Baked Crunchy Hot Honey Chicken. (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to getting crispy chicken? ›

Mix things up a little. It makes sense to keep a “wet hand” and a “dry hand” when breading chicken for frying. However, a little mixing of the two actually makes your fried chicken crispier, says Fontana. Take your wet hand, dip it into your buttermilk and hold it over your flour to let it drip into the mixture.

That trick is a sprinkling of baking powder, and it'll get you the crispiest, crackliest bites of fatty, salty skin imaginable, whether you're cooking just one thigh, a plate of wings, or an entire bird. Baking powder, it turns out, is good for quite a lot more than baking.

How Do You Make Chicken Skin Crispy? Pat your chicken dry: Moisture is the enemy of crisp chicken skin. Before you send your chicken to the oven, pat it dry, especially if you've used a marinade.

The wire rack helps hot air circulate to crisp up the underside of the chicken. If you don't have a rack, a foil-lined baking sheet will do. Bake until the inside is warm (around 120°F) and the outside is crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes. The exact bake time will depend on the size of each piece.

The baking powder raises the pH of the surface, allowing it to crisp better*), and tossing in plain cornstarch to absorb some surface moisture and create a rougher texture for the batter to adhere to. *See more on the science of baking powder and chicken wings in this article on oven-fried buffalo wings.

Restaurants often achieve juicy and tender fried chicken with a crispy exterior through a combination of techniques such as marinating the chicken in buttermilk or brine, using a seasoned flour or breading mixture, and deep-frying at the right temperature.

Dry out your chicken in the fridge

That means drying, whether it's a whole bird or a skin on thigh, is the key to perfectly crisp chicken skin. This can be achieved simply by patting your chicken dry and putting it uncovered in the fridge overnight.

“People put butter on the chicken skin with the idea that it's going to help it become crispy — it doesn't,” he laments. “It helps the skin to go brown because the solids in the butter brown, but it doesn't make it crispier.” Instead, he recommends using vegetable oil after thoroughly drying your bird.

When paired with all-purpose flour, cornstarch helps prevent gluten development, which makes the flour coating crispier, and absorb moisture (from the frying and the chicken), which also means a crispier coating. If you already have a favorite fried chicken recipe, try replacing a quarter of the flour with cornstarch.

Place the chicken skin in a single layer, skin-side down, on top of stainless steel wire rack on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Pop the tray in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then, flip the chicken skins skin-side up and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden and crispy.

Why is my baked chicken always dry? ›

Overcooking leads to dry, tough, sawdusty meat with nearly no flavor. High doneness temperature for food safety. Salmonella is the food safety enemy in chicken that dies only at higher temperatures.

It really depends on the end result you want. I leave the skin on my chicken, and I like it crispy. Crispy skin is a result of dry cooking, like roasting/baking, grilling, or frying. Covering a chicken with foil will turn dry cooking into moist cooking - you're not really baking, anymore, you're braising.

To cook frozen breaded chicken breasts without them getting soggy or falling apart, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Place the chicken on a baking rack set over a baking sheet. This allows air to circulate around the chicken, ensuring even cooking and preventing sogginess.

You can also get a nice crust on chicken by starting it out in the oven: follow your recipe, or heat the oven to between 400° to 450°F, place a rack in the top third (the hottest part) of the oven, and slide a pan of chicken pieces in, skin side up. The skin will be crisp by the time the chicken is cooked through.

In general, arrange the top rack in your oven to create a 3- to 5-inch gap between your broiler and the top of your meat. Place thinner cuts and foods that benefit from heavy browning and caramelization closer to the broil element.

Proper cooling sets the crust and ensures that the chicken will have done all its carryover cooking. I like to cool any leftover chicken completely and then store in a paper towel-lined airtight container in the fridge. The paper towel absorbs condensation and keeps that chicken crisp for midnight snacking.

If your oil temp is too high, your fried chicken will be scorched on the outside with meat that is undercooked. If the oil is too cool, your chicken will be greasy and will lack the golden-brown crispy exterior you want.