You can easily make a delicious chicken sandwich at home that rivals anything you can get from a fast food chain. No waiting in long lines at the drive thru, just juicy, crispy, utterly delicious fried chicken sandwiches any time you get a hankering for one. Around here? We love chicken sandwiches a whole lot!!! But they have to be really good chicken sandwiches…like these!
Does anyone remember the spicy chicken sandwich wars between two major fast food chicken chains a few months back? It turned into a national phenomenon and became so contentious that there was actually a chicken sandwich shortage for a while. There were long lines in the drive thru with signs going up early in the day that they were out of spicy chicken sandwiches. People sure do seem to love a good chicken sandwich.
A HUGE shout out to Ina Garten for this FANTASTIC recipe at Foodnetwork.com. As soon as I saw this recipe, my mouth literally started watering. I knew I had to give it a try as soon as possible!
All right let’s get this recipe going by gathering together the ingredients for the marinade.
Prepare the chicken by cutting each chicken breast in half so they are about equal in size.
Place each piece of chicken in between plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet.
You want each piece to be about 1/4 inch in thickness. Place chicken in a shallow dish.
Don’t skip this step! Pounding them to thin them out will allow the chicken to cook all the way through without the coating getting burnt. If the chicken pieces are to thick the coating will burn before the chicken cooks all the way through.
Undercooked chicken with a burnt coating? Not good! We are shooting for tender, juicy, cooked chicken with a crispy, crunchy, golden brown coating ✔️
Thinly slice a shallot.
Substitute 1/2 an onion, thinly sliced if you don’t have a shallot on hand.
Cut a jalapeño pepper into quarters.
Top pounded chicken pieces evenly with sliced shallots and jalapeño pepper quarters.
In a large bowl stir together buttermilk, minced garlic, pepper, kosher salt and pepper.
Submerge the prepped chicken pieces in the buttermilk marinade. Make sure the chicken pieces are completely covered by the marinade.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight to allow the chicken pieces to tenderize and soak up the good flavors in the marinade.
As long as we are prepping the chicken lets make the creamy herb sauce next. Allowing it to hang out in the fridge overnight lets the flavors intensify and come together, making for a tastier sauce. Plus all that is left to do the next day is bread the chicken pieces, fry them up, assemble the sandwiches and DIG IN.
Place a cup of mayo in a mixing bowl.
Add the buttermilk and vinegar.
Add the spices; garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Add the herbs; green onions, chives, parsley.
Stir sauce to combine all the ingredients. Cover and refrigerate herb sauce until ready to use.
When you are ready to eat, heat about 2 inches of oil in a dutch oven pot to 350 degrees.
While the oil is preheating make the coating for the chicken.
Combine flour, baking powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, celery salt, kosher salt, and pepper in a shallow dish.
I’m so excited to finally use this gourmet Smoky Spanish Paprika. How cute is the packaging? It even has a convenient holder on the bottle to store the lovely little wooden spoon it comes with! ❤️
Sorry, I digress, I got distracted with my new gourmet spice. I suppose it’s the Hungarian in me, Paprika gets me excited.
Stir to completely combine all the coating ingredients.
Using tongs, remove each piece of chicken from the marinade and place it in the coating. Cover each piece completely with the coating.
Return each piece of chicken back into the marinade and cover with the marinade.
Return each chicken piece to the coating a second time and coat completely. Double coating the chicken produces a crispy, crunchy coating as it fries. Be sure to double coat each piece of chicken, it really does make a difference in the finished product! It will result in an amazing crunchy, crispy coating.
When the oil is hot fry 1-2 pieces of chicken at a time; do not crowd the chicken in the pan.
TIP: Use a dutch oven pan with high sides for frying the chicken. Not only will it heat the oil evenly and maintain the temperature of the oil the best, but the high sides of the pot will keep most of the oil splatters in the pot instead of all over your stove. You can thank me later when you are cleaning up.
Fry chicken for about 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Turn pieces over about half way through cooking them to ensure they brown evenly on both sides.
While the chicken is cooking preheat oven to 250 degrees. Slice tomatoes.
Prepare lettuce.
Using tongs, remove cooked chicken pieces from the oil and place them on a wire rack to drain. Sprinkle fried chicken with a little kosher salt and place them in the oven to keep warm while you fry the remaining pieces of chicken.
Now for the good part…it’s time to assemble the sandwiches so we can gobble them down! For the best flavor in every bite assemble them in the order below:
Separate rolls and toast the cut sides, either under the broiler in the oven, or on the stove on a lightly greased cast iron grill.
Place a generous tablespoon of the herb spread on the toasted side of the buns.
Top with a crisp piece of lettuce.
Add a slice of American cheese.
Place a piece of chicken on top.
Top with another slice of American cheese.
Add a couple slices of tomato.
Top with bun, spread with the herb sauce.
Just look at that tower of deliciousness! Creamy herb sauce, crunchy, juicy chicken, crisp lettuce, melty cheese…oh my goodness! This sandwich is pretty darn spectacular!!!
Now that is a damn good sandwich. It’s so big you will have trouble opening your mouth wide enough to get a good bite…LOL! You must give this recipe a try! It will become an absolute family favorite at your house just like it is at our house!!!
And for the record…Chick-fil-A makes the best fast food chicken sandwiches 😍 But these are hands down, even better than theirs!
These amazingly delectable sandwiches demand to be served up with an equally stellar side. Try this creamy, cheesy recipe for Mac & Cheese. Easy to make and the perfect side to round out this fabulous meal.
The Best Ever Crispy Chicken Sandwich
Equipment
- Dutch oven pot for deep frying chicken
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts, cut in half and pounded to ½ inch thickness
- Vegetable oil, for frying
- 6 artisan hamburger buns
- lettuce
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- 6 slices American cheese
For the Marinade:
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Jalapeño pepper, cut into quarters
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp pepper
For the Creamy Herb Sauce:
- 1 cup mayo
- 2 tbsp buttermilk
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2 tbsp green onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp chives, sliced
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp pepper
For the Coating:
- 3½ cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 2½ tsp smokey paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp celery flakes
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1½ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Cut each chicken breast into two equal sized pieces. Use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound each piece of chicken to ½ inch thickness.
- Place pounded chicken pieces, in a single layer, in a 13X9 inch dish.
Make the marinade:
- In a large bowl stir together buttermilk, sliced shallot, minced garlic, jalapeño pepper, kosher salt and pepper.
- Submerge chicken pieces in the marinade. Place in the refrigerator overnight to allow chicken pieces to tenderize in the marinade.
Make Creamy Herb Sauce:
- In a mixing bowl stir together mayo, buttermilk, vinegar, green onions, chives, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Cover and refrigerate herb sauce until ready to use.
Make the Coating:
- In a shallow dish combine, flour, baking powder, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, celery flakes, kosher salt, and pepper. Stir to combine the ingredients.
Cook the Chicken:
- Heat about 2 inches of oil in a dutch oven pot to 350°.
- While oil is heating dip each piece of marinated chicken into the coating mixture.
- Return to the buttermilk marinade and then back into the coating for a second layer.
- When the oil is hot fry 2- 3 pieces of chicken at a time; do not crowd chicken in the pan.
- Fry chicken for about 5-8 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Turn pieces over about half way through cooking them to ensure they brown evenly on both sides.
- Using tongs, remove cooked chicken pieces from the oil and place them on a wire rack.
- Sprinkle fried chicken with a little salt and place in a 250° oven to keep them warm while you fry the remaining pieces of chicken.
Assemble Sandwiches:
- Separate rolls and toast them, either in the oven, or on a cast iron grill.
- Place a generous tablespoon of the herb spread on the toasted side of the bottom bun.
- Top with a piece of lettuce.
- Add a slice of American cheese.
- Place a piece of chicken on top.
- Top with another slice of American cheese.
- Add a couple slices of tomato.
- Spread another tablespoon of the herb sauce on the toasted side of the top bun.
- Place top bun on the sandwich and enjoy!
Did You Make This?
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