Why Bojangles' Famous Fried Chicken Takes Half A Day To Prepare

You don't become a giant in the fried chicken business overnight, but when it comes to the Southern fried chicken icon Bojangles, part of the process probably does. Bojangles is known for having some of the best quality chicken in the fried chicken game, and also boasts some truly exceptional biscuits to boot, but sourcing quality ingredients is just one piece of the proverbial puzzle. Another part requires a full 12-hour chicken-making process to transform the meat from mere poultry to table-ready grub.

There's always a process to follow when prepping fried chicken, whether you're giving the chicken a basic battering or going for something more ambitious. But for Bojangles, this 12-hour process is all about flavor. The chicken is seasoned and marinated over this lengthy timespan, giving the flavors of the spices time to seep well into the meat and the chicken time to become extra-juicy. When it's battered and fried after the half-day prep period, the result is piece after piece of succulent, savory chicken every time. We'd say, then, that Bojangles' famous fried chicken is well worth the wait.

Bojangles' own seasoning is very reminiscent of traditional Cajun seasoning, so it's not like there's any real surprise in terms of what flavors you're getting with its fried chicken. Think red pepper, garlic and onion powder, salt, and maybe a few other subtle flavors. However, the lengthy duration of its rest time definitely raises some questions in terms of how long it sits in a marinade. There are some really quick and convenient chicken marinade options out there, and oftentimes you'll hear wizened cooks warning against marinating chicken (or any meat) for too long in certain ingredients. This might seem like a contradiction at first, but there's a good reason why.

The longer you leave your chicken in a marinade, generally, the more flavor you'll impart from the marinade ingredients. But if you're using acidic ingredients in your marinade that's acidic, you may want to avoid letting it sit for too long. Acid tenderizes meat by denaturing its proteins, but this can make the meat too soft at a certain point (usually past 24 hours in the case of chicken). 

Now, it's hard to know for sure what ingredients Bojangles uses for its marinade or what the ratio might be. Some copycat recipes use buttermilk and hot sauce (an acidic ingredient) but only let it sit for an hour, while others suggest the secret is a little sweet tea and letting it marinate overnight. So just keep this in mind if you're making some fried chicken yourself. Ultimately, much of this time-consuming practice is left in the dark, but you can't deny the flavorful end result.