We couldn’t pass up an opportunity to make some fried chicken. This was one of the first recipes we made from The Full Plate. I love my fried chicken recipe and I’m open to trying new ones. I wanted to like this Chinese five-spice fried chicken, but it seemed to be missing a spark. It wasn’t the spice, it wasn’t the batter. It was just another fried chicken recipe.
Before you @ me, that is definitely not a dig at Ayesha’s cooking. Ayesha Curry can cook. Not every recipe needs to be amazing. Her book is filled with a lot of really good recipes.
Lilies and Loafers has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not by Lilies and Loafers. If you’re looking for this recipe, you need to buy The Full Plate – a cookbook from Ayesha Curry.
I am still the only person in this house that is allowed to fry things. Brian gets away with frying Oreos and pizza. But only because I don’t catch him in time and realize it’s too late that he’s about to fry something. I’m really particular with my frying methods, mostly due to the mess it makes, but the moon, stars, and my aura need to be aligned for the perfect fried chicken. So let’s talk about the hot honey fried chicken sandwich for a second. I would make that over and over. Well, I do make it a lot because Brian loves it. That sandwich is peak fried chicken sandwich. Because we made that fried chicken first, this recipe felt like a let down.
Honestly, I don’t know if it’s the spice in the fry batter or the thighs that threw this Chinese five-spice fried chicken off.
Making the Chinese Five-Spice Fried Chicken
You know when you make a recipe from a cookbook and your recipe doesn’t quite look like the photo? This looks just the like the photo. When I look at the picture in the cookbook, I see a spiced fried chicken. Maybe looks like a heavy fried chicken. And it is just that.
Where do we start with the Chinese five-spice fried chicken? Brine the chicken. For this recipe, Ayesha uses drumsticks and thighs. We did both, but I prefer drumsticks. I had to do this with John Legend’s fried chicken wings. Before you fry chicken, you want to brine it first. Keeps it juicy. This brine is a mixture of beer, water, salt, brown sugar and garlic.
Once brined, you will add flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, five-spice, salt, and pepper to a resealable bag. Then heat up the oil in a cast iron pan. While the oil is heating up, you’ll take your chicken (patted dry) and add to the resealable bag. Now this is the fun part. Shake. Best to use just a few pieces at a time. Now you’re ready to fry (there a bunch of other stuff you’ll need to prep before you get to this point).
Once the oil has been heated appropriately, place the chicken in and fry for about seven minutes on each side. The goal is to get the chicken to register to 165 degrees F on the inside and have a nice, golden brown fry on the outside. Plate the chicken, drizzle with honey (trust me, so good with it), and squeeze some lemon over it. Pair with a green vegetable and a mashed potato, or fried rice.
