Recipe: KFC Copy Cat Chicken

Scott's mom got a book with copy cat recipes of restaurant foods (Top Secret Recipes Step By Step by Todd Wilbur).  Scott decided to borrow it, and we took a day over Christmas break to go grocery shopping to pick up the odds and ends we would need to try some of our restaurant favorites!

The first recipe we decided to tackle was KFC's Original Recipe Fried Chicken.

There were four ingredients that we changed.  Two of the spices the book listed, we couldn't find in our local grocery stores.  The recipe also calls for MSG and suggests Accent seasoning, which is what we used.  Since we couldn't completely adhere to the recipe from the book, we decided to go ahead and use gluten free flour (Scott is supposed to avoid gluten) instead of regular all-purpose flour.  So here's how we made it!

(Don't let the huge list of ingredients scare you.  This was actually really easy to make....)

Ingredients

• 8 chicken legs*
• 5 Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts*

*The original recipe also called for a whole roaster chicken cut into 8 pieces.  We used the chicken that we had on hand.  We had more than 8 pieces total, and we had more than enough breading, dredge, and brine.

Brine

• 1/2 c. salt
• 1 T Accent Seasoning
• 8 c. water

Breading

• 1 3/4 c. Krustez Gluten Free Flour
• 1 T. plus 1 tsp. salt
• 1 T. Accent Seasoning
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. ground black pepper corns
• 1/2 tsp. ground white pepper
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. ground thyme
• 1/2 tsp. ground sage
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground marjoram
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Dredge

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups skim milk

1. Make the brine by dissolving salt and Accent seasoning in the water.  Add the chicken pieces and marinate for 3 hours.  Remove chicken from the brine, rinse with water, and blot dry.
2. Heat oil in the deep fryer to 300* F.
3. To make the breading, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
4. In another bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the milk.
5. Dip each piece of chicken in the dredge and then put into the breading.  Toss the chicken pieces to coat completely.  Toss a few times to ensure good coating.  When the oil is ready, shake off the excess breading and add to the fryer two pieces at a time (or more if your fryer can hold more.  I made ours two at a time.).  

6. Fry for 16-20 minutes (16 worked for me) or until the chicken is golden brown.  Drain chicken on a rack for 5 minutes before serving.

Those are breading crumbs in my sink.  I promise my sink is not actually gross...

**You can keep chicken pieces warm in a 220* oven until all pieces are ready to serve.

I made corn and mashed potatoes to serve with our chicken since that's what I would eat as sides at KFC! :)