The Ultimate Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe
I LOVE a good chicken recipe, and one of the things I love about this Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe (with instructions on how to make this Keto friendly below!) is that there is a secret way to make it! Did you know this isn’t actually fried at all? Read more to find out our secret to the most amazing copycat KFC Chicken Recipe, EVER!
You might also enjoy our Air Fryer Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe.
If you have been following me on Instagram you have probably seen my attempts at my copycat Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe. You would probably also know that I finally figured it out! After numerous attempts, I have finally ended up with a delicious and authentic tasting copycat KFC chicken recipe. It’s so deliciously amazing, and I can’t wait to share it with you!
Get your shopping list ready, because this is going to be dinner tonight!
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Baked and Not Fried Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe
Why do I love this copycat KFC chicken recipe so much? What’s the BIG SECRET behind making the most delicious chicken? It’s BAKED. No need for a deep fryer or hot oil.
I am not much for frying things, and while this isn’t the highest on the “healthy” list, it is a bit healthier than the fried versions.
But does this taste just as good if it is baked? Well yes, it does! In fact, this is so close to authentic KFC original recipe chicken that my youngest is always asking for it. We have this on our family meal plan at least once every other month.
It’s relatively simple, and if I can do this, you can, too.
What Ingredients Do I Need for the Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe?
I can’t promise you that this is the actual original fast food KFC recipe because obviously, that’s a secret recipe. 🙂 However, we use our own secret blend of 11 ingredients including herbs and spices to make what we think is the best hand-breaded copycat recipe you will find.
Here is a list of ingredients needed on hand:
- bone in chicken breasts and assorted pieces
- flour (coconut flour is Keto friendly)
- panko
- salt
- black pepper
- white pepper
- paprika
- oregano (optional)
- cayenne (optional)
- cup butter (melted)
- butter milk
- spray butter
How Do I Make a Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe?
I personally love how easy it is to make this copycat chicken recipe.
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 400.
- In a bowl mix well the flour, panko, salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp white pepper, paprika, cayenne, and oregano.
- In a second bowl pour in buttermilk.
- Pour 1/2 cup melted butter into a prepared 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Take chicken breasts and dip into buttermilk. Then dip into flour mixture (use coconut flour if you are making this Keto friendly), coating both sides well.
- Once coated, place into the 9 x 13 baking dish.
- After all of the chicken is placed into the dish, cover with the remaining tsp of pepper.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Open oven and using spray butter, coat the top of the chicken.
- Place back into the oven and bake another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, open the oven and spray another coat of butter over the chicken.
- Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through thoroughly.
*UPDATE: There will be a lot of butter and juices. If you want to make sure this is extra crispy baked chicken, flip and turn the chicken regularly while baking or consider cooking the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and place the chicken on a cooling rack so it is above the juices and nothing is soft.
Remove from the oven and place on a paper towel to absorb any extra juiciness.
Allow to cool and serve with your favorite sides!
Don’t forget, you can skip below and print out the FULL recipe card with all of our ingredients, steps, and any additional notes to make this recipe the best it can be.
Would you make any changes to this recipe? If so, we would love it if you left us a comment below. We are always updating our posts and love to use reader suggestions when they fit with the content we’re sharing.
I tried so many different versions of this recipe and I finally ended up with what I think is the most delicious copycat KFC Chicken recipe there is! I can’t wait for you to give it a try, you will be happy you did!
NEED MORE COPYCAT RECIPES?
You might also enjoy these other Copycat Recipes!
You might also like these other oven baked recipes:
I hope you enjoy this finger-lickin’ chicken! Did you make this recipe? If you did, would you do us a big favor and leave us a recipe rating below? It lets other readers know what you think of this recipe and lets us know what we should share more of.
Are you on Instagram? If you are and you’re making this recipe, snap a picture and tag us at @pinkwhenjen and with the hashtag #pinkwhenjen so we can see it. We love to see our readers’ recreating these fun recipes.
Copycat KFC Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- bone in chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup panko
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp oregano optional
- 1/2 tsp cayenne optional
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 cup butter milk
- spray butter
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400.
- In a bowl mix together well the flour, panko, salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp white pepper paprika, cayenne, and oregano.
- In a second bowl pour in butter milk.
- Pour 1/2 cup melted butter into a prepared 9 x 13 baking dish.
- Take chicken breasts and dip into butter milk. Then dip into flour mixture, coating both sides well. Once coated, place into the 9 x 13 baking dish. Once all of the chicken is placed into the dish, cover with the remaining tsp of pepper.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Open oven and using spray butter, coat the top of the chicken. Place back into the oven and bake another 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, open oven and spray another coat of butter over the chicken. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly through.
- Place chicken on a paper towel to remove any excess drippings before serving.
- Allow to cool and serve with your favorite sides!
Notes
- Make this Keto friendly by substituting regular flour for coconut flour.
- The secret to extra crispy chicken is to spray butter and rotate/turn over the chicken often while baking.
- There will be a lot of butter and juices. If you want to make sure this is extra crispy baked chicken, flip and turn the chicken regularly while baking, or consider cooking the chicken on a rimmed baking sheet and place the chicken on a cooling rack so it is above the juices and nothing is soft.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is a calculated guesstimate. Please note that this can change with different brands and modifications you may make to the recipe. For the most accurate information, use a nutritional calculator with the exact brands and measurements you’re using with each recipe.
©PinkWhen 2023
I will definitely try it.. I love KFC. And the fact that this isn’t even fried is terrific. I’m not up for the mess that frying makes:)
Yum. I pinned this today but wanted to come over and compliment it. I love the idea of good fried chicken but KFC makes me sick! Well I don’t eat it but the idea of it doesn’t sit well.
So I love homemade.
Can’t wait to try this!
Stopping by from Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Looks delicious. Pinned.
I HAVE to try this. Found your recipe at the Two Cup Tuesday Link Party. I am the hostesses of Tickle My Tastebuds and would love you to stop by and link up this recipe. Here is the link
http://bit.ly/195w1zy
Lori
Man, that looks heavenly!!
It’s completely heavenly!
Hi Jen,
For the spray could I use an olive oil spray?
You probably could try that. Give it a go!
Jennifer,
Fried Chicken is my favorite food ever. Thank you so much for stopping by Wonderful Wednesday blog hop and linking up.
Blessings and sharing the love!
Diane Roark
recipesforourdailybread
ouramericantravels
OK, I made it and it was deeeeeeeeelicious!
I deviated from the recipe a bit b/c I don’t have spray butter, so I covered it and cooked it at 375. Then uncovered it for a bit, then flipped it and cooked it a bit longer.
I assume you were spraying it to keep it from drying out.
I also doubled the amount of salt and went for the oregano and cayenne pepper.
Lip smackin’ good. Thanks for sharing.
That’s awesome! I am so glad you liked it.
I tried this tonight and it was fantastic!! Juicy but not greasy and the seasoning was perfect! Thanks for sharing.
So glad you tried it and loved it as much as we do!
I’m so glad to see this recipe! KFC is no longer available where I live and chicken is a staple here in the South!
Thanks for sharing at Inspire Me Mondays!
Yum! This sounds so good.
Thanks for linking up to Inspire Me Monday! Your link was the most clicked on..woot! Looks delish! 🙂
Thank you for sharing on Show Me Saturday! Pinning!
This recipe sounds so wonderful. Guess what, it was so popular on last week’s blog hop that you are featured THIS week!
Thanks so much! It’s such a delicious recipe. I LOVE to make it here and it’s always a big hit!
This looks amazing and I cannot wait to try it!!! I have buttermilk in my fridge right now, so it may be a weekend pick!
This looks INCREDIBLE! I’m so glad that you worked so hard to master this and have shared it with us, I’m so excited to make it! 🙂
Definitely want to try this, but I have a quick question. Is paprika used? In the beginning of the blog, 1 tsp of paprika is listed as an ingredient. However it is not listed in the printable version, nor is it referenced in the step by step instructions. I just wanted to clarify before beginning this recipe, thank you.
yes! Sorry, I add it to the mixture of flour. I will go and edit it in. Thanks for catching that! 🙂
This looks excellent but I do have a question. Have you tried making it with smaller pieces, like legs or thighs? Any suggestion on cooking times using different pieces of chicken or would you not recommend that? I can’t wait to try it!
I have used it with different sized pieces all mixed together and they all cook well together. This is a GREAT recipe, I hope you love it as much as we do!
Do you leave the chicken skin on or remove it?
I leave it on 🙂
Fabulous. Just don’t add the cayenne.
Made this tonight. My family really enjoyed it and it was simple to make with readily available ingredients. While it was good, we did not think it tasted like KFC. We do live in Canada, so perhaps KFC tastes different there. The author does not claim this is a low fat receipe, which I really appreciated as it uses a lot of fat. Just because something is cooked in the oven does not mean it is lower in fat
Hello,
I loved the taste of the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing. I had a question, after baking it I still had white crumbs over the chicken that wouldnt bake. What is the reason for this? I sprayed it with butter spray, should I spray it more heavily? Hole you can help :). thank you!
I think this recipe needs to be re-named BETTER than KFC Chicken! I couldn’t find butter spray so I drizzled butter and sprayed olive oil, I only had boneless thighs on hand and added 1 tsp of cayenne other than that I followed the recipe to a t. The only downfall is the coating was a little soggy being cooked in butter so I put it on a baking rack and broiled for a couple minutes. This is my new go to coating for everything from now on! Yummy! Thanks so much!
Coating had good flavor, but other comments were right about the underside being soggy. If you want fried chicken, there’s no other way except to actually fry it. This was good baked chicken. We have some left, so tomorrow I’ll heat it up on a rack and hopefully this will crisp it up a bit.
Hi Jennifer, Made this gluten free by using g.f. flour and panko. Hubby and both boys made the comment they thought it tasted like KFC. When I make it again I will cut the cayanne pepper in half and try with boneless chicken breasts, other than those changes to suit our tastes, I would not change a thing on your delicious recipe. Thank You so much for sharing.
So glad you like it! Way to go making this gluten free, too! 🙂
My family absolutely loves this chicken. My son and daughter have families of their own but they still ask me to make this at get-togethers. I have always omitted the oregano and cayenne; other than that, I follow the recipe. I am always looking for good chicken recipes and this one is at the top. Thanks
Hi,
Does the chicken come out crispy?
Please reply soon
Thanks 🙂
Stupid question…there is no number beside the chicken breasts in the recipe. Since the recipe feeds 4 can I assume 4 bone-in breasts? Just discovered your great site and second question I’ve asked this morning!
Yes! 4 chicken breasts. Thanks for pointing that out!
Tried this recipe. It was yummy. Thanx for sharing.
Awe! Thank you, so glad you liked it!
This would better baked on a rack, I believe, so the underside isn’t soggy. A convection oven would be great if one has it. When you say”rotate the chicken “, I assume you mean turning it over, thereby making the crispy top soggy while the soggy bottom may crisp. Hence baking on a rack and spraying with the butter all over as chicken is turned. I also don’t count 11”secret” spices.
Is butter spay something you make.? I don’t think I have ever seen it
It’s actually something you can purchase at the store, but you can always soften and melt butter and add it to a spray bottle. Just know you will have to warm it up again to be able to spray it. 🙂 Or, to make it healthier, you can also use an olive oil spray.
This turned out great! Added more of everything with some garlic powder and deep fried it, it was delicious! Although I didn’t follow everything to a T, this was one of the best fried chicken recipes I’ve tried out, thanks a lot 😀
Awesome!! I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
My kids adore this recipe. Thank you for sharing it.