KFC Original Recipe Chicken uncovered by a food reporter and Colonel Sander’s nephew. A perfect copycat with all 11 herbs and spices!
If you’re a KFC fan, then you’re in for a treat with this remarkable Copycat Recipe. Serve with KFC Mac and Cheese and KFC Coleslaw for your favorite fast food meal!
Sabrina’s KFC Orginal Chicken (Copycat)
KFC Original Recipe Chicken has been a huge part of my childhood. As a kid, my aunt would walk me home from school, and we would stop at the KFC that was a half a block from my school. We’d share chicken and a strawberry parfait they used to sell. Unlike the Pioneer Chicken that my mom used to buy, this food memory is one I can still enjoy anytime I want.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 tablespoon dried basil leaves
- 1/3 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 tablespoon celery salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried mustard
- 3 tablespoons paprika , (original recipe calls for 4 tablespoons)
- 2 tablespoons garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons ground white pepper
- 2 teaspoons Accent Seasoning , optional (I left this out)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 chicken , cut into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs and 2 breasts each cut in half to make 4 breast pieces)
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Add the spices to a small food processor until they’re all uniform in size and the thyme, basil and oregano aren’t larger in size anymore.
- Add the flour in a bowl with all the herbs and spices and mix with a whisk.
- In a second larger bowl add the buttermilk and egg together and whisk until combined.
- Add the chicken to the buttermilk mixture for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the buttermilk soak and let any excess buttermilk drip off.
- Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture on all sides, then shake off the excess coating.
- Let it rest on a cookie sheet for 20-30 minutes.
- Add oil to a deep fryer or a large pot that is at least 5 inches high so that the chicken can be fully submerged.
- Heat the oil to 350 degrees and fry in small batches for 15-18 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the oil and add to a drying rack on top of a clean cookie sheet.
- If you add it to a paper towel or newspaper the bottom of the chicken will steam from the heat and become soft.
Notes
I reduced the paprika by 1 tablespoon.
I pulverized the thyme, basil and oregano in my small food processor.
I added more oil Thanks so much to the awesome folks at the Chicago Tribune for this KFC Original Recipe Chicken “copycat.”
Nutrition
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Table of contents
About this Recipe
Why make a copycat recipe of it if you have one a mile down the road? Well, A: Copycat recipes are a ton of fun and B: Way, way, way, way higher quality. Have you been to a KFC in the last decade? I’ve only been a few times, but was disappointed each time because the chicken pieces have shrunken… a lot. Making a copycat recipe also allows you to adjust and omit the ingredients according to your dietary needes. Plus, you can try the copycat chicken with delicious pairings, like serving Chicken and Waffles.
Chef’s Note: Authentic KFC flavor
For years people tried to decode KFC’s famous 11 herbs and spices to make the signature fried chicken. Everyone has theories, and according to KFC no one has EVER been right. So I have sort of watched the copycat rounds develop from a distance. Then something pretty awesome happened.
A food reporter for the Chicago Tribune visited the nephew of good old Colonel Sanders himself. He has memories of this recipe that he used to make by the bucket. And lo and behold he has a copy of the recipe in an old scrapbook. So, of course, the reporter snaps a picture and proceeds to bring it back to Chicago for some serious taste testing.
Now, as a huge KFC Original Recipe Chicken fan, I’m interested. They recipe test and with the single addition of MSG find that they’ve recreated that distinct amazing flavor. So here it is, in all its glory. I did make a couple of adjustments in my side by side comparison during recipe testing.
Kitchen Tools and Ingredients
- Deep Fryer: Easy for keeping the temperature on point and kind of fun to use!
- Ac’cent Seasoning: The x factor, this is MSG, so use at your discretion.
- Pigtail Flipper: I LOVE this tool for frying. I can drop and pick up pieces without removing any breading at all, thanks to this excellent tool.
Related Recipes
More Delicious KFC Recipes (Copycat)
Photos used in previous versions of the post
There’s a much easier way and it’s much like the same way they do this in the actual KFC restaurant. I’ve tried many different ways and have studied the recipe and process for years. I finally have it right. The quickest way I can tell you is all you need is 1 bag of shake & bake, white powder, celery salt, dry mustard and thyme are your main flavors to add. Set raw chicken in a ziplock bag of olive oil. Poor your seasoning mixture in the bag. Let sit over night 24 hrs and save some of the dry seasoning for the frying later. Buy yourself some Kentucky Kernel seasoned flour adding the same seasonings you’ve saved above. Set up your flour pan and a water pan. Dredge the chicken in the flour and season mixture using a stainless steel fine mesh strainer. Do not touch the chicken to avoid messy hands. Use the strainer and dip chicken in the water. Return back to dredging in flour. sift all remaining flour and place on a pan for your pressure air fryer. Original recipe chicken isn’t deep fried. It’s cooked in the air fryer for about 20 mins. If you prefer crispy chicken style then you’d use the deep fryer. I love it this way, it’s very fast, cost effective, and my entire family agrees it’s as if we ordered it from KFC.
Sounds like you’ve got your KFC down to a science, I like that! I’ll have to try your method next time I’m craving fried chicken. Thanks for sharing.
Made this last night. My husband loves Kentucky fried chicken. But does not buy it anymore. So I thought this recipe would be a necessity surprise for him.
I followed the recipe to a T. First of all the chicken crust was burning in the first 4 minutes so I removed it from the 350 oil temp. Lowered the heat to 300 to finish off the other pieces. Still just the outside was getting too dark so I finished cooking them
In the oven. As for the huge amount of spices in the flour the taste was nothing like Kentucky fried chicken. My husband will eat the chicken but it’s never even close to the Kentucky fried flavour . ????
Hey Johanne, I’m sorry that your fried chicken didn’t turn out as expected. The coating shouldn’t be burned in 4 minutes, unless the oil was hotter than 350? Old oil, sugar, or spices can also cause the chicken to burn quickly. If you can figure out which one was the culprit, I can help troubleshoot.
Any suggestions on how to keep it from getting so dark? I’ve lowered the temperature on my deep fryer quite a bit and I know I will have to keep it in there longer. What is making it turn so dark?
Hey Dawn, first I need to know what is turning dark. Is it the chicken, or the oil? And what temperature did you turn it down to? Oil as it fries naturally gets darker, and if its fried above temperatures of 350 degrees will degrade/darken quicker. If its the chicken that’s getting too dark, ask these questions: Is my oil temperature 375 or higher? Is the batter too thick? Was the fryer crowded with chicken when frying? Once we have the answers, I can better troubleshoot your issue.
I used to have this “copycat of favourite restaurants” type of book, which I purchased over 20 years ago. The copycat “KFC original recipe” was one of the recipes in the volume I had. I, of course, don’t remember all of the ingredients by heart; however, two ingredients stood out to me, and therefore I’ve never forgotten them. One of them being “Accént” (MSG) which has left me feeling comfortable using it ever since. And the second left me intrigued but not bold enough to try on my own, ( I don’t recall ginger) but instead “Nutmeg” was one of those 11 herbs & spices. Possibly THAT is what seems “off” to some of the people in the comments section who tried This recipe but found it slightly off, both smell & taste-wise.?????
I thought kfc chicken was pressure cooked before frying
I will ask my sources Chris! Thanks for your comment!
I just made this using the recipe provided. It was good, but definitely not Kentucky Fried Chicken.
I will not mention my age, but absolutely loved the original recipe and this is not it. I even kept waiting for the smell while cooking, but it never came. There’s definitely something missing in the spices.
To me, this tastes nothing like it. It was good, but those distinct herbs and spices you always taste and smelled are just not there.
More research needed on this one. This recipe doesn’t appear to be accurate.
I’m sorry you were disappointed. Thanks for trying the recipe!
I was a chicken cook at KFC when I was in high school, and I just want to say that their original recipe chicken is not just deep fried, it’s deep fried in a pressure cooker. Their extra tasty crispy style of chicken is just plain deep fried, but they have a special type of pressure cooker for their original recipe chicken.
I just made this, and OMG! it was absolutely delicious!!!!!!
I love reading comments like yours. Thank you Tammy!
Hi. Will this work on a Fry Daddy or other deep fryer where you can’t adjust the temperature? Thank you!
Can you do this in an air fryer, don’t have a deep fryer
I’m sure you can; however, I haven’t tested this recipe in an air fryer so let us know how it turns out!
I used my deep fat fryer at 350 and they got very dark, i found cooking them at 300 but for longer if need be worked better, using smaller chickens would help also. KFC uses pressure fryers and im gonna invest in one!
Should the chicken have their skin on or not..?
Yes! Thanks for asking.
I was concerned @ the salt amount so I kept the salt and celery salt amounts the same but used garlic instead of garlic salt and it came out fine. I also kept the black pepper amount but used only 1 Tbsp of white pepper instead of 3 since white is hotter than black.
The breading was delicious. I gave only 3 stars due to the fact I fried them in a deep fryer and at 18 minutes they turned out very dark and almost burnt look. I lowered the time 2 minutes increments, down to 12 minutes and they still came out burnt looking.
Oh no, that’s disappointing. Was the oil kept at 350 degrees and at least at 5 inches deep to fully submerge the pieces? I timed mine for a deep fry time of 15 – 18 minutes.