KFC Potato Wedges (Copycat)

8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

KFC Potato Wedges lightly battered in a thin KFC chicken flavored seasoning and double fried until super crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

A Perfect Copycat! Perfectly Seasoned! KFC Potato Wedges are a total guilty pleasure of mine. Even when I’m not craving my favorite KFC Original Recipe Chicken I sometimes just go through the drive through ONLY for these wedges. Plus all the kids love them too.

I tried a half dozen different batches of this recipe trying to figure out how thick the batter should be and how salty the breading should be. Plus MSG is not really an ingredient I want in my house, so some changes needed to happen.

French fries are generally a side dish we don’t want to do at home. Yes, you have to fry….then fry again. It isn’t optional if you want a good crispy fry. The second fry is the only way to get it.

Making your seasoned fries at home are actually easy and don’t take a lot of ingredients or frozen bags of premade fries. I once did calculations on those fries, buying them costs roughly 10 times the cost of making them at home. I’m not saying you don’t have some sunken costs in effort, but really if you’re already cooking by the stovetop you could totally add these as something you make on the side.

Want to bake these KFC Potato Wedges?

Ditch the milk/egg/flour and instead coat the wedges with the spices and enough oil to suit your tastes (I would use 2-3 tablespoons) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. I fried them to stay authentic to the recipe, but it would be almost as delicious baked!
You'll LOVE these KFC Potato Wedges! They're so easy, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside!

Looking for more KFC and fried chicken recipes?

The perfect copycat KFC Potato Wedges!

Tools Used in the making of these KFC Potato Wedges:
Cast Iron Dutch Oven: I used to fry in my cast iron skillet, but this dutch oven is perfect for frying larger pieces of food and it keeps heat really well. Plus the lid is a second pan!
Slotted Skimmer: Love this tool for gently removing and draining oil from fried food.
Seasoned Salt: Has that extra something but without the MSG you don’t want!

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KFC Potato Wedges (Copycat)

KFC Potato Wedges lightly battered in a thin KFC chicken seasoning and double fried until crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Yield 8 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 5 large russet potatoes
  • shortening for frying (or canola oil)

Instructions

  • Set up two large bowls and in the first one whisk the milk and egg together.
  • In the second bowl combine the flour, seasoned salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder.
  • Scrub clean the potatoes and slice into ¼ inch to ½ inch thick wedges.
  • Once cut let the potatoes sit in the milk mixture.
  • In a large heavy bottomed pot, heat 3 inches of shortening in to 375 degrees.
  • Take a handful of the potatoes out of the milk mixture with a slotted skimmer or tongs.
  • Toss in the flour mixture.
  • Fry in the hot oil for 3-4 minutes.
  • Once all the batches are done with the first round of frying, fry them a second time for 4-6 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 189kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 1772mg | Potassium: 619mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 110IU | Vitamin C: 7.6mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: KFC Potato Wedges (Copycat)

KFC Potato Wedges Copycat Collage

You'll LOVE these KFC Potato Wedges! They're so easy, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside!
A Perfect Copycat! Perfectly Seasoned KFC Potato Wedges!KFC Potato Wedges Copycat CollageKFC Potato Wedges Copycat Collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Hi Chef Sabrina! Thanks for the recipe. I saw a lot of requests for airfrying so: i prepare one bowl with milk egg dredge (add lemon to make it more buttermilk like) and a bowl of batter with the flour and spices (pepper, paprika, seasoned salt, garlic powder). Dredge in milk then coat in the flour and if you want a crispier outside, double dredge (milk flour milk flour). After a dredge hold the wedge over the dredge to let excess milk drain off. Spray oil on bottom grate of air fryer and place wedges in with room between. Spray oil to gently coat wedges. Airfry for 20 min on 385F. Every 7 min or so shake/flip wedges and if you see white flour spots, gently respray some oil. 20 min is my fav crisp level, but go longer to your preference

  2. I haven’t tried it yet but plan to… I wonder if you still dusted them with flour, minus the 2 tablespoons of oil then sprayed them with oil lightly instead, if it would give them a similar texture and taste of deep frying? ? Just a thought. What do you think?

    1. They may taste a little pasty with the small amount of oil. I haven’t tested it so I couldn’t know for sure.

  3. Really enjoyed this recipe, I didnt have any paprika so I substituted with some california chile powder. They were so soft and fluffy in the middle. I also double battered them to have a thick flavorful crust on the exterior

    1. I haven’t test it so I’m not comfortable giving a recommendation. If you decide to play around with it and try, I’d love to know what worked for you. Good luck!

  4. Unsure what I did wrong.
    Followed all directions and used the correct measurements.
    The seasoning doesn’t really taste like anything and the potatoes were still a bit hard after frying them twice as directed. Baked them 15 minutes at 400 and they softened up, but the flavor profile seems to be nonexistent.

    1. We had the same issue. Followed the recipe as published, but the potatoes weren’t soft and fluffy like they’re said to be.

      1. I am just seeing this tonight. I am sure the recipe has long been cooked/or not but I still want to try to help.

        How did they turn out for you, would like to help troubleshoot.

    1. Sure, once made you can flash freeze them on the baking sheet. Once frozen, move them to a freezer bag. They should stay good for up to 3 months.

  5. This recipe is soooo gooood!! The kids can’t get to the dinner table fast enough. That is if I can keep em away until their fried again. Thank you for the recipe!

  6. This was my first time attempting to fry anything ever, so I’m sure this was user error. I wasn’t sure when to spice the potatoes, so I just added them to the milk mixture bowls and coated the potatoes in everything at once. I love that your site lets you change the serving sizes (I went from eight to two). I felt that the breading/milk mixture didn’t stick too well (I probably accidentally added too much milk), so I dipped them again before the second frying time. I didn’t have a kitchen thermometer to measure the oil, so I think that may be why all the fries stuck together in big morphed clumps. Not the best looking, but tasted pretty good. I think if I try this recipe once or twice more I will be able to nail it. ?

    1. Hey Tesla, just wanted to reach out. I remember my first time frying and wish the internet was a thing back then (oops showing my age) but the temp is 95% your success rate when it comes to frying. So I’d go with a fry daddy or an air Fryer. I mean you can do it over the stove med high heat of about 10 min should get you up to temp, but to hot will burn the outside and not cook the inside. To cool, the batter won’t stay on. It’ll kind of Flake off in the oil. As for the big clump of yummy potato just stir the fries/wedges half-way through the frying process. Either way good luck in your foodie venture and I hope this helped.

  7. I’m not a cook or chef, so I don’t understand the double fry instruction. You say to fry them once for 3 to 4 minutes, then fry again for 4 to 6 minutes. But why not fry them only once for 7 to 10 minutes? I don’t get the logic of taking them out of the fryer after 3 or 4 minutes and then putting them right back in. Thanks.

    1. The first frying gives the outside a water tight barrier so when you fry it the second time, the outside gets crispier but the inside stays moist. Hope this helps to explain. Enjoy!

    2. Is it bad to bake them with the wet ingredients? Because I know it says to just use the spices and use oil but I was wondering if I could js follow the recipe and bake them?

      1. You can TOTALLY bake these! Ditch the milk/egg/flour and instead coat the wedges with the spices and enough oil to suit your tastes (I would use 2-3 tablespoons) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. I fried them to stay authentic to the recipe, but it would be almost as delicious baked!

    3. Double frying is a standard method for frying french fries or potato wedges. You cook them for 3 to 4 minutes and then you would take them and set them on a paper towel lined cookie sheet or something similar. Let them cool off for around 10 minutes. You would then put them back in the hot oil and cook them the second time. What this does is, the first cook makes the center tender and cooked through. By letting them cool off between cooks and then putting them back in the hot oil makes the outside crispy. I usually start my first cook at 325° F and then turn up my heat to 375° F for the second cook. Hope this helps.

    4. Hey when your double frying them it’s at two different temperatures, if you fry at a lower temperature the oil will seep into the potato’s but it won’t make it very crispy, if you start at a high temp you will get outside crispy but won’t be getting any oil in the potatoes, so the idea is to let some oil get into the potato’s at the lower temp, then higher temp to crisp up the outside. Hopefully that helps ?

  8. god i made these and they turned out AMAZING. i am currently salivating remembering them and will make them again.

  9. Made this yesterday with friends and it turned out amazing! The spices add so much to the flavour profile. Thanks for the wonderful recipe xx

  10. You mentioned you don’t want MSG in your house. You do now that KFC is very high in added MSG ? MSG is also naturally present in tomatoes, mushrooms and many other umami foods. It’s a natural salt. You can’t eliminate it (and there’s no good reason to except to reduce intake because of sodium concerns like other sodium salts).

    1. Love when a guy mansplains about something she never said. She never explained why she doesn’t want MSG, nor is it relevant that KFC uses it. Did YOU know the world doesn’t always want or need your opinion?

      Every comment on this thread feeling a need to tell a woman what is and isn’t good for her (even though they don’t know her) is a man. Shocking.

  11. Great recipe, these taste perfect, the only thing I would suggest is doubling the dry ingredients for our case.

  12. My family loved these so much that they were literally fighting over the last three! My husband said I should make these more often than mashed potatoes (previously his favorite). Thank you for this recipe.

  13. Find it hilarious you think MSG is some evil component made for mind control or something else nutzo like that. Ever had a tomato? LOADED with glutamate! Absolutely loaded. That’s why they’re so good with a little bit of salt. Ever had any food at all? Glutamate. You’re being ridiculous.

    Recipe was pretty good though. Your frying times are way too long. I only went to 350f and the second fry would have been charcoal if I left it 4-6 minutes. More like 30-60 seconds.

    1. Hello, I am collecting extreme overreactions from the comments section of free online recipes for a book. May I please use your comment?

  14. Mmm.. so good!! I didn’t have an oil thermometer, but was able to approximate with my meat thermometer. I ended up cooking near 300F and took my batches 10-12mins to cook instead. Still was really good!!

  15. Best late night snack ever! There isn’t a kitchen none to man where I’d disagree with you after this. I’m coming for the Original Recipe next. Fan for life & I thank you. Wow, pure Guinness!

  16. How long do you let them sit in the milk and do you let them cool off before frying the second time? I’m confused with frying a second time rather than just fry longer.

    1. I usually just have them sit in the milk until the oil is hot enough to start frying. Then I work through each batch and once they’ve all be fried once, I start over agin. Hope this helps!

  17. Hi! These are great, even though it didn’t work quite right lol. Mine were extremely coated in the flour/seasoning, very coated to the point that I thought maybe it was too much, but I didn’t shake it off. Then when frying they cooked all the way through on the first fry, and they got really dark (as did the oil, even though it was at the correct temp). I was afraid to put them back in for the second round for fear of burning them, or crisping them all the way through (with no yummy softness inside). They weren’t very crispy, probably because they didn’t get the second round of frying, but they were tasty and soft inside. I was pretty sure I cut them properly but maybe not. So… Question (#1): should they be as coated as mine were (massively) or should there be less coating (and how if so)? And, (dumb) Question (#2): How do I cut the potato proper to make it fry correctly? I know 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick wedges but I can’t figure out how to do it so that every fry has skin and still be a manageable width (while mine were 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick they were a couple inches wide (if that makes sense)). Thank you so much for this recipe, the flavor was great – now if I can get the execution under control all will be good. 🙂

    1. I’m so glad you all enjoyed the taste even though the weren’t doubled fried. My suggestion for next time is to not coat them as much. They should have a light coating (shake it off a bit if there’s too much on them). As far as cutting them, slice the potato in half lengthways. Then cut each half in half again. Next angle the knife at 45 degrees and cut again. Hope all of this helps for next time.

  18. Made these with gluten free rice flour since I have Crohn’s and Cealic turned out pretty good will do agaib.

  19. Hi Sabrina!

    Love me some KFC. Which seasoned salt do you use — Lawry’s?

    Thanks for your awesome blog!

    Scott

  20. These were great! Came out crispy and pillowy! These seriously didn’t make it to the dining room table. Everyone kept stealing them off of the plate by the stove! At first I was getting annoyed, but then I thought … this is a good thing! Everyone likes it! What’s to get mad about?! I may add more seasoning, this recipe is an awesome place to start!

    1. Hahaha, isn’t that the best though?! I am so glad you all enjoyed them, the seasoning is really a great mix, we love it. We even like to add it to other things, I toss other vegetables I roast with it too like cauliflower, sweet potatoes, broccoli and even carrots. My family LOVES this seasoning mix.

        1. AP Flour is All Purpose flour. The recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and 1 egg. I haven’t tested it using wheat flour so if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!

  21. This was the worst fries I have ever tasted or made in my life time I followed step by step and ugh… Was it nasty it didnt get soft at all it stayed hard so I put them in the oven and still an disaster!!!!! Why does everyone seem to have it right and i am amazing in the kitchen

    1. Sorry they didn’t live up to your expectation. If you’d like, you can email me at contact @ dinnerthendessert .com and we can try and troubleshoot what might have gone wrong.

  22. I tried this recipe and it turned out SOOOO GOOOD. The only thing I would say it up the spice a mount in the flour…the first batch while delicious I felt it needed more salt….but I like salt lol. So now I dip in milk then season and then I coat in flour to really season them….I JUST LOVE THE CRUNCH! Thanks for sharing!

  23. Every time I see cooks or sites online recommending CANOLA OIL, I want to scream. Years ago, this was used to grease the railroad tracks but when that was no longer needed, they needed to find another way to make money so why not human consumption….thus, canola oil in our grocery stores. If you must deep fry, use peanut oil as it stands up well to high heat. EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil) in our salads, (not for cooking ) and a little coconut oil otherwise. Buy the smallest bottles you can find and forget about price per unit. As soon as you open ANY oil, it starts to go rancid so store in dark, cool place and don’t keep it long. Healthy eating……June Schiavoni

      1. Refined peanut oil removes the protein that causes the allergen. My husband is deathly allergic to peanuts and he’s fine with it. Just to let you know:)

        1. My daughter is deathly allergic to peanuts. Her allergist also has said that peanut oil does not contain the protein for a reaction and should be safe to eat.

  24. Just a thought, can you freeze these after the first fry, then bake them later in the oven? That way you could freeze a big batch of them, no more frozen fries from the grocery store.
    I may have to try this as soon as the weather is a bit warmer. That way I can deep fry outside instead of smelling up the house.

    1. I haven’t tested it that way so I’m not sure. If you decide to try it, I’d love to know how they turned out. Thanks!

  25. Already made these for two dinners!!! Hubby and kids loved them. This recipe is definitely a keeper!! Thank you!!!

  26. Swooning over how crispy these potato wedges look! I love restaurant copycats and cannot wait to make these!

  27. I love these wedges! Sometimes i will indulge on the way home and get some. I love how tender they are on the inside and super crunchy on the outside, yum. Now i want some. Hah.

    1. You can TOTALLY bake these! Ditch the milk/egg/flour and instead coat the wedges with the spices and enough oil to suit your tastes (I would use 2-3 tablespoons) and bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. I fried them to stay authentic to the recipe, but it would be almost as delicious baked!

      1. So if i naked these do i only use the spices? I’m confused. Also if i fry these do i fry them a second time as far as dipping them back in the eggs and ect and then flour and fry again? I’m sorry plz help

        1. Yes, you’ll add 2-3 tablespoons of oil and then coat them in the spices if you plan on baking them. If you do decide to fry them, no need to dip them back in the batter after the first time frying. The second time frying is just to create a double crisp on the wedge. Hope this clears up any confusion!