Not Breadcrumbs Or Cornflakes: Coat Fried Chicken With This Pantry Staple For Perfect Golden-Brown Crunch

It may be easy to pick up a bucket of fried chicken, but it doesn't replace the satisfaction of enjoying something made at home. Best of all, when planning a fried chicken dinner, most of the ingredients necessary are pantry staples. You don't even need breadcrumbs or cornflakes, because you can make perfectly golden fried chicken using pancake mix. Don't let the name on the box fool you; pancake mix is more versatile than you think.

Just about every fan of fried chicken has tried chicken and waffles at least once. The decadent flavor you get when biting into crispy fried skin covered in a little syrup before reaching the juicy chicken meat is a dining experience you don't soon forget. It's this juxtaposition of savory and sweet that makes pancake mix work so well for fried chicken batter. The batter isn't overly sweet, but it is rich, and sticks to the chicken when you bite into it. The only thing missing is a little maple syrup.

Beyond the taste of pancake batter, the overall texture makes homemade fried chicken closer to something you get while eating out. Pancake mix is a secret ingredient in making homemade coconut shrimp look like it came from a restaurant, for example, and IHOP uses pancake batter to give its omelets a fluffier texture. The final result is chicken with a crispy golden-brown outside that has a slight sweetness to go along with the juicy, savory flavors beneath the skin.

When it comes to fried chicken, pancake mix already has most of the ingredients used for batter, including flour and salt. However, pancake mix alone doesn't give your chicken the taste you desire, so you need to add seasonings to the mix. Cayenne pepper is an option if you want to give the chicken a little spicy kick. Other great seasonings include pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.

At this point, you can add water to the pancake mix to create the batter, or you can leave the mix as is and make an egg wash station on the side to make pancake mix-breaded fried chicken instead. Regardless, your chicken pieces go into hot oil, and after about 10 minutes, come out golden, crispy, and ready to sit on a paper towel so excess oil can drip off.

People who've used pancake mix to make fried chicken have been pleasantly surprised when they take perfectly covered, crispy chicken out of the hot oil. Remember this next time you pull out a pack of chicken drumsticks and wonder how to cook them. Everything you need for delicious fried chicken may already be in your pantry, just waiting to be turned into your favorite fried chicken — no plastic bucket required.