Gluten Free Fried Chicken Recipe

We have a new tradition in our house – Fry-day Friday. The kids have loaded fries and we have loaded gluten free fried chicken. I have hunted high and low for a way to make gluten free fried chicken that actually looks and tastes like KFC crispy strips, and I have one.

Many recipes involve soaking in buttermilk, or several breading steps. This gluten free fried chicken recipe is super easy and skips all the hard bits.

We make this KFC look-alike with chicken breast meat that I cut in to 1/2 inch thick long strips and we deep fry it. I have used the same coating to cover drums and cook them in the oven as well, but nothing beats fried fried chicken!

We have a deep fryer – but if you don’t you can heat oil in a deep pot on the cooktop. If you do this you will need a food thermometer that you can check the heat of the oil with.

One of the key steps in making this recipe work is leaving the coated chicken to sit for about an hour before cooking it. This ensures that the breading sticks properly to the chicken and isn’t lost in the oil when you fry it.

To make this chicken coating I use my homemade onion powder – you can find the recipe here.

I have served this gluten free fried chicken to people that haven’t even been able to tell that it is gluten free. If you prefer you can swap out the two gluten free flours for the same amount of normal wheat flour if being gluten free is not an issue for you. 

Gluten Free Fried Chicken Recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Quick and easy KFC style crispy chicken - gluten free fried chicken recipe.

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Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken breast meat (2lb)
• 1/2 cup Fine rice flour
• 1/2 cup Tapioca flour
• 1 Tablespoons Paprika
• 1 Tablespoon Black Pepper - ground
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Dried thyme
• 1 Tablespoon Onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder (optional)
• 1/4-1 teaspoon chilli powder - to taste
• Oil for frying

Instructions

1. Slice the chicken in to long 1/2 inch thick strips (12mm)
2. Mix all the dry ingredients and spices together well
3. Set up a cooling rack with a tea towel underneath to sit the coated chicken on to
4. Dip each strip into a bowl of cold water then in to the flour mixture and toss to coat well - try to keep one hand wet and one hand dry.
5. Remove the chicken from the flour and sit it on the cooling rack trying to minimise them touching each other if you can
6. Leave the chicken to sit for about 1 hour for the coating to soak in to the water on the chicken.
7. Heat the oil to 170C/340F
8. Add the chicken strips a few at a time and cook for 5 minutes or until done.
9. Remove from the oil and drain for a minute or two

Notes

Serving suggestion - top with your favourite toppings - we like chopped onion, shredded cheese, gherkin, sliced chili, sour cream and sriracha sauce