Looking for the best fried chicken for the Fourth? Look no further. We got ’em all: Cajun, Northern, Asian, and Southern recipes.
Simple Fried Chicken
: Johnny Miller
1/10
Booyah! We've found the secret to simple yet sensational fried chicken. And it's as basic as can be. Just salt. Pepper. Flour. Water. Patience.
Recipe
Bourbon Buttermilk Fried Chicken
: Jessie Hagan
2/10
Yes, bourbon-inflected fried chicken. It’s in the brine. And oh, baby, are you gonna wish you’d been doing this all your life.
Recipe
Waffle Fried Chicken with Spicy Bourbon Maple Syrup
: Cenk Sönmezsoy
3/10
Fried chicken as you've never, ever experienced. Waffle-battered thighs are fried until crisp and doused with a spiked syrup that boasts a sweet heat.
Recipe
Cajun Fried Chicken
: Chris Granger
4/10
Bathed in buttermilk and spiced ever so slightly, this Cajun fried hen is memorably moist, superlatively crisp, and gosh darn perfect through and through.
Recipe
Batter-Fried Chicken
: Keller + Keller
5/10
Proof that it doesn't take buttermilk or an insufferably long overnight brine to make insanely tender, crazily crisp, gosh darn perfect fried chicken.
Recipe
Sweet Tea Brined Fried Chicken
: Time, Inc.
6/10
Crisp fried chicken and cool sweet tea. A combination of the South's two fave things in which a 24-hour marinade subtly suffuses the chicken with the summeriness of tea and lemon.
Recipe
Judy Hesser's Oven-Fried Chicken
: Food52
7/10
Mind-bogglingly crisp oven-fried chicken. And it's sooo easy. Just shake, shake, shake chicken thighs in a bag of seasoned flour and bake unattended for a little while.
Recipe
Fried Boneless Chicken Thighs
: David Malosh
8/10
For years, Egg Shop's fried chicken has been the talk of New York City. It’s crunchy, juicy, salty, spicy, honey-drizzled fried chicken amazingness. And here's how you can make it.
Recipe
Breaded Oven Fried Chicken Thighs
: Bec Hudson
9/10
These crumb-coated thighs come together with no fuss and can easily be adapted to whatever ingredients you happen to have on hand.
Recipe
Northern Fried Chicken
: Quentin Bacon
10/10
The secret to this Northern fried chicken recipe? Matzoh meal and honey. No lie.
Recipe
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