11 Ingredients That Take Fried Chicken To The Next Level

There are a few elements that go into the perfect piece of crispy fried chicken, and plenty of tips to get you there. Whether you're a novice cook or someone who has been frying chicken for years, knowing the best way to marinate the chicken, the right seasonings and ratios for flavor, and the best coating and oil for crispiness all contribute to your chicken's success. 

Fried chicken's texture is important: You need a crunchy exterior with a good ratio of crispy outside coating to the amount of chicken inside. Its tenderness is also vital: It should be crispy on the outside but still moist on the inside. Finally, the chicken's flavor is the most important part of a good piece of fried chicken, and it can be enhanced through many different ingredients. We've rounded up some of our favorite ingredients to enhance your fried chicken — and also noted when to use them in the preparation and cooking process.

Buttermilk has a slightly tangy flavor and is full of lactic acid, making it an excellent chicken brine. Lactic acid tenderizes the meat as it marinates, giving you perfectly juicy, moist chicken. It also helps the outer coating stick to the meat better when frying. Buttermilk should be used at the start of the frying process; season it with anything from salt to cayenne pepper, and brine the chicken for anywhere from four hours to all night.

There was a rumor that Chick-fil-A uses pickle juice in its fried chicken recipe, though people who claim to work there have said it's not true. Regardless, pickle juice adds a hint of vinegar-based tang, plus plenty of salty flavor, to your fried chicken. It should be used at the start of the process, as an addition to your buttermilk marinade. Add around 1 cup of pickle juice for every 2 cups of buttermilk.

Add a robust sauce, such as soy or Worcestershire, to the chicken brine at the start of the frying process for an umami burst. Both have concentrated flavor, so if you have 4 cups of brine, you shouldn't need more than 1 tablespoon of either ingredient (varying recipes suggest different amounts, so go with your own preference), but you immediately taste the difference. If you're finishing the fried chicken in a homemade hot sauce or barbecue sauce, add a hint of Worcestershire or soy sauce there, too.

Old Bay is a diverse seasoning blend that works on anything from seafood to meat and even crispy fries. It's a combination of many different spices, such as paprika, red pepper, and celery salt, which gives it a hint of heat and salty flavor. Add it at the beginning of the process to the brine, midway through the process in the flour, or garnish the crispy chicken with it at the end.

If you want the crispiest fried chicken, add cornstarch. All-purpose flour is often used as a fried chicken coating, but cornstarch helps prevent that flour's gluten from fully developing and also helps absorb moisture. Swap around 25% of the flour for cornstarch. This combination creates an ultra-crispy coating on anything from vegetables to fried tofu. For a thinner coating, use cornstarch on its own.

You want to build flavor in every part of the fried chicken process, so, when it comes to frying, choose duck fat. It has a rich, deep flavor that infuses into anything that cooks in it, and it also has a high smoke point, so it works well for deep frying. The downside is it's a little pricey, but it's great if you only fry chicken on occasion.

Always add salt to fried chicken, but for the best flavor, add flaky sea salt at the end. You can add kosher salt to the brine at the beginning, and to the flour and egg mixture when frying, but that finishing touch of flaky sea salt to the top of crispy fried chicken is a game changer. The thick flakes make it extra noticeable, so you actually feel and taste them with each bite.

Hot honey adds two things: texture and flavor. That hint of sweet heat perfectly balances the rich fried chicken, and its sticky nature builds texture on the crispy coating. To easily distribute the honey, warm it slightly first, then drizzle over top of the finished fried chicken while it, too, is still warm. Plus, you can easily make your own homemade hot honey to better control its spice level.

Chili oil and hot sauce offer two different types of heat that work well at many parts of the fried chicken process. Add them to the brine for a little kick or to a liquid batter before frying. You can drizzle hot sauce on the finished chicken or completely coat the chicken in hot sauce for extra spice. For chili oil, drizzle it over the top the same way you would hot honey.