KFC is famous for its deep buckets of moist chicken hiding in a shell of crispy, brown, flakey coating. Since its launch in the 1950s, the KFC menu remains delightfully straightforward. Folks who just want pieces of chicken can choose between two styles: Original or Extra Crispy. Anyone who has ever attempted to make crispy home-fried chicken knows that a lot of the effort goes into perfecting the crunchy coating. In the case of KFC, achieving an especially crispy outer layer while keeping the meat moist requires a different cooking approach than the original recipe.
The brains at the chicken chain’s parent corporation, Louisville-based Yum! Brands, shared their secret to getting that iconic extra-crispy crunch in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. A KFC representative said the formula involves double breading the meat by hand and then open frying it. The latter part of the process is what you likely imagine that fast food restaurants do: The workers adding the chicken to a metal basket and submerge it in a vat of oil, uncovered, until it comes out fully cooked and crispy. The original recipe, on the other hand, uses a different blend of spices and is pressure-fried, meaning the chicken is cooked in a sealed well (or pressure fryer) filled with hot oil.
Open frying vs Pressure frying
In the chicken-frying world, doing things twice, whether it’s double breading or double frying, is highly encouraged. Double breading is exactly what it sounds like; you dip your chicken in the liquid mixture, then dredge it into your dry mixture. Then, you perform that step once more on the same piece of meat. More breading means more opportunities for the oil to create crispy, textured pockets of flavorful crust. Additionally, it helps keep the meat juicy when it’s open fried.
Open frying a piece of protein takes more time than cooking it with pressure. The longer the chicken fries, the more internal moisture rises to the surface of the meat in an attempt to escape the hot oil. Double breading is crucial for creating a starchy layer that prevents too much moisture loss. By contrast, pressure frying focuses on increasing the boiling point of water and decreasing the amount of oil needed for cooking. This means there is less time for all that moisture to evaporate, resulting in a more naturally flavorful, moist, and less crispy cut of chicken.
