Deep Fryer Fried Chicken

[Alantha]

Hello! I was hoping you folks could help me out.

Tonight I am going to attempt fried chicken in our deep fryer for the first time. I have tenders, wings and drumsticks.

I have a few questions I am hoping you can help me with:

• How long should each piece cook for?
• Does anyone have a great coating recipe?
• Is there anything I should know about chicken in a deep fryer? Until now I've made zuccini chips, mozzarella sticks and onion rings.

 

[Andy M.]

Heat the oil to 350ºF.

Cook for around 15 minutes. The final decision is based on the internal temperature of the chicken. It has to be at least 165ºF to be safe.

For the coating, keep it simple. season the flour with S&P, some cayenne. Garlic and/or onion powder can work too. Some hot sauce in the egg wash.

 

[Zagut]

Andy gave you good advice.

I'm with the simple coating. For me it dredge the chicken in flour,and S&P. That's it.

I can only add....

Don't overcrowd the fryer.

Let the coated chicken sit for about 1/2 an hour before frying. It helps the coating stick.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Roll_Bones]

My wife makes the absolute best fried chicken.
She seasons with salt and pepper quite heavily and dredges very well in flour. We do not use the deep fryer for this job, but it will work just fine and will take less time.
Delicious. Hot or cold.

 

[GotGarlic]

My mom's recipe for the dredge is 1 cup flour, 1 tsp each poultry seasoning, paprika and salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper.

Boneless tenders will cook through very quickly. I'd cook them last.

 

[Caslon]

A lot of home fryers don't maintain the temps once food is added. I would keep the breaded coating light, and, if you use a egg wash, water it down (use just the egg whites), otherwise your outside coating gets burned while waiting for the inside to get cooked thoroughly. Keep the pieces to a minimum, cook them in batches. 15 minutes is a good time. It sounds like a long time but it takes awhile for the oil to heat deep inside the bigger pieces.
The chicken should not be cold at all when you fry. You can even microwave them to get them to room temp. Don't expect your first attempts to come out like KFC either, it's a trial and error process.

Too heavy a batter coating will hinder the oil heat getting deep inside the large chicken pieces.
I'd be curious what brand deep fryer you have also.

 

[Caslon]

I didn't have that great a luck deep fat frying drumsticks or larger pieces of chicken with my $49 Presto Cool Daddy Fryer. What fried up best in that inexpensive deep fat fryer of mine were those packs of small chicken drumettes (or party wings).

Those fried up pretty ok. Everything else I tried using that fryer was trial and error fail, to a degree.

To the OP, those chicken nuggets would probably fry up well, being that they're smaller pieces, like chicken drumettes are.

I found a store that sells just the mini drumstick drummetts, no wing parts. Those are great fried up in a cheapo home deep fat fryer like the one I have. Miniature drumsticks. Egg washed with Dixie fry coating mix even. They're small enough that the batter coating comes out evenly cooked with the meat. Not so trying to deep fry huge sized drumsticks that are battered. Those are better done with a home oil pressure cooker, which I've looked into lately. Sounds a little dangerous. It's KFC's way.

Anyone own a kitchen oil pressure cooker or has deep fried using that method?

 

[Andy M.]

All household deep fryers experience a drop in oil temp when food is added. It's unavoidable. Electric deep fryers are limited by capacity and the amount of current available in a kitchen outlet so can't recover as fast as a pot on a stove top burner.

The key to dealing with this is to use more oil. If you have two quarts of oil at 350ºF its temp will drop less when you add a certain amount of food than it will if you use one quart of oil.

The alternative is to cook food in smaller batches but then dinner takes longer to prepare.

 

[GotGarlic]

I always used a cast iron skillet for frying chicken (although it's been years since I've made it - too messy). It works just fine and has for decades. A pressure cooker is certainly not necessary to fry a whole cut-up chicken.

I don't want a deep fryer because I don't fry enough to make it worthwhile and I don't want to be tempted to do it more I also don't have space to store it.

 

[Andy M.]

When my electric deep fryer died, I started using a large pot and thermometer for deep frying (oil too). Made the best french fries yet. Still working on perfecting my method. I haven't been doing much frying in the summer heat.

 

[CWS4322]

Andy gave you good advice.

I'm with the simple coating. For me it dredge the chicken in flour,and S&P. That's it.

I can only add....

Don't overcrowd the fryer.

Let the coated chicken sit for about 1/2 an hour before frying. It helps the coating stick.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

When using a bounded coating, the meat has to be dry before dredging in flour. I dry the pieces and then put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes to get them even drier. If the egg is too thick, it will make the coating cook inconsistently. I add water or oil to the egg wash. I always put the larger pieces in first (2-3 pieces), remove those after about 25 minutes. Do the smaller pieces. I then will remove the larger pieces to the fryer to reheat them for about 5-7 minutes.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Electric deep fryers are limited by capacity and the amount of current available in a kitchen outlet so can't recover as fast as a pot on a stove top burner.

I am curious about this statement?
What does available current have to do with recovery time?
The appliance can only use/consume, the power/wattage required to operate it.

The receptacle is only a pathway for current to flow. It has no ability to increase the wattage required to heat the oil. It only provides a path for the power consumed by the appliance.

 

[Andy M.]

Most household outlets are protected by a 15 amp fuse/circuit breaker. That limits how much current any appliance can draw. (15 amps x 120 volts = 1800 watts max.) Most small electric appliances have a maximum of 1500-1800 watt capacity. This limits how much heat energy the fryer's heater coils can generate and, consequently, how fast the oil temperature can be raised. An electric fryer is rated at 1500-1800 watts because of the current available in homes.

If household current was at 240 volts as it is in Europe, deep fryers could have higher wattage ratings and heat up faster.

If you have an electric stove, you may know it has a special 240 volt line to provide enough current to heat four burners, an oven and a broiler.

 

[Roll_Bones]

Most household outlets are protected by a 15 amp fuse/circuit breaker. That limits how much current any appliance can draw. (15 amps x 120 volts = 1800 watts max.) Most small electric appliances have a maximum of 1500-1800 watt capacity. This limits how much heat energy the fryer's heater coils can generate and, consequently, how fast the oil temperature can be raised. An electric fryer is rated at 1500-1800 watts because of the current available in homes.

If household current was at 240 volts as it is in Europe, deep fryers could have higher wattage ratings and heat up faster.

If you have an electric stove, you may know it has a special 240 volt line to provide enough current to heat four burners, an oven and a broiler.

I think we can agree completely with your statement.
My only point is watts do all the work. Watts = Work.
A 120 volt fryer rated at 1800 watts and a 240 volt fryer rated at 1800 watts both use 1800 watts.
There will be no difference in heat or work performed.

 

[Andy M.]

I think we can agree completely with your statement.
My only point is watts do all the work. Watts = Work.
A 120 volt fryer rated at 1800 watts and a 240 volt fryer rated at 1800 watts both use 1800 watts.
There will be no difference in heat or work performed.

Yes, but if you have a 240 volt service, with a 15 amp fuse, you would have 3600 watts available. If you are a small appliance manufacturer for a 240 volt market, you could make a deep fryer rated at more than 1800 watts.

 

[Andy M.]

Yes, but if you have a 240 volt service, with a 15 amp fuse, you would have 3600 watts available. If you are a small appliance manufacturer for a 240 volt market, you could make a deep fryer rated at more than 1800 watts.

My original point was that a pot of oil on a stove top has more energy alailable to heat the oil.

 

[RPCookin]

My original point was that a pot of oil on a stove top has more energy alailable to heat the oil.

How many watts is an 18,000 BTU burner on a gas range? j/k

 

[taxlady]

How many watts is an 18,000 BTU burner on a gas range? j/k

From Convert Btu per hour to watt - Conversion of Measurement Units "The SI derived unit for power is the watt.
1 Btu per hour is equal to 0.29307107 watt."

18,000 BTU/hr = 5275 watts.

 

[GotGarlic]

From Convert Btu per hour to watt - Conversion of Measurement Units "The SI derived unit for power is the watt.
1 Btu per hour is equal to 0.29307107 watt."

18,000 BTU/hr = 5275 watts.

Cool beans! ? Good to know.

 

[RPCookin]

That was supposed to be joke....