Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Our copycat Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe is easy to make at home! Super crispy and juicy fried chicken on brioche buns with pickle chips smothered in a spicy sauce. These are delicious and 100% worth making!
Servings: 2 people
Calories: 1414kcal
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!
Video
Notes
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 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.
Nutrition
Calories: 1414kcal | Carbohydrates: 113g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 85g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 267mg | Sodium: 3431mg | Potassium: 887mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 2856IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 301mg | Iron: 5mg