Skip Salt And Pepper: Grab This Pantry Staple For More Flavorful Fried Chicken

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It's always exciting when fried chicken is on the menu, but cramming flavor into this crispy, savory treat can take some of that joy out of the process. When you've thrown more salt and pepper into the mix than you can shake a stick at and still come out with meh-tasting chicken, it's tempting to throw in the towel and order take-out. Don't give up yet! Instead, go back to your pantry and dig out the chicken bouillon. This clever ingredient could be your ticket to serious depth of flavor for fried chicken, and it can go in both the marinade and the coating.

Chicken bouillon in broth, powder, or cube form is a wonderful base for a marinade, because it is specifically made to be full of concentrated flavor. We'll come back to that subject a little later, but crumbling a cube or sprinkling a tablespoon into your brine (if you're not using the broth as a base) will amp up the fried chicken's flavor as the meat absorbs the liquid. The mild acidity in most pre-made bouillon also helps tenderize the chicken, so it's soft as well as juicy.

Whether you're making a wet batter or a dry one for your fried chicken, the bouillon can go in those, too, so you're doubling down on all that savory flavor. We'd pair it with a saltine cracker coating, but this does boost the sodium. If salt is an issue, opt for a sodium-free bouillon, while if you have IBS and need low FODMAP foods, this well-reviewed chicken soup base and seasoning looks to make a great fried chicken marinade addition.

Cowboys loved beef jerky for many reasons, including how it could be used to flavor water for dishes like chili. The Wild West was already in the rearview mirror for many by the time commercially produced bouillon cubes were launched in the early 1900s. Usually made from dried meat and veggies, they are either concentrated into a liquid, powdered, or compressed into a cube or rectangular form. In the decades since their invention, the range of bouillons has expanded to cover chicken, beef, and vegetables, and they're used the world over to add flavor to every savory dish imaginable — including fried chicken.

However, the convenience offered by these mass-produced bouillons has come at a cost, according to some. Few of us have time for the labor-intensive process of creating a chicken or beef bouillon from scratch, but more people are asking questions about the ingredients in a bouillon cube, including chemical additives and all that salt, and their impact on our health. 

In response, companies have created "clean" bouillons, made with fewer additives and relying on glutamates — the ingredient that gives everything more flavor va-va-voom — from natural sources, such as mushrooms or tomato paste. We're intrigued to try them and see how they compare with other bouillons the next time we're rustling up a batch of fried chicken.