Chicken Fried Chicken sandwich recipe (2024)

Boy was MY hubby in luck! I had thawed a package of chicken breasts the day before for supper thinking that there were only two in there. In luck indeed. The day before I had gone ahead and thinly pounded the third one anyways with this little gem of an idea up my sleeve. This is what I made him… 😉

This is a simple midwestern sandwich that is immensely enjoyed at your local diner, bar or bowling alley. Seriously, that pretty much sums it up! If you’re partaking at your local corner pub, chances are there’s a bowling alley down the street, and when you look out the window there’s a diner, a church, and, most likely, another bar across the street. If not, it’s probably a bar disguised as a “club”, with pool and dartleagues and Friday Night Fish Fries!

But I loved living there. Where things are quieter and the people are friendlier! Towns are smaller, people aren’t in a big ol’ hurry, and you get to know so many good people!

And us Indiana girls love to fry! Well, I can’t speak for all, but I know I sure do love to! I grew up around it, and I guess it just runs in my veins!

So I thought to bring a little piece of home into our kitchen and surprise my hubby with an old-fashioned, Indiana-style, chicken-fried chicken sandwich!

First off, “chicken fried” just simply means fried like “fried chicken”. But this sandwich isn’t a regular piece of “fried chicken”, so it’s called “chicken-fried chicken”! A boneless skinless chicken breast pounded thin, coated like fried chicken and then, of course, fried, but almost deep fried. You can do this even better in a deep fryer, but I use a nice amount of oil and it works perfectly.

After you’ve gotten the meat pounded evenly, but still hearty to remain juicy when cooked, you dredge it in a nice light coating of the seasoned flour, then into a beaten egg with hot sauce added for a nice extra kick of heat, then back into the flour.

You don’t want to rush through this process, missing spots and not coating nicely. Take your time doing this. After moistening with the egg, make sure you really coat the chicken well with the second dredging of flour. I like to keep dusting it, turning it, and pressing the flour mixture on to really coat it well to produce a nice crust when I go to fry.

Once coated, I like to dust the top one last time with any extra flour and just leave the chicken right in the dish of the flour. Some people say to place it on a baking sheet and let it “dry”, but when there’s a lot of humidity, like this time of year, I find that it just gets re-wet and gummy. So I just leave it in the flour to stay dry while the oil heats up.

There’s always a little bitty tiny piece that comes off in the flour, so I always use that as a tester for the oil. Just put a tiny piece in and if it instantly rises to the top and sizzles nicely, your oil is probably hot enough. Carefully lift chicken with tongs and slip it into the oil slowly so that you don’t splash. I like to turn the heat up just a bit when I add it because the temp of the oil will drop a little when you add the chicken. Once it gets going good, you can turn it back down, but make sure you are getting a nice fry, though. You want to be able to cook the outside until golden brown but not overcook the inside. So don’t be afraid for it to be sizzling almost like a deep fryer but not quite that hard. It will only take about 4-5 minutesper side to be perfectly done both on the outside as well as the inside.

Then just remove and let rest while you assemble the rest! If you’d like cheese on yours, add it right after you take it out of the oil. I have a nice list of cheeses that go really well with this, but my hubby preferred his without, which is actually the traditional way it’s eaten.

After coating your bottom bun with mayo, always top with lettuce first to go under the chicken to prevent the bottom bun from getting all wet from the heat and any last tiny bit of oil. Nobody likes a soggy bottom! 😉

Top with chicken and whatever toppings you’d like! This is usually served “BLT-style” with bacon, lettuce and tomato, but a lot of people also love pickles on theirs, too. I’ve also provided a nice choice of toppings that pair really well with this to choose from.

So if you’re hankering for some good ol’ midwestern food, this sandwich will take you right there! In a small town corner bar with your closest friends playing a nice game of darts, or maybe down the street at your friend’s Uncle’s bowling alley at noon, when there’s just a few people bowling, and the ice cold pitchers of beer are tasting pretty darned good. 😉

Enjoy all, and slow down. Life passes us by fast enough! 😉

Yield: 2-3

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Seasoned Flour:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 Tbl. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 Tbl. seasoned salt, I prefer Johnny's
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
• [br]

Rest of ingredients:

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (1/2"), or 3 smaller ones
• 1 extra-large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp. hot sauce, as desired
• 4 crisp lettuce leaves
• 4 thick slices fresh tomato
• 6 strips lean quality thick-cut bacon, cooked crisp with pepper
• 2 hearty hamburger buns (*see my semi-homemade if desired)
• mayonnaise (*or desired condiment)
• vegetable oil for frying
• [br]

Cheeses That Pair Well:

• pepperjack
• colby
• co-jack
• provolone
• muenster
• swiss
• havarti

Extra Condiments Can Include:

• sliced onion
• dill or sweet bread 'n butter pickle slices, or pickle relish
• assorted mustards, (regular, spicy brown, jalapeño, honey-mustard, etc.)
• barbecue sauce
• pickled jalapeños or fresh banana pepper slices
• thinly-sliced picnic ham piled on top, or fried canadian bacon slices, (*in addition to or in place of bacon strips)

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk WELL all of the seasoned flour ingredients until well-mixed. Dump into a pie plate, set aside.

Place each chicken breast onto sheets of plastic wrap skinned sides-up. Sprinkle tops with water, cover with more plastic wrap, sprinkle top of plastic with water, and pound out middle so it's level and chicken breasts are about a 1/2" thick or a little less, but no less than 1/4".

In second pie dish, whisk egg well. Whisk in hot sauce.

Dredge chicken breasts, one at a time, in flour first, then beaten egg, then back into flour, coating well. Let rest in flour while the oil heats up.

When oil is hot, fry chicken, one piece at a time to not overcrowd pan, about 4-5 minutes per side until deep golden brown. Place on paper towel-lined rack placed over a baking sheet to rest and cool down a little.

Dress bottom buns with mayo, then lettuce. Top with chicken breasts, tomato and bacon. Dress top bun with mayo and serve!

*If wanting to add cheese, top pieces with cheese after coming out of the oil to melt while resting.

(Top with any other condiments desired.)

Notes

You can also turn these into appetizer-sized mini sliders if desired by cutting each breast into 4-5 pieces after frying and resting, and assemble onto biscuits or Hawaiian Rolls. Or you can precut the chicken into pieces before pounding, coating and frying. Either way works great! (Cutting them up after is easier and quicker, though.)