Homemade Zippy's Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

1 3-4lb fresh whole fryer chicken
2 cups wheat flour
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp MSG
2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 big pinches of coarse Hawaiian rock or kosher salt
enough canola oil for deep frying
enough warm water to cover chicken

Instructions:

Rinse and cut up chicken into parts easy for frying. Drain and in colander and put in clean mixing bowl and cover with warm water. Add 2 big pinches of Hawaiian rock or kosher salt to bowl to create a salt brine for the chicken. Soak chicken parts for 10 minutes. Drain in collander and do not rinse.
In another mixing bowl add dry ingredients such as flour, garlic powder, paprika, white/black pepper, and MSG. Mix with wire wisk or blend in a blender to remove flour lumps.
Add drained chicken pieces to mixing bowl of dry ingredients. Dredge chicken parts well to make sure it covers the whole piece. Shake excess flour off of chicken and set aside on tray or cookie sheet while you're heating up oil.
Heat canola oil in wok, deep frying pan, or dedicated deep fryer with oil enough to cover chicken pieces. Heat oil to 350-375 degrees F. Add chicken in 2 batches. Chicken batches will cook for approximately 15mins or until golden brown all over. Drain on paper towels and keep in 150 degree oven to keep warm.

A secret to cooking the chicken thighs thoroughly without getting a bloody vein is to use the blunt side of a knife or cleaver to break the thigh bone.
The secret of Zippy's Crispy Fried Chicken is the paprika and flour. The paprika and flour will make the chicken crispy without it being overly battered. Adding a bit of cornstarch will make it even more crispier if you prefer it this way. The more paprika you add will also make the chicken darker.

My brother in law worked for Zippy's Restaurants in the mid 80's starting his career in the food service industry. He told me that back then they used pressure fryers to make broasted chicken which is a trademarked name by the Broaster Corporation for their pressure cooked/fried chicken cooking process. According to recent sources, Zippy's now use regular commercial deep fryers to create their signature cripsy fried chicken and use Tyson chicken thighs exclusively for their $18 12-piece buckets and $28 21-piece barrels.















Enjoy!! Use chicken thighs and it should definitely look and taste exactly like Zippy's either hot or cold!!

Get your rice, chili and macaroni salad ready people!! :)