There are many theories about what makes KFC’s signature fried-chicken menu item so “finger lickin’ good” — from the chain’s blend of herbs and spices to the chicken it uses and the breading technique it’s perfected.
One of the biggest reasons KFC’s chicken is legendary is that it’s cooked in commercial pressure fryers, according to The Takeout. The method cooks the chicken quickly, creating a crisp crust while keeping the meat juicy.
KFC’s website says founder Colonel Harland Sanders spent nine years perfecting his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices, along with the cooking technique the chain still uses today.
The fast-food giant says its chicken is made “the hard way,” with each piece hand-breaded and freshly prepared.
“Our chicken isn’t made the fast way or the easy way,” according to KFC.
A 2020 episode of Food Network’s “Unwrapped” said the original handwritten Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe — the chain shortened its name to KFC in 1991 — is so secret that it’s “locked in a vault along with vials containing samples of all 11 herbs and spices.”
The restaurant goes so far as to mix half of the spices in one place and the other half somewhere else, with a third party blending them together, a narrator on the show revealed.
In 2016, the Chicago Tribune reported that Sanders’ nephew, Joe Ledington, showed a reporter what he claimed was the original recipe from a family scrapbook during a visit to the Harland Sanders Café and Museum.
KFC disputed the claim, saying, “Many people have made these claims over the years, and no one has been accurate — this one isn’t either.”
The Louisville, Kentucky-based chain has also said that Sanders’ original 1940 recipe “is locked up in a digital safe that’s encased in two feet of concrete and monitored 24 hours a day by a video and motion detection surveillance system,” The Associated Press once reported.
Social media forums are filled with conversations about how people can presumably recreate KFC’s famous chicken, but a 2019 post on its website revealed Sanders’ “7-10-7” breading technique.
Chicken pieces are rolled seven times in a basket after being cleaned and rinsed to remove any excess moisture. They’re then tossed in the breading flour 10 times using a “scoop and lift” motion before being pressed into the breading flour seven times to ensure the ideal flour-to-chicken coating ratio on each piece, according to the post.
“Each piece of chicken is then placed onto layers of stainless steel clamshell baskets in a planned layout before being pressure-cooked to golden perfection,” KFC said.
The “racking” layout was designed by Sanders for frying a perfectly cooked KFC chicken. This ensures that there’s no overlapping of chicken pieces — allowing different parts such as the breast and the drumstick to be cooked evenly at the same time, the post revealed.
The first KFC franchise opened in Utah in 1952.
Sanders died in 1980 at the age of 90, but his legacy lives on through his original chicken recipe and his image, which has remained at the forefront of the logo’s design through the years.
There are now more than 31,000 KFC locations in 150 countries and territories worldwide, according to its website.
Fox News Digital reached out to KFC for comment.
