The Dredging Rule You Should Always Follow For Crunchy Fried Chicken

To make fried chicken like a true Southerner, you have to create an ultra-crunchy breading. Don't worry, it's not too hard! Besides making sure your oil is hot enough and crafting an amazing batter using two secret ingredients, the best way to ensure your breading is a symphony of sound with every bite is to double dip it. 

With a double dredging method, you get more crust, more flavor, and more crunch — three key components of any good fried chicken recipe. While a single coating is perfectly fine, there's less opportunity for the chicken to gain flavor from the breading, so you'll really have to lean on either marinating the meat beforehand or dumping extra seasoning into your flour. Plus, a single, delicate coat of batter is more likely to fall off as you eat, and can get soggy faster compared to a thick and craggy crust.

To try this on a basic level, you just need a pan of seasoned flour and a pan of beaten egg. Dip your chicken in the flour, coating it thoroughly, then dip it in the egg wash, then back in the flour again. Give it one more bath in the egg wash, one more coating of flour, and you're basically done. However, with heavy breading comes heavy responsibility — if you want to ensure it sticks to your chicken and cooks evenly, you might want to take some extra steps.

There's a plethora of fried chicken tricks you can try to maximize the goodness of a thick, double-dipped breading. Firstly, egg washes are a great way to bind the layers of breading together, but the egg can puff up and steam in the hot oil, separating the coating from the chicken. To get your fried chicken breading to stick, ensure the pieces are bone dry before you give them that first coating of flour. Liquid from raw chicken can also steam and push the breading away from the meat. Secondly, try mixing buttermilk into your egg wash (or using buttermilk alone). It creates a lighter, tangier shell, which is perfect for helping a thick breading adhere.

Furthermore, too much flour may be why your fried chicken is soggy, since the gluten in wheat flour easily absorbs moisture from the meat. When preparing your breading, potato starch is key to the crispiest fried chicken. It has no gluten to absorb excess water, so you get a lighter breading — even with two coats — without sacrificing crispiness or thickness. Try using a 1:1 ratio of starch to flour for the best of both worlds.

That being said, keep in mind that the more starch you use, the more delicate and flaky your breading will be. Some people prefer a flaky breading to a crunchy one, though, so you may have to experiment in order to zero in on your preferred ratio.