Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich
Not quite the same proportions as the famous chain
Ethan Chlebowski tries to make a fast food classic at home
Difficulty: 2/5 Ingredient Availability: 5/5 Time: 1 hr 20 minutes
Ethan Chlebowski is another internet personality that I take cooking inspiration from. His YouTube videos are always entertaining and educational, often leaving me with a new kitchen strategy. He even tries to make healthier alternatives to popular food, trying to make infamous foods like pizza more macro friendly. I had never tried to make one of his recipes before this one and I was excited to see how it would turn out. Given that he is an advocate for home deep frying, I expected him to have a somewhat unique take on this chicken. Further, he names this recipe “The Original Chicken Sandwich from Chick-fil-A,” so I had even higher expectations. I live within 10 miles of at least 4 different Chick-fil-A locations, so I know a thing or two about how their sandwiches taste. I’ll definitely keep the real thing in mind during this review.
Key Ingredients and Omissions:
Ingredients for the brine
I used about a quarter cup each of milk and Dill pickle juice
Ingredients for frying
The recipe doesn’t have a specific oil listed, I used vegetable oil
Honestly, when I first looked at this recipe, I didn’t notice that the ingredients list had no measurements for each component. Even then, I thought that maybe they would be in the steps portion of the recipe. I was wrong. I then proceeded to his video, where I hoped to find some type of measurements. After all of that, I was left guessing the measurements based on what I saw and my experience.
The only ingredient I had to omit was the smoked paprika, which I substituted with regular paprika. I know there is a clear flavor difference between the two, but in a fried food, it would take a relatively large amount to notice.
Instead of the chicken breast that the recipe calls for, I used chicken thighs that I already had on hand. I think chicken thighs are a better choice here, anyway, as they are more forgiving and can take more cooking before drying out.
One thing I did find out from his video is that he typically does a 2:1 ratio of flour to cornstarch when he fries, which yields a crispier result. This is typically true, giving fried foods a long lasting, sharper crunch. The resulting crust is also much lighter than a flour only dredge.
For the buns, I decided to test another recipe along side this one. I used Claire Saffitz’s Brioche Dough from Dessert Person (linked here) to make some buns for this sandwich. The recipe will be coming out soon.
Tools:
Dutch oven or other frying vessel
Frying/Candy thermometer
Cooking Review:
Deboning the chicken: 10 minutes
This is completely optional. Because I wanted to go ahead and use the chicken thighs I already had, I had to remove the bone because I enjoy having teeth. You can skip this step by going with boneless thighs or using breasts as the recipe suggests.
Brine: 20 minutes
Most of the time for this step was me being confounded that this recipe had no measurements for any of the ingredients. I decided to do about 1/4 cup of both milk and pickle juice for the brine. I also added about a teaspoon of salt to the brine along with the egg and whisked it all together. Despite Ethan saying that the pickle juice has salt in his video, which is true, I didn’t think it would be enough given the amount in my jar (from the nutrition facts). Further, I decided to brine my chicken over night, so more salt would do a better job of penetrating and dispersing throughout the chicken.
What my brine mixture looked like and the deboned chicken thighs.
Dredge and fry Setup: 12 minutes
Again, I had to wing the measurements for the dredge. Keeping in mind Ethan’s flour to cornstarch ratio, I used 1 cup of flour and a half cup of cornstarch. I added a teaspoon of salt, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, 3/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp ginger, and 1 tsp of onion powder. I whisked all of this together in a bowl and began to dredge the chicken. Make sure to coat each piece fully. No one likes a spotty coating. An easy way to make sure you have enough on your chicken is to flip it 2-3 times, tossing the dredge over the top and on any areas that are obviously bare.
Frying: (5 pieces, 2 at a time) 36 minutes
After my oil had reached 350 degrees, I carefully dropped my chicken into the dutch oven and let them fry for 4-5 minutes before flipping each piece. I let them fry for another 3 minutes or so before flipping again. The chicken was done 4-5 minutes later, for a total fry time between 11 and 13 minutes. I made sure each piece was at least 155 degrees (as the recipe states) with my kitchen thermometer before pulling them, but most pieces were well over this, closer to 170. This is definitely a safer temp, but keep in mind that breasts may dry out if you over cook them too much, so if you go that route keep a closer eye on their temperatures. Somehow, this recipe says the cooking time was 8 minutes, but I can’t imagine this being accurate for the temperature and thickness of chicken (especially if you have more than one batch). Perhaps if you had a much thinner piece you could get closer to that time, but that would still be for 2 pieces max. Once I pulled each piece of chicken from the oil, I sprinkled them with some salt, a good habit to form when frying food.
Assembly:
Although I typically don’t put anything but mayo on my Chick-fil-A sandwich, I went ahead and assembled my sandwich as the recipe calls for. I layered my bottom brioche bun with mayo, followed by honey, mustard, pickles, and a piece of chicken. It certainly looked good, but not much like what I’d get from the popular fast food chain.
Analysis:
The first thing I noticed was that the sandwich was pretty pickle forward. This could be because I used too much pickle juice, but then again, I wouldn’t have if the recipe had measurements. The pickle flavor isn’t just because the sandwich had pickles on it. I tasted the chicken on its own and I could definitely taste the pickle juice. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing. I actually kind of liked it. If you’re not a big pickle fan, reduce the amount of pickle juice that I used or omit it completely. You could also probably go without the pickles on the assembly unless you really love pickles. Otherwise, the chicken was crispy and not dry at all. As I suspected, the pickle juice did not have quite enough salt in it. Despite the pickle flavor, there wasn’t much other flavor here. Sure, I could’ve added more of each seasoning in the dredge, but when you choose a recipe to make, you kinda want it to tell you a good starting point out of the gate. While I could taste hints of the seasoning here and there, they were pretty far from the ubiquitous Chick-fil- A flavors. Even if the seasoning amounts were boosted and pickle juice reduced, I highly doubt that the flavor would come much closer to the recipe’s namesake. With this being said, I have to give this recipe a 6/10. It gives you the tools to make a chicken sandwich that could be pretty good. It does not give you a Chick-fil- A chicken sandwich or anything that would remind you of it flavor wise. The main problem with the recipe, which you may have noticed, is that it has no measurements! I had never seen a recipe without measurements before and without them, I can definitely see people making a pretty bad product from this. People with more experience could definitely use these ingredients and make something that’s more well seasoned than mine, no question. At the same time, a more experienced home chef wouldn’t need a recipe at all. So for the target audience, I would say pass on this recipe and find something with a little more guidance.
