Chicken and Waffles KFC style using boneless skinless breasts ?


 
DanHoo

DanHoo

TVWBB Olympian
I have a request for chicken and waffles. Waffles are easy. I have a package of boneless skinless breasts.

was thinking of KFC style on the WSK and looking for ideas, or for someone to suggest another direction. note: I've not cooked KFC chicken before so this is new for me. I'm a little concerned about drying out the boneless skinless breasts on the grill.

other options?
shallow frying in CI,
deep frying
cooking in the oven.
my air fryer is a little small but it might work.
 
boneless breasts DO NOT dry out unless: you cook them for the cook duration over high heat, and cook above 155F.

chicken breasts cooked indirect, 400F to 155F will turn out moist and juicy. do not exceed 155F.

i've been experimenting the past few months on the 155F stop and its proven to be the best done temp, accounting for resting and subsequent internal temp rise after the pull at 155F. a 5 minutes rest is sufficient. you could go to 10 mins as well with no real difference.

i used to go to 165F and that does create a more dry breast. so my goto is 155F now, religiously.

further, you can salt water brine chicken breasts, in which the chicken will drink in some of the salted water, almost like an injection would do for a breast.

use a 4-5% by weight of salted water (salinity). going 5-6% salinity, IMO, will be too high as the KFC breading has salt in it and will make the breasts salt bombs.

TJ's sells Empire Kosher breasts. go buy one pack and cook it indirect to 155F. you'll get a near exact cook of a saltwater brined 4-5% breast of your own making.

i'd do the grill and be done. all else is too much work.

although a shallow fried (schnitzel) breast is my goto for some cooks. i run panko through the blendtec and then salt the butterflied breast, flour cornstarch dredge, egg dredge, then panko dredge. shallow fried on medium till lightly golden. then finish in the oven on hold 175F for 10 minutes. this produces another juicy breast, but it's fried.
 
I am on Brett's train all the way, now I go a tad higher as I have the warden at home who is deathly afraid of under cooked meat.
So to keep everyone happy I cook to about 160, we all know that 162 bacteria level......the time after the cook still brings it up enough.
You can cut a breast and have clear liquids come out and have it tender and juicy.......it's just really watching what you are doing.
 
@Brett-EDH thanks.

I had a package of breasts. They are in a 4% brine for an hour.

Leaning towards shallow fried. Not sure if I'll butterfly or cut each breast into 3-4 strips for "tenders" Maybe I'll try both ways. I like schnitzel style, and I might skip the waffles. edit: Kid's won't' skip the waffles, I just don't need the carbs...
 
I’ve done chicken breast indirect nice and hot like Brett describes on both the WSK and 14.5 WSM. As long as you’re not overcooking they’ll be moist and tender. Wet brine helps, either salt water or salad dressing of choice.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I combined a few ideas and some last minute audibles.

Brined in 4% for 90 mins
Cut the breasts in thin halves.
60 min marinade buttermilk, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder and spiceogy Hb.

AP flour, baking powder, cayenne, paprika, black pepper.

Coated the breasts with the flour mixture.

Was going to pan fry, but decided to deep fry.

Held in the oven at 175F.

Waffles:
20230626_205300.jpg

I 1/4 cup buttermilk, I cup milk for a slightly thinner batter.


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20230626_195314.jpg


20230626_193917.jpg

20230626_195154.jpg

Line cooks plate

20230626_200046.jpg
 
DanHoo said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I combined a few ideas and some last minute audibles.

Brined in 4% for 90 mins
Cut the breasts in thin halves.
60 min marinade buttermilk, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder and spiceogy Hb.

AP flour, baking powder, cayenne, paprika, black pepper.

Coated the breasts with the flour mixture.

Was going to pan fry, but decided to deep fry.

Held in the oven at 175F.

Waffles:
View attachment 73537

I 1/4 cup buttermilk, I cup milk for a slightly thinner batter.


View attachment 73541

View attachment 73540


View attachment 73538

View attachment 73543

Line cooks plate

View attachment 73542
Click to expand...
Looks great @DanHoo were you happy with the results? Any adjustments you might make for next time?
 
Tim-wannabe-smoker said:
Looks great @DanHoo were you happy with the results? Any adjustments you might make for next time?
Click to expand...

It was good. I would like the chicken to be crisper. Fried chicken is not something I cook very often so I sort of winged it. I was going to do panko, but went with AP flour and baking powder. That's one area to improve. It wasn't soggy, but not crunchy crispy like my chicken parmesan, but time was short. From the time I started the chicken breading until it was in the fryer was about 65 mins including making the waffle batter and slicing the chicken. with more time it would have had time to rest in the fridge on a rack.

Next time I'll add a touch more heat in the flour but I didn't really measure any of it so who knows.

Waffles were on point.

no complaints. and two small pieces were left over so someone gets lunch, or maybe breakfast.
 
DanHoo said:
It was good. I would like the chicken to be crisper. Fried chicken is not something I cook very often so I sort of winged it. I was going to do panko, but went with AP flour and baking powder. That's one area to improve. It wasn't soggy, but not crunchy crispy like my chicken parmesan, but time was short. From the time I started the chicken breading until it was in the fryer was about 65 mins including making the waffle batter and slicing the chicken. with more time it would have had time to rest in the fridge on a rack.

Next time I'll add a touch more heat in the flour but I didn't really measure any of it so who knows.

Waffles were on point.

no complaints. and two small pieces were left over so someone gets lunch, or maybe breakfast.
Click to expand...
You must use a combo of flour and cornstarch to get a crispier flour. Or flour and rice flour. Flour alone doesn’t have body or crunch. In fact it’s soggy as it holds too much oil.

The baking powder creates air pockets which lighten the flour’s density but doesn’t add crunch.

Try this on some shrimp for an easy and quick cook to see and taste the difference.

Glad your meal came out great. Hopefully you saved the fry oil to make fries or something else. You can get a bunch of uses of used fry oil.
 
Appreciate the feedback Brett. The chicken wasn't soggy, but it wasn't as crunchy as I would like.

Oil was a mix of peanut and avocado. When cool I filter it through a gold coffee filter and refrigerate it for re-use.
 
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