After careful consideration, my husband and I finally did it – we tried the infamous Popeyes Chicken Sandwich.
This sandwich went completely viral when it first came out and basically sold out everywhere! I remember being shocked by seeing crazy lines out the door, driving by one of their locations.
After the crowds and lines finally died down, we gave them a try. We both thought the sandwich was really tasty and enjoyed the buttery brioche bun they used, but overall wished it was a little bigger, haha.
My favorite part of the fried chicken sandwich was the flavorful and crunchy breading, that actually didn’t taste greasy, as well as the juicy chicken that was perfectly cooked. The sandwich seemed easy enough to try and recreate so I decided to tackle it at home.
After a handful of tests in the kitchen, I ended up with a copycat Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe that I’m really happy with. It’s crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and finished with a simple spicy mayo with nice kick, salty pickles and a perfectly buttered and toasted brioche bun. Our Popeyes chicken sandwich recipe is fairly simple, don’t require any hard to find ingredients and are really delicious.
How to Make our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Process
- Pour buttermilk into a baking dish and add chicken breasts, turning to coat.
- Marinate chicken.
- In another baking dish combine flour, cornstarch, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Whisk together.
- Drizzle a couple spoonfuls of buttermilk from the baking dish with the chicken into the baking dish with the flour mixture and gently stir together.
- Season chicken breasts with salt and dredge into the flour mixture until fully coated.
- Shake off any excess coating and transfer to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack.
- While breaded chicken sits, preheat some oil in a large skillet to 350˚F.
- Carefully slide each chicken breast into the hot oil and fry for several minutes. Gently flip each piece of chicken and continue frying until golden brown, crispy and cooked through.
- Transfer cooked chicken onto a clean baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Season with salt.
- Combine mayo and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
- To assemble: Spread the spicy mayo on the tops and bottoms of each bun. Place pickles on top of the bottom bun and top with a piece of fried chicken. Place top buns over chicken and gently press. Serve immediately!
Making the Fried Chicken and Sauce Ahead of Time
Fried Chicken
While we prefer to make and eat this right away for the freshest experience, you can fry the chicken ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
When ready to reheat, place chicken pieces onto a cooling rack lined baking sheet and heat for 10 minutes in a oven preheated to 375˚F. The chicken won’t get quite as crisp from when they were first fried, but will still be delicious and full of flavor.
Sauce
The spicy mayo can be made up to 1 week ahead of time and can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator.
Tips and Tricks for our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe Success
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to regular dairy milk and allowing the mixture to sit for a minute.
- Add some cayenne pepper (1/4 to 1 teaspoon) to the flour mixture to really bump the heat up!
- Allow breaded chicken to sit out for 15 to 20 minutes. It will really help the flour coating to adhere to the chicken better and prevent the coating from falling off when fried. It will also help to dry the dredging mixture out, creating a crispier, crunchier coating once the chicken is fried.
- Although not necessary, I love swiping a small amount of mayo on the tops and bottom of each brioche bun and lightly toasting them, mayo side down, in a skillet. This creates a nice lightly toasted texture to the insides of each bun, while keeping the outside of the buns buttery and fluffy.
Variations for our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe
- Shredded iceberg lettuce can be added to the sandwich for some fresh, crunchy texture.
- Cabbage slaw is also a great addition to the sandwich for a creamy or vinegar crunch to the sandwiches.
- Spicy mayo can be swapped out for a buttermilk ranch dressing or even barbecue sauce.
- Slices of cheese (we prefer American) can be added to the sandwiches. If you add the slice of cheese to the tops of the freshly fried chicken, the heat should slightly melt the cheese without having to bake them off in the oven.
I love fried chicken sandwiches, and this copycat Popeyes chicken sandwich recipe really hits the spot. It’s a fun splurge meal to enjoy, especially with a side of French fries or potato chips. They’re also so much easier to make than you would think!
For a yummy variation, try our Chick Fil A Sauce on your next chicken sandwich! If you love fried chicken as much as I do you will also love our Chicken Fried Potatoes (a fun vegetarian take on fried chicken!), or our Baked Nashville Honey Hot Chicken Sandwiches!
More Sandwich Recipes You Will Love
- Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
- Grilled Tri Tip Sandwich
- Carne Asada Torta
- Turkey Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Pickled Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Pork Katsu Sandwich
Check out our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Google Web Story.
Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe
INGREDIENTS
fried chicken
- 1½ cups buttermilk
- 2 skinless chicken breasts small, about 5 ounces each.
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1½ tsp salt
frying
- 2 cups fryer oil
spicy mayo
- ⅔ cup mayo
- 2 tbsp hot sauce
assembly
- 2 brioche buns lightly toasted
- ¼ cup pickle chips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour buttermilk into a baking dish and add chicken breasts, turning to coat. Allow mixture to sit for 30 minutes.
- In another baking dish combine flour, cornstarch, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Whisk together.
- Drizzle a couple spoonfuls of buttermilk from the baking dish with the chicken into the baking dish with the flour mixture and gently stir together.
- Season each chicken breast with salt and dredge into the flour mixture, on both sides, until fully coated.
- Shake off any excess coating and transfer to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack.
- While breaded chicken sits, preheat 3 inches oil in a large skillet to 350˚F.
- Carefully slide each chicken breast into the hot oil and fry for 5 to 6 minutes. Gently flip each piece of chicken and continue frying for an additional 4 to 5 minutes or until golden brown, crispy and cooked through.
- Transfer cooked chicken onto a clean baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Season with salt.
- Combine mayo and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
- To assemble spread the spicy mayo on the tops and bottoms of each bun. Place pickles on top of the bottom bun and top with a piece of fried chicken. Place top buns over chicken and gently press. Serve immediately!
NOTES
- 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 you adjust the spicy levels?Absolutely! We only added heat to the sauce portion of the sandwich, which can definitely be adjusted based on preference. If you want the chicken itself to be spicy, you can stir in a few dashes of hot sauce to the buttermilk that the chicken sits in, or you can add some cayenne pepper to the flour mixture (I recommend starting with 1/4 teaspoon on work your way up if you like it pretty spicy!) or you can do both!
- Can this be made ahead of time? While we prefer to make and eat this right away for the freshest experience, you can fry the chicken ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. When ready to reheat, place chicken pieces onto a cooling rack lined baking sheet and heat for 10 minutes in a oven preheated to 375˚F. The chicken 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 spicy mayo can be made up to 1 week ahead of time and can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator.
- Allowing the breaded chicken to sit out for a little while (15 to 20 minutes), will allow the flour coating to adhere to the chicken better and prevent the coating from falling off when fried. It will also help to dry the dredging mixture out, creating a crispy, crunchy coating once the chicken if fried.
- Although not necessary, I love swiping a small amount of mayo on the tops and bottom of each brioche bun and lightly toasting them, mayo side down, in a skillet. This creates a nice lightly toasted flavor and texture to the insides of each bun, while keeping the outside of the buns buttery and fluffy.
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
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Why would you add liquid to the flour? Are you making biscuits. Terrible recipe because of that. Big clods of dough in the flour and had to throw it out and start over
Wow Todd. The liquid added to the flour is the best trick in the fried chicken game. The “clods of dough”, as you call them, are what gives you the BIG CRUNCHY BITS around the chicken after it’s fried. I’m sorry you’re unfamiliar with this method and are in turn missing out on the best fried chicken sandwich.
Can you tell me which hot sauce you used for the spicy mayo to make it taste as close as possible to Popeye’s?
Hi Jim! I prefer to use red rooster hot sauce for the spicy mayo because it’s a well balanced hot sauce and doesn’t overpower the other ingredients in the spicy mayo.
This recipe is awesome!! My teenage boys are ALWAYS asking for Popeyes so I decided to find a recipe to make it myself. Ever since I made these they never ask for Popeyes anymore!! 100% honest, they ask me to make chicken sandwiches all the time. The only change I make is I add Texas Pete to the buttermilk marinade as well as the same spices that go in the breading. These are so great!!!!
I’ve made this multiple times and it’s been great! I’ve been making the whole flour mix, but save half for tomorrow’s meal before I put the chicken through it. It’s a lot for just 2 sandwich’s worth. I prepare 4 pieces of chicken in the buttermilk but cook 2 on day 1 and the other on day 2. They are also perfect with Smitten Kitchen’s Brioche Buns, her Oven Fries, and the ‘Popeye’s Spicy Mayo’ recipe from Top Secret Recipes. Just a great and easy recipe. Thanks so much!
This recipe is excellent! Not this is my go-to for fried chicken. So simple and delicious!
I’m confused as to what you’re saying here? I’m also not sure why a gas stove has to do with the results of the chicken sandwiches? I’ve only used this recipe on a gas stove, with great results every single time. The oil temperature is what’s important when frying the chicken. If you’re saying it was “rocks” then it seems like you cooked your chicken for way too long.
I made this chicken in the air fryer and turned out so bad, i wish i could show a picture 😂 All the coating fell out, yellow/ burnt on the sides. Dont try to make this recipe in the airfryer
Yes, this recipe should definitely not be made in an air-fryer!! We have another recipe specifically for breaded chicken made in an air-fryer: https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/air-fryer-chicken-tenders/
Can hardly wait to try this…thing I like about the coating i you can use it for fish, pork chops and of course the chicken! Awesome and thanks for putting this together for us!!!
Whoa…pork chops! What a great idea!
My child asked me to pick up a chicken sandwich at a local fast food place and I was like, that’s a no. Had all the ingredients on hand, with the exception of buttermilk as I no longer use cow’s milk. As a substitute I made vegan buttermilk (nutmilk mixed with apple cider vinegar). Otherwise followed the recipe. The result: a crunchy and delicious chicken sandwich. Definitely adding to my list of repeat recipes.
The play button for the video covers the entire pans and dishes on every video. How are you supposed to see what is being done if the big play button is in front of it?
The play button disappears after a few seconds after you press play.
Very helpful. Thank you!
I tried this last night i didn’t have breast i used thighs and it was so good 😊 😋
How can I make the chicken spicier?
You could add some hot sauce and/or cayenne pepper to the buttermilk before soaking the chicken breasts
Another mouth-watering dish. This is perfect for snack and movie time, My kids love spicy food so they will surely like this popeyes chicken sandwich recipe of yours. Thanks for sharing!