The closest fried chicken recipe that I’ve found to the real deal, could it really be true?

On August 29 2016 rumors hit the internet stating that Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe was accidentally revealed.

A sheet of paper with the hand written ingredients are supposedly Colonel Sanders’ secret herbs and spices. Fact or fiction, I don’t know but as Chef, I thought I’d do the taste test. I got hold of a copy of this secret sheet and made a video and recipe from it.

There are of course other factors at play, such as pressurized deep fryers which most of us don’t own. Plus brining your chicken in salted buttermilk will always render a more succulent juicy chicken.

First I had to drive to KFC and get the real deal.  Somehow I ended up in Hungry Jacks drive through, same carpark as the competitors what’s the deal?  Yes that’s correct, being a Chef I don’t usually buy junk food, so I’m out of my league, but as a kid, I did grow up with KFC and always looked forward to it when my family brought back that giant bucket!  It was indeed a special occasion highlight! 

Now back to the recipe,  so I’ve got my real KFC pieces and I’m back home.  Of course the chicken got a little cold, I tasted it once from the box and then I did have to reheat it in my oven once my version was made. Reheating the KFC made it  crispier which is not exactly how it was purchased.  When buying any takeaway cardboard box,  there will always be steam from the hot food that softens any fried crispy food.  So here’s a tip for you, if at home, always reheat in oven to get that crisp back! 

Please understand that the purpose of this video is purely to see how close these herbs and spices flavour is, and not so much about the texture.  I did use egg whites instead of whole eggs as whites are always crispier, this is to subsidise the fact that most people don’t own deep frying pressure cookers.

So see the video for yourself, how to make what I feel is, if not the original, the closest KFC recipe ever. The recipe measurements were hard to read and looked like tablespoons, however it now appears they were teaspoons.  I therefore altered the recipe to teaspoons.  I also believe that MSG is missing from this recipe and if you add that ingredient, it will be identical.  Let me know what you thought of the taste once you’ve tried, I’d love to know! 

Thanks and good luck!   Feel free to leave comments on the YouTube video.

Joel 🙂