This spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe makes a classic fried chicken sandwich or fried chicken burger if you prefer, made with Australian chef Morgy McGlone’s famously fiery Belles Hot Chicken, crunchy lettuce, melty American cheese, and tangy mayonnaise. If you’re a fan of the Aussie chef’s take on Nashville-style Southern fried chicken, you’ll love this spicy fried chicken burger. Ahem, spicy fried chicken sandwich.
When we have cravings for fast food we’ll make home-cooked fast food, which is far healthier, far more affordable, and lots of fun to make, especially if you’re recreating some of your favourite fast food at home. And that’s what I’m doing every time I make this spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe with Australian chef Morgan McGlone’s Belles Hot Chicken’s Southern fried chicken.
But before I tell you about this spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe, I have to clarify for our non-American readers why I’ve called this a spicy fried chicken ‘sandwich’ recipe, which for many of our readers would be fried chicken between two slices of bread, when it’s clearly a spicy fried chicken ‘burger’, which is spicy fried chicken between two burger buns.
Although our readers are located right around the world, and for many of you this would be a spicy fried chicken burger recipe, the spicy fried chicken is based on Australian chef Morgy McGlone’s Belles Hot Chicken, which he learnt to make during his time in the southern states of the USA, where he immersed himself in perfecting Nashville-style Southern fried chicken.
In the USA, this is considered to be a spicy fried chicken sandwich, not a spicy fried chicken burger, for reasons we don’t understand. But as the provenance of the burger/sandwich is the American South, we’ve gone with the local name, as we try to do with most of our recipes on Grantourismo.
Now before I tell you more about this spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve used and like our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our original, epic, first-of-its-kind Cambodian culinary history and cookbook on Patreon for as little as US$5 a month. Or, you could buy us a coffee. Although we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing instead.
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Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe with Belles Hot Chicken and Tangy Mayo
My spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe makes a classic fried chicken sandwich or fried chicken burger if you like, made with Australian chef Morgy McGlone’s famously fiery Belles Hot Chicken which sits atop a layer of refreshing lettuce, and is topped with slices of melty American cheese, and generous dollops of tangy mayonnaise.
Whenever I make a batch of Morgy’s Southern fried chicken I like to fry a mix of drumettes, drumsticks, wings, and at least a couple of chicken thighs so that the next day we can make some spicy fried chicken burgers or fried chicken sandwiches as our American friends call them.
I like to pile crispy shoestring fries on the side but you could also serve these spicy fried chicken burgers with crunchy hand-cut fries or spicy potato wedges. If you have leftover spicy fried chicken, make Lara’s famous chicken fried rice.
Just a few tips to making this spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe.
Tips to Making this Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe with Belles Hot Chicken
If you are buying chicken thighs pre-packed, look for ones where the skin is still completely attached to the thigh. Loose skin can pull away from the thigh and burn before the rest of the chicken thigh is cooked.
I know some readers will probably try to make this chicken with chicken breasts. I am researching a different recipe for American-style fried chicken that uses breasts, but this recipe sin’t it. A single thigh with the bone removed weighs about about 120 grams (around 4 oz), which is the perfect size for a ‘sandwich’.
In my recipe for Australian chef Morgan McGlone’s Belles Hot Chicken, I used his method where after the chicken is fried, it is coated in ‘Masala Chicken Fat’ before being sprinkled with spicy seasoning. With this recipe, I’ve gone with the more traditional Nashville fried chicken technique of dunking, or in this case, brushing the spicy oil seasoning over the chicken right before serving.
A quick note that if one of your family or housemates is the one who makes pastry, do not use their pastry brush for the spicy oil seasoning, use a silicone pastry brush. Thank me later.
The usual caveats apply here about deep frying. Don’t do this if you’re not a confident cook. Always have a fire extinguisher at the ready and know how to use it.
If you enjoy deep frying and have not gone over to air frying, always use a thermometer to check oil temperature and if you have not already, consider buying a dedicated deep fryer.
Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe with Belles Hot Chicken
Ingredients
- 300 g chicken thigh fillets boneless, skin on, two pieces
- 2 burger buns sliced in half
- 4 slices of Kraft Singles or similar
- ½ lettuce iceberg or similar
- vegetable oil for deep frying
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp sweet paprika
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp salt and pepper
- 30 ml mayonnaise
- 25 ml ketchup
- 25 ml American mustard
- 1 tbsp pickled jalapeños finely chopped
- 1 tbsp pickled gherkins finely chopped
Instructions
- Mix the seasoned flour well and coat the chicken pieces all over. Leave it in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Remove and re-coat with flour after one hour. You want all surfaces of the chicken to be coated in the seasoned flour.
- When ready to fry the chicken, prepare the special sauce and the spicy oil seasoning – the spicy oil seasoning in a heat-proof container. Toast the burger buns.
- Preheat the oil in a deep pan or deep fryer to 180°C (355°F).
- Re-flour the chicken and add to the oil. Do not crowd the pan. You may have to cook pieces individually if not using a deep fryer. Cook for 8 minutes, turning once if using a pan. The chicken should be a lightish golden brown and crispy. Rest the chicken on a wire rack over a sheet pan.
- Add 100 ml of the frying oil to the spicy oil seasoning and mix. Using a silicone pastry brush, coat the chicken pieces with the oil.
- Assemble the sandwich, with lettuce, then the chicken, the sauce and the cheese pieces and eat immediately.
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below how this spicy fried chicken sandwich recipe turned out, as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for you.
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