This KFC fakeaway is inspired by the classic KFC boneless chicken and gravy. The chicken is juicy, crunchy and perfectly spiced, and the gravy is creamy and moreish: everything you need in a Friday night fakeaway.

Tips for preparing the KFC boneless chicken

This recipe includes brining your chicken in pickle juice, before marinating it in buttermilk and hot sauce. Each of these steps is best done overnight, so two nights in total. If you can, start preparing your chicken a couple of days ahead, if not, you’ll need to start at least three hours before.

Why add pickle juice to chicken? It adds flavour and tenderises the meat whilst keeping it juicy as it cooks.

You can follow our recipe for the 11 herbs and spices, or create your own to taste. The secret seasoning combined with flour is what will give the chicken a lovely flavoursome crust. Note that too much spice and the crust will burn, but too little and it will be bland.

Tips for deep-frying chicken at home

You don’t need a deep fat fryer to make fried chicken at home, but maintaining your oil temperature is key to getting a crispy and golden result.

We heated our oil on the BBQ in this recipe, but you could just as easily do this on your hob.

Follow these tips to make perfect KFC-style chicken:

• Monitor your oil temperature using a thermometer, we used the DOT
• Make adjustments to your BBQ or hob if the temperature fluctuates too much
• Don’t fry more than 2-3 pieces of chicken at a time, or it will reduce the oil temperature too much and prevent getting a nice crust
• Place the chicken into the oil gently, facing away from the oil to avoid splashes
• Probe the chicken with a Thermapen to make sure it reaches 74 °C (you can remove it from the oil at 70 °C and the temperature will continue to rise)

KFC fakeaway recipe Ingredients

Serves 4

For the KFC-style chicken

• 4 Boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 large jar of dill pickles
• 200g Buttermilk
• 100g Hot sauce
• 75g flour
• 75g butter
• 30g Ketchup
• 75g Soy sauce
• Neutral oil for deep frying

For the spice mix

• 500g white flour
• 15g salt
• 10g dried thyme
• 10g dried basil
• 30g celery salt
• 7g dried oregano
• 30g black pepper
• 30g dried mustard powder
• 60g paprika
• 40g garlic powder
• 10g dried ginger
• 60g white pepper

Equipment

• DOT digital oven thermometer
• Thermapen thermometer
• Cooking tongs
• Heavy pot with high sides

Directions

• Start by brining the chicken thighs with pickle juice. Strain off the pickle juice from a jar of dill pickles, pour over the thighs and place in a fridge. Ideally, this is done overnight but a few hours will also be good. Keep the pickles to serve with the chicken.
• After your chicken has pickled, strain off all the liquid and discard. Pour the buttermilk and hot sauce over the pickled thighs. Leave this for a minimum of one hour, but it would be good to leave it overnight again.
• Take a heavy-based pan, ideally cast iron, and fill it with a neutral oil. Leave plenty of room at the top, as the oil will expand as it heats.
• Take your DOT and set the temperature to 160 °C. Place the probe in the oil and put the pan on the BBQ with direct heat underneath. This will take a while to come to temperature, be patient and don’t leave the pot unattended.

• While the oil is heating up, make the KFC-style gravy. In a saucepan, melt 75g butter, then add 75g flour to form a roux. Cook this roux out over direct heat until the roux smells like biscuits and starts to go brown (this is how you know the flour is cooked).
• Add your chicken stock and heat until the mixture starts to thicken up. Make sure you stir it as it heats to prevent a lumpy sauce.
• When your sauce is nearly thick enough, add some tomato ketchup and a dash of soy sauce. This helps with the colour but also adds umami. Season with salt to taste and set aside. Note: if it's still on the heat, it will continue to get thicker — add some more stock or water if it gets too thick.

• Combine all of the ingredients for the spice mix in a bowl ready to coat your chicken thighs.
• Once the DOT goes off at 160 °C, you’re ready to start frying. Take a piece of chicken coated in buttermilk and roll it in your seasoned flour. You want to get that flour all over the chicken as it will form your coating when fried.
• Using cooking tongs, carefully place the chicken into the oil.

• After about four minutes, the chicken will start to look like KFC. you may have to turn it over once to get both sides golden brown. Now is the time to start probing the chicken with your Thermapen — it should reach 74 °C. Remember, it will continue to cook for a few minutes after removing it from the oil, so aim to pull the chicken at around 70 °C and then check the temperature with the Thermapen before eating.
• Serve your fried chicken with the KFC-style gravy and dill pickles.

Dan Cotton

Chef, The Coal Shed

@thecoalshed

"Working in a fast paced kitchen I need something I can rely on every time to give me fast and accurate temperatures. Thermapen gives me the confidence to make sure my food is not just safe but consistent every time."