Chicken Fried Potatoes

An overhead shot of chicken fried potato slices on a platter with a bowl of ranch dressing.

We love fried chicken, especially the crispy, salty skin. When I was in Nashville a few years ago my husband stopped at a small diner to grab a bite to eat and instead of French fries on the side of our burgers we were served these delicious discs of potatoes that had an almost fried chicken coating on them. They were crispy, crunchy and salty on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside.

I’ve never had anything like them before and they were crazy good. I wanted to recreate something like that so today we have our Chicken Fried Potatoes! They’re sort of a hybrid between a French fry medallion and fried chicken, or a vegetarian friendly ‘fried chicken’. They’re so good and really addicting!

Ingredients for Chicken Fried Potatoes shot overhead.

How to make Chicken Fried Potatoes

Place all buttermilk ranch dipping sauce into a mixing bowl and whisk together. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. This will allow the flavors to merry together. Remove the dip from the refrigerator for about 10 minutes before serving. This will take the slight chill off the dip and really give you the best ranch dip experience.
Place buttermilk, thyme, garlic, some salt, and some pepper into a mixing bowl and whisk together. Add the potatoes and toss together until well coated.
While the potatoes sit, pour the flour, onion powder, mustard, paprika, and remaining salt and pepper into a shallow baking dish and whisk together.
Spoon some of the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir together. This will create little patches of thicker fried “skin” in the dredging mixture, maximizing the flavor and crunch on the potatoes once they’re fried.
Fill a large, deep skillet with a couple inches of oil and heat to 350˚F.
In batches, transfer potatoes to flour mixture until fully coated, shaking off any excess flour and transfer to a cooling rack, in a single layer, until all potatoes have been coated.
Fry the potatoes in small batches until golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside.
Drain fried potato slices onto a baking sheet lined with paper towels and another cooling rack and season with salt.
Repeat the last 2 steps until all potato slices have been fried.
Serve fried potatoes with prepared buttermilk dipping sauce!

Perfectly sliced potatoes for our Chicken Fried Potatoes recipe. — Thinly sliced potatoes.

A bowl of buttermilk and other ingredients to soak the slices potatoes in. — Place buttermilk, thyme, garlic, some salt, and some pepper into a mixing bowl.

Buttermilk ingredients mixed together in a bowl overhead. — Mix together.

Potato slices soaking on a bowl on buttermilk with other spices. — Add potato slices and toss together.

Dredging ingredients in a shallow baking dish overhad. — Pour the flour, onion powder, mustard, paprika, and remaining salt and pepper into a shallow baking dish.

Mixed up dredging ingredients in a shallow baking dish overhead with some buttermilk. — Mix ingredients tother. Then, spoon some of the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir together.

Buttermilk mixed together in the dredging ingredients in a shallow baking dish. — Stir together stir together to create little patches of thicker fried “skin” in the dredging mixture.

Potato slices being dredged in a shallow baking dish. — In batches coat potatoes in flour mixture, shaking off any excess flour.

Freshly dredged slices of potato on a cooling rack ready to be fried. — Transfer to a cooling rack, in a single layer.

Freshly fried chicken fried potatoes on a cooling rack with salt on them. — Fry the potatoes in small batches until golden brown. Drain fried potato slices onto a baking sheet lined with paper towels and another cooling rack and season with salt.

How to make Buttermilk Ranch Dipping Sauce

Buttermilk Ranch dipping sauce ingredients shot overhead.

Buttermilk ranch dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl ready to mixed. — Place all buttermilk ranch dipping sauce into a mixing bowl.

A bowl of buttermilk ranch dipping sauce ingredients all mixed together. — Mix together and refrigerate.

FAQs

What if you don’t have buttermilk?

You can make your own buttermilk by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to regular dairy milk and allowing the mixture to sit for a minute.

Why add some of the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture?

This will create little pebbles in the dredging mixture, which will turn into thicker patches of fried coating in each piece of potato, which will maximize the flavor and crunchy texture once the potato rounds are fried.

Can this be made ahead of time?

While we prefer to make and eat this right away for the freshest experience, you can make this recipe ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

When ready to reheat, place the pieces onto a cooling rack lined baking sheet and heat for 10 minutes in a oven preheated to 375˚F. The potatoes won’t get quite as crisp from when they were first fried, but will still be delicious and full of flavor.

Can the sauce be made ahead of time?

Yes! The buttermilk sauce can be made up to 5 days ahead of time and can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator.

A chicken fried potato slice that has been dipped in ranch and a bite is taken out.

Tips and Tricks for Success

We like using a wide mouth skillet with taller sides like this Lodge one. It allows for you to fry more pieces of potatoes at once without the pieces sticking together.
Although the skillet above is helpful, it’s still important not to overcrowd the pan so that the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop too much. Overcrowding will result in oily and soggy potato rounds.
We like both placing the coated (pre-fried) potatoes and cooling the fried potatoes on a cooling rack lined baking sheet. This both prevents the un-fried coating from becoming gummy and also allows the fried potatoes to drip off any excess oil, while maintaining their crispy, crunchy texture! Placing the finished product directly on paper towels will create steam and make the fried potatoes soggy.

We both love fried chicken so much and this version of Chicken Fried Potatoes is such a delicious and fun vegetarian friendly version. They make really delicious appetizers and are always such a crowd pleaser. If you love this appetizer recipe, you’ll also love our Mini Crunch Wrap Supremes, our Hush Puppies or our Poutine with Waffle Fries! Enjoy!