’t reliable.
Followed recipe to the letter. Very crispy. Absolutely bland. I would change the way to spice this up.
I really Loved the recipe. I did tweek it because personally i like more spice it was mild to mh taste so I added a lot more. Also i had more batter and stuff left over and added ranch powder to make ranch chicken same way.