Skip All-Purpose Flour And Breadcrumbs: Grab This Breakfast Staple For Crispy Fried Chicken

Using a breakfast staple for better fried chicken isn't a foreign concept to us — we've been known to pick up boxed pancake mix for flavorful, crispy chicken — but the crunchiest chicken might come from the other side of the pantry. Corn flakes cereal, that stalwart of a hearty first meal, actually has a long history of being used as a mega-crispy outer coating for fried chicken. A recipe for "Corn Crisped Chicken" from Kellogg's, the manufacturer of Corn Flakes, even dates back to 1966. Of course, you can use generic corn flakes for your breading with no ill effect.

A really high-quality coating for fried chicken leaves you with a craggy shell that traps flavorful sauces and gives you impeccable crunch after it's been fried. Using saltine crackers to bread fried chicken is ingenious because the irregular cracker crumbs really grab all the seasoning, and corn flakes work for a similar reason. While some folks will finely pulverize their cereal to get minute corn flakes dust that works more like a conventional breadcrumb, we've also seen the cereal used pretty much intact for an eye-popping 3-D texture that would snag every morsel of flavor.

How the process generally works is simple. First, marinate your fried chicken in your chosen medium, whether buttermilk, pickle brine, or something else. Dredge your chicken in its base coating — seasoned flour is a perennial favorite, but we've also seen cornmeal used to complement the flavor of the cereal. Then, after another roll in your eggs or liquid, shake up your chicken in your corn flakes. Cook up that bird and get ready for fried chicken you can hear!

Posters on Reddit were very favorable on the topic of fried chicken coated in corn flakes. "Corn flakes make a dope breading," one Redditor opined. "Enormously popular over here in Australia," another reported. In another comment thread, a user nostalgically reminisced on their mother making corn flakes-fried chicken but stated that the cereal burned very easily. This might be a point to consider if you are frying up this chicken for the first time. Using a meat thermometer to temp your poultry when it's in the hot oil will ensure that you cook it through and not one minute longer so that you can stave off burnt corn flakes.

Another unsung benefit of corn flakes-fried chicken besides its great taste? Done right, it might be consumable by those with certain dietary intolerances. To wit, some store-brand corn flakes are gluten-free, although the OG cereal by Kellogg's currently is not. If you want to keep your fried chicken gluten-free throughout, utilize appropriate starches like rice flour or tapioca flour. The aforementioned cornmeal is another GF option with real promise!

Fried chicken crusted in corn flakes makes for a delicious dinner served with homemade mashed potatoes and fresh biscuits, obviously. That said, we might playfully lean into the "breakfast cereal" aspect and serve this scrumptious chicken for brunch with waffles and real maple syrup. No matter when it hits the plate, we predict that you will be delighted with the texture and flavor of your uniquely breaded chicken ... just try not to dwell overmuch on the strange origins of Corn Flakes cereal!