KFC Style Fried Chicken

KFC style fried chicken breast

Ever get the craving for fast food? Not necessarily for food to be ready that fast (because honestly, once you factor in the traveling time, its actually quicker to make some frugal fast foods at home), but for the unique tastes you associate with foods from your favorite restaurant chains?

The first time I ever tasted KFC chicken, I was 10 years old. We were on a trip, and we ordered a huge bucket of fried chicken for the family to share. As someone into healthy foods and saving money, I'll be honest- I haven't had KFC that many more times in my life, but its still just about the best finger lickin' chickin' in the whole wide universe.

When I came across a tried and true recipe for KFC chicken, I was absolutely excited- being able to recreate that delicious taste at home for a fraction of the cost was just terrific. I did have to make a few tweaks to the recipe to make it healthier, cheaper, and suitable for my family, and here it is.
The best thing about this recipe is you can use it for whatever chicken parts you have, including chicken breast pieces, wings, thighs, drumsticks, etc... so you can keep it low cost by using whatever type of chicken you're able to get cheapest. (See my post on how to calculate which type of chicken really is cheapest.)

KFC Style Fried Chicken

Ingredients
1 egg, beaten
1 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2-3 lbs of chicken parts
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram (optional)
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp onion salt (optional)
1 tsp garlic powder
Healthy oil for deep frying (I've used coconut, sunflower, and hazelnut oils)

Instructions
1. Cut the chicken into small pieces. This way you get more (psychologically, because people usually look at how many actual pieces they get more than how big each piece is) and the pieces cook quicker so the outside doesn't get burnt with the inside raw. I cut a whole chicken breast from a chicken into at least 6 or 7 pieces, and usually cut my wings in half and separate the drumsticks from the thighs.

2. Mix the egg, water, and lemon together, and soak the chicken in this mixture for at least 20 minutes.

3. Heat up the oil in a deep skillet on medium high heat. If you're cooking chicken thighs and drumsticks, you might need oil that is one inch deep; if you're cooking wings and chicken breast, half an inch of oil is sufficient. Heat the oil until it is nearly smoking.

4. Put all the dry ingredients (flour and spices) in a large plastic bag and mix very well. When the chicken is finished soaking, put a few pieces of chicken in the bag, twist the bag close, and shake the bag, coating the chicken with the spiced flour mixture.

5. Deep fry these coated chicken pieces until they're a dark golden color on one side, then flip them over to cook the other side. The bigger the pieces, the darker the coating will be. Prick them to make sure they're fully cooked, and then remove them from the oil and place them on a cloth napkin to drip off excess oil.

6. Coat more chicken and fry and repeat.

7. Devour!

P.S. The best thing about this is because you're using only healthy oils for frying, you don't have to worry that that excess oil consumed is dangerous. You're not cooking it in crisco as the original recipe calls for! And best of all- it doesn't have any of the msg either from the original recipe!

What is your favorite type of fast food that you miss because you don't have it, either because of health reasons or because of frugality reasons? What restaurant food do you wish to be able to create at home? Do you also like KFC chicken as much as I do? Would you possibly try this recipe yourself?