When making fried chicken, bone-in is really the way to go as the bone helps to retain more moisture...making for more juicy fried chicken.

But it is not a must...if you have "fussy" eaters then you can do some boneless. You could even do some chicken tenders if you like.

A good test for yourself when you are making the chicken would be to do one bone-less and one bone-in to see which one you prefer and whether or not you notice a difference. Hope this helps!

Hi Dawn,

Thanks for the quick reply you gave me the other day. Instead of using breast I decided try jointing as chicken as per the e-learning instruction. It was great and it's easy too!! I've learnt something new and it was so easy, I was doing it incorrectly previously but now all good! So I've done the recipe with a whole jointed chook.

Being in Australia I was unable to find chipolte peppers in our grocery store, I'm sure maybe in a specialty stores I could have but I used an Asian hot chilli sauce instead.

I don't eat a lot of fried food esp things like KFC, but this was amazing, I used all organic free range ingredients and it tasted beautiful, with a salad on the side yummo!!!

This site is great and I would recommend it to anyone, it's cool be able to get in touch with you so quickly too!

thanks Dawn

Bec

You are most welcome Bec and I'm glad you are having success.

Hi Dawn,

I like Bec also cooked the chook and it was great!

The video recipe enriched the learning experienced for me - how will I ever go back to print and pictures?!

Cheers, David.

I have been butchering my own chickens for years. usually I break them down into drums, thighs, breasts, wings etc. only packages. To tired this year. I froze them whole.
Can I carve off what I want from a partially thawed chicken and refreeze the rest of the rest of the carcass with out worry?

Just my opinion I think leaving bones in always imparts more flavor. What say you?

Hi Dawn - we are having some work done in our kitchen at the moment and access to the stove is limited. Would there be any disadvantage to using a deep fryer as opposed to pan frying? (I can set up the deep fryer outside!)

Thank you,

Matthew

Absolutely a deep fryer would work perfectly...most people just don't happen to have one, which is why we shallow fried the chicken. Good Luck!

Rarely do we ever fry in this amount of oil and so I felt very naughty making this. I don't have a deep frying thermometer and so I had to guess at the temperature but luck seems to have been with me as the thighs and drumsticks became a beautiful brown. I did have to bake the thighs a bit longer than 15 minutes ( they were large organic) but this was a real winner tonight. Next time I will use the full amount of chipotle pepper puree as I only used 1 tsp. this time. I marinated the chicken for 24 hours and was surprised to see eggs in the marinade but it sure worked. This chicken was a real treat:)

I have read a lot of recipes that call for corn starch to be used with or instead of the flour. Have you ever tried it? What are the resulting differences?

Indeed you can use cornstarch instead of flour when frying chicken. The difference will be that the chicken will have a bit more crunch or crispiness.

Cornstarch is commonly used in Chinese cuisine. For example, sweet and sour pork is made by dredging the pork in cornstarch before deep frying. Also, chicken karaage is another common use of cornstarch in Chinese cooking.

Here is a recipe for chicken karaage and a bit more info about it - No Recipe | Chicken Karaage.

I say go for it Gus and let us know how it turned out for you. Cheers!

HI! I am in the UK, and I cannot find any chipotle pepper puree in any super markets in London. The closest thing they have here is chipotle paste, can I use this as a substitute? And, if so, how much should I use?

Thanks!

I imagine (from doing a quick search online) that chipotle paste is basically the same thing. Of course brands may be different. For that reason, I would say that you will have to experiment with quantities. I would say maybe start with half of the amount of chipotle (unless you like things spicy). Either that or you can simply taste the paste, if it's super hot use less, if it's fairly mellow, feel free to use more. Hope this helps!

I haven't yet tried this recipe, but I think I might do so in the near future. Although I am not a big fan of fried foods (especially for the main dish as I am a health nut), I think I just might try it (mostly for practice with carving my own poultry). I was thinking of matching it with sweet potatoes that I would roast in the oven with sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, butter, and chopped parsley, my own Southern okra stew, fresh bread, and a salad. Of course, fruit, dessert, and a fresh drink would be involved as well. What do you suggest?

Those all sound like great ideas Joseph, let us know how it turns out. Cheers!

This recipe was just terrific! I was telling my mother about it, and unfortunately she is allergic to wheat gluten. Is there anything else that can be used in place of the flour for the coating?

I usually use a mix of corn starch and wheat flour, but you could use just corn starch, I believe.

What is the purpose of baking the chicken if it has been fried through??

Thicker pieces of protein are often finished in the oven to ensure they are fully cooked through. If only fried, the outside would likely be too dark or even burn before the inside was cooked through. Cheers!

!WOW! I have had a beautiful pice of chicken and once i bit into it, it was not fully cooked!!
Thanks a lot Dawn, my rried chicken will tast a lot better now.

-Wallace

This is by far the best fried chicken I've ever made! I usually just fry them and they always burn for me and it ruins the taste, but finishing them off in the oven was the trick. The crust was so spicy and lemony, so goood!

When shallow frying, is there a temperature on the thermometer to check for doneness?

It is really more about the temperature of the chicken. The internal temperature of the chicken (check the thickest part of the chicken) should reach 165ºF. Cheers!

When frying the chicken it tended to want to overflow the pan I was using. Is this because there was too much oil or possibly the coating was bubbling up? Maybe the oil was too hot?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Andrew

Sounds like perhaps your pan was too shallow for the amount of oil. Regardless of how high the heat is or was it should not overflow as this is very dangerous. Next time I suggest that you use a deeper pan or perhaps less oil, but of course there should still be enough oil to shallow fry the chicken. Hope this helps. Cheers!