The Secret to the Best Fried Chicken, According to a Southern Chef

Fried chicken is a hot topic. There are so many ways to fry up a bird, and everyone has a different way they like it. Some like it spicy, while others have a special dredge they can’t live without or a go-to buttermilk recipe.

Like a lot of home cooks, I’m always looking for ways to improve my fried chicken. Because fried chicken is generally the only version of the protein I really ever crave, the dish has a hold on me. To get advice from a pro, I connected with chef Brian Landry, a New Orleans native and owner of restaurant group QED Hospitality. He operates restaurants throughout the southeast, including Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and was named the New Orleans Restaurateur of the Year along with his co-owner, Emery Whalen, in 2022. 

When Landry visited Allrecipes’ Birmingham headquarters to cook four fried chicken recipes from three of his restaurants, he shared his secrets to producing the tastiest fried bird.

The Secret to the Best Fried Chicken

Landry’s trick for making better fried chicken is simple: Cook it at a lower temperature. “A lot of frying takes place at 350 degrees F,” referring to the frying temperature many recipes call for. “We start closer to like 300 degrees,” he said.

Ensuring proteins, especially chicken, are cooked through on the inside without overcooking the outside can be challenging. So when you fry pieces of poultry in oil heated to a slightly lower temperature than the recipe calls for — and maintain that temperature through the entire cooking process — the chicken will reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (73 degrees C) at about the same time the outside becomes the perfect texture.

“You’ll still end up with super crispy chicken without the outside overcooking before the inside is cooked through,” Landry said. 

More Tips for Fried Chicken

Fry in small batches. When you add ingredients to oil, the temperature of the oil will drop. It may just be by a few degrees, but it’s important to keep the oil at a consistent temperature. The more chicken you add to the oil, the more the temperature will decrease. This can impact how evenly the poultry cooks and can result in a soggier, less crispy texture — so store your finished pieces in a warm oven while you fry up the rest in batches.

Don’t skip the brine. When people want fried chicken, they tend to want it now. But if you can plan ahead, make time to soak the poultry in a brine — a solution made from water, salt, and sugar—before you fry it. This will help deepen the flavor of the meat and keep moisture inside the chicken, resulting in a juicy, tender result. “I think brining chicken before you fry it isn’t a complicated step. It’s a prep step. Throw it in the saltwater before you go to work,” said Landry. Then it will be ready to fry when you get home.