Follow The Triple Dip Rule For Extra-Crispy Fried Chicken

When we covered the top mistakes people make when cooking fried chicken, improper dredging technique was prominently mentioned. Although there are countless small variations on the theme, most foodies abide by the same basic process when making their chicken: they dip the chicken in a wet mixture and then use a dry mix dredge to coat the poultry pieces before frying. The process is pretty similar regardless of whether one is making bone-in chicken pieces or boneless strips, and it doesn't really matter if you are shallow-frying in a Dutch oven or submerging your chicken in a deeper bath. Allow us to persuade you, however, to triple dip your chicken for what might just be the finest results a home cook can achieve.

What we've learned over time (and lots of social media clicks) is that a treble process for dipping one's chicken can pay huge dividends. Why batter your chicken just once when a three-step process can produce even greater amounts of crispy, craggy texture? A flour mixture and an egg-milk preparation are mixed up in side-by-side bowls. The chicken is first moistened and coated in flour, then the liquid mix, before it's finally rolled in flour again and finally hits the oil (some cooks further utilize an extra round of batter and dredging). This results in a luxuriously thick, crackling coating on your chicken after it's fried. Another variation utilizes that great fried food standby of the beer batter. This, too, produces a crust that is substantially more crispy than your average bird.

Perhaps the best aspect of triple dipped fried chicken is the way it lends itself to some of our already-beloved tips and tricks for fried chicken of any variety. Most home cooks who enjoy cooking fried chicken are sitting on at least one or two little tricks that they use to give their birds extra flavor and texture, and we might likewise employ a couple of extra steps to make our poultry truly legendary.

Remember when we saw a TikTok reel of an alleged former Chick-fil-A employee adding baking powder to his flour for that crisp touch that we prize so much in the CFA drive-thru? It's a fact that baking powder is one ingredient that can add lightness and superb texture to fried chicken, so you might just catch us sprinkling some in our dredge before dipping. Many home cooks already have baking powder, so this is easy to pull off.

Another idea we love is utilizing bacon grease when frying chicken. Bacon grease stands to add smoky umami flavor to fried chicken, and we would consider adding some of this precious fat to our frying oil. It doesn't necessitate any other variations to your chicken preparation, just pouring in some of the fat that you perhaps saved from your last family breakfast. Combined with the extravagant, super-crispy breading from triple dipping your chicken, we can't think of a more glorious centerpiece for your dinner.