Get ready. Today on Throwdown Kitchen we are entering the fried chicken sandwich recipe wars. Making our hands down favorite, a Federal Donuts copycat recipe with Rooster sauce, but perhaps just a little better. We’re making the best fried chicken sandwich at home, and it’s simple to make.
Table of Contents
- Watch How We Made This Fried Chicken Sandwich
- What You Will Need For This Recipe
- Federal Donuts Fried Chicken Sandwich Review
- Fast Food Fried Chicken Sandwich Wars
- Fried Chicken Breast Sandwich Seasoning
- How To Make Rooster Fried Chicken Sandwich Sauce
- How To Make The Best Fried Chicken Sandwich At Home
- Martins Potato Rolls
- Fried Chicken Sandwich In The Air Fryer
- Related Recipes
Watch How We Made This Fried Chicken Sandwich
What You Will Need For This Recipe
For this recipe, you will need boneless skinless chicken breasts, potato rolls, American cheese, dill pickles, mayonnaise, hot sauce, flour, cornstarch, salt, onion powder, dried ranch dressing seasoning, mustard powder, cayenne pepper and water. Pretty straightforward ingredient list that is probably already in your pantry and refrigerator.
Federal Donuts Fried Chicken Sandwich Review
Federal Donuts is an unassuming donut shop in Philadelphia, perhaps making the best of the best fried chicken sandwiches. It’s not really odd that a donut shop makes fried chicken. It may be just pure genius. Starting as a kind of novelty menu item with boneless chicken stuffed donut sandwiches, it must have been an homage to state fair creations. Evolving into a beloved permanent menu item along with the coffee, donuts and fried chicken served in the restaurant.
The strength of this fried chicken sandwich is its simplicity. Great double fried chicken, a Martin’s potato roll, cheese, pickles and a special sauce. The creamy Rooster sauce compliments the crunchy fried chicken breast nicely and the dash of Ranch dressing dried seasoning is the finishing touch. All of it coming together in a great little sandwich. Every bite is amazing. For some reason this chicken sandwich is a crunchy mess of a sandwich, but it is just so good. 5 napkins for this one.
We’ll have our work cut out for us to copycat and improve upon this gem.
Fast Food Fried Chicken Sandwich Wars
The fried chicken sandwich wars seemed to really enter high gear late last year, 2019, with the introduction of Popeye’s spicy fried chicken sandwich. The fried chicken sandwich wars are not letting up as Shake Shack recently introduced a Korean Style Fried Chicken sandwich as an answer. Not that bad, but not really Korean. Hence, the words “Korean Style”
Popeye’s chicken sandwich is a buttermilk battered chicken breast that was launched to huge fanfare in late 2019. Focused again on the chicken, the sandwich looks good at the start. A nice spicy mayo spread with pickle slices. The spice stands out right away and is not as spicy as I was thinking it was going to be. All in all, better than all its competition. Pickle or no pickle may be the question.
Wendy’s New Classic Chicken Sandwich disappoints compared to Popeye’s sandwich. It seems old school fast food. In some ways I think they just rebranded their old Home style Chicken Sandwich. Super simple with breaded fried chicken, no complexity to this sandwich at all. The best feature of this sandwich is the colorful foil wrapping. Mayo, tomatoes, lettuce and pickles. Done. Come on Wendy’s can’t make a special sauce?
McDonald’s is not to be out done or out numbered. Not content with a making a great chicken sandwich, McDonald’s drops three new versions at the same time. But don’t be fooled. It’s a crispy buttermilk chicken patty presented in 3 different ways. The Crispy Chicken is topped with pickles on a potato roll. The Spicy Chicken adds some spicy sauce. Do you think Wendy’s is paying attention? Finally, the Deluxe weighs in with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
Fried Chicken Breast Sandwich Seasoning
Start by mixing a dry brine of Kosher salt (1 ½ tbsp), mustard flour (2 tsp) and onion powder (1 tbsp) for the chicken that’s going to make this delicious.
Sprinkle the chicken breasts (4 ounces each) with the spice mix all over. Set them on a rack and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Meanwhile, make the Rooster sauce
How To Make Rooster Fried Chicken Sandwich Sauce
For the Rooster Sauce, mix mayonnaise (½ cup) with hot sauce (2 tbsp) and cayenne pepper (¼ tsp). Add a pinch of salt and pepper (to taste). Refrigerate the sauce for 1 hour.
How To Make The Best Fried Chicken Sandwich At Home
We’ll be frying our chicken breasts twice. Start by heating a pot of canola oil to 300 degrees.
While the oil is heating, make a batter for the chicken breasts by combining cornstarch (1cup), flour (½ cup), salt (2 tsp) and water (3/4 cup).
Dip the chicken breast in the batter and coat evenly. Gently lay the chicken into the hot oil and let the batter begin to set before fully releasing the chicken breast. Don’t put too much chicken into the oil because it will bring the temperature down. Cook the chicken breast for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a rack and let sit to the side for 10 minutes.
Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees and now cook the par-fried chicken breasts again for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches a safe 165 degrees. The chicken should be golden brown. Sprinkle the warm chicken breast with Ranch dressing dry seasoning.
To finish this copycat recipe for Federal Donuts shop fried chicken sandwich, top the bottom bun of a Martin’s potato roll with 4 slices of dill pickles. Add the chicken breast and Then drizzle the Rooster sauce on top and add 1 slice of American cheese before putting the top of the bun onto the sandwich. Perfection!
Equipment
- Fryer or Heavy Pot
Ingredients
- 2 4 ounces each Chicken Breast Boneless, skinless
- 2 Potato rolls
- 8 slices Dill pickle Crinkle cut
- 2 slices American cheese
- 1 tbsp Ranch seasoning Dry
- 3 cups Canola oil
Chicken Dry Brine
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Onion powder
- 2 tsp Mustard powder
Rooster Sauce
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp Hot sauce
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- To taste Salt and pepper
Chicken Batter
- 1 cup Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 1/2 cup Cold water
- 2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Start by mixing a dry brine of Kosher salt (1 ½ tbsp), mustard flour (2 tsp) and onion powder (1 tbsp) for the chicken that’s going to make this delicious. Sprinkle the chicken breasts (4 ounces each) with the spice mix all over. Set them on a rack and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- For the Rooster Sauce, mix mayonnaise (½ cup) with hot sauce (2 tbsp) and cayenne pepper (¼ tsp). Add a pinch of salt and pepper (to taste). Refrigerate the sauce for 1 hour.
- Start by heating a pot of canola oil to 300 degrees. While the oil is heating, make a batter for the chicken breasts by combining cornstarch (1cup) flour (½ cup) salt (2 tsp) and water (½ cup)
- Dip the chicken breast in the batter and coat evenly. Gently lay the chicken into the hot oil and let the batter begin to set before fully releasing the chicken breast. Don’t put too much chicken into the oil because it will bring the temperature down. Cook the chicken breast for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the chicken breasts to a rack and let sit to the side for 10 minutes. Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees and now cook the par-fried chicken breasts again for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches a safe 165 degrees. The chicken should be golden brown.
- Sprinkle the warm chicken breasts with ranch dry dressing and then assemble the sandwich.On a martin's potato roll, put down crinkle cut dill pickles (4 slices). Top the pickles with the chicken breast, Rooster sauce (to taste), American cheese (1 slice) and the top bun.
Nutrition
Martins Potato Rolls
The Federal Hill Donut shop uses Martin’s potato rolls for their sandwich, and we are lucky enough to have a local supply. Almost every grocery in our region carries them, so they are easy to find. We thought carefully about substituting a Brioche sandwich roll or a potato roll made by The Vermont Bread Company in an effort to win this chicken sandwich war. In the end, Martins won out because it’s simply the right choice for this sandwich. We did make one change to the copycat recipe by buttering and toasting our Martin’s potato roll before assembly. I think that is enough to take this almost perfect sandwich over the top!
Fried Chicken Sandwich In The Air Fryer
For this, Federal Donuts copycat recipe, an air fryer could be used if the first fry is done as directed in hot canola oil. Heat an air fryer to 375 degrees and after the first fry, place the par cooked chicken breasts into the air fryer and cook for an additional 6 minutes. The internal temperature of the fried chicken breasts must reach 165 degrees to be considered safe to eat. The best way to check this is with an instant read digital thermometer.
We found the air fryer method to be absolutely delightful and some oil from the first fry was released into the bottom of the air unit while cooking. So, it was a win-win solution.
Throwdown Kitchen
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Have you tried this Federal Donut’s copycat recipe? Feel free to leave a 5-star rating, and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
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