Fried chicken breading comes out soggy & just slips off the chicken - help!

😭 I’ve tried it all you guys. I’ve tried half flour half corn starch, I’ve done 100% potato starch, adding eggs to the buttermilk batter, heating the oil to 350 - 375 (approx 175-190 Celsius) - and the breading always comes out a liiiittle bit crispy but the inside is no good and completely seperate a from the chicken.

If this subreddit allowed photos I would show you what I mean, a piece of chicken thigh just slipped out of the breading which is still in the same shape as the chicken that was inside it.

Now, when I make karaage chicken - it always comes out beautifully crispy, crunchy, and perfect. If I’m making Katsu chicken - again, soo crunchy and I use Panko breadcrumbs and a thin runny batter and it is like glass, just so crunchy and perfect. But any time I’m making a chicken burger (or sandwich depending on where you’re from), it has never been as perfect as the karaage chicken. Just a soggy, sometimes oily, gooey mess.

The primary differences is that for karaage chicken I marinate my thigh meat in mirin, sake, soy sauce, ginger, white pepper. I’ve read that if the chicken is too wet the coating will not stick, but obviously buttermilk fried chicken has to be wet before you place it into your breading mixture, so that doesn’t make sense. The meat is cooked (not raw) but the breading has never worked from me. Drizzling buttermilk over the flour makes it even worse!! Is it because I need to have a really big frying vessel? I use a medium size pot and do a few pieces at a time. 😭

Buttermilk Fried chicken hates me 😭 what tips and tricks do you guys have? TIA 🤍🤍

in Cookingby CockroachCreative740

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13d

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lichprince

13d

Maybe a dumb question, but are you dredging in flour, then egg, then flour again, or are you just dredging in flour?

CockroachCreative740

13d

I used this recipelast from Serious Eats where they whisked two eggs into the buttermilk mixture, so I just made another batch of buttermilk mix (seasoned with smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, dried basil, dried ginger, mustard powder, salt and pepper and some rub + hot sauce) and then whisked two eggs into that and went from the buttermilk marinade > potato starch > egg mixture > potato starch > hot oil 😭

But for Karaage chicken I whisk two eggs and put my chicken into the eggs after I marinate (overnight) and it’s honestly always perfect. It comes out as crunchy and crispy as pork belly crackling! I don’t know why I can never get that with buttermilk fried chicken 😭

lichprince

13d

I’m from the South, and my family recipe goes marinade > AP flour > egg > AP flour > hot oil. I’m thinking that, by combining your binder with the buttermilk mixture, you might not be getting enough egg actually onto the chicken, so it’s not adhering properly. Are you using six-ish pieces of chicken like the recipe calls for?

CockroachCreative740

13d

You could be on to something! Now that I think about it, since the karaage chicken recipe just goes straight into the eggs then starch, and it’s getting an even coating of egg. More so than mixing the eggs into buttermilk.. It’s my first time using egg in the process for buttermilk fried chicken this time though. I did use 6 (2 larger, 4 smaller) thighs - and I use a blend of olive x canola oil 🤔 in the past I used only olive oil

So many contributing factors it’s hard to find the culprit! 😭

lichprince

13d

I’d definitely try 1) eggs on their own, not in the buttermilk mixture, and 2) canola/peanut/veg oil instead of olive. Olive oil typically has too low of a smoke point for deep frying, so that could also be contributing to this. I really think it’s the eggs thing, though.

CockroachCreative740

13d

Thanks so much for your Southern Hospitality! 🤍😭 I will definitely not give up on buttermilk fried chicken, will give the eggs method a go for next time! 🙏🍗

lichprince

13d

No problem, and best of luck with all your chicken endeavors!

Cold-Hearing4672

13d

After buttermilk and flour, leave chicken on drip rack for good 30 minutes. My experience is that this makes it stick.