KFC Opens up About How Its Fried Chicken Is Actually Made

Fast food gets a pretty bad rap since it’s not exactly good for you. It’s so processed it’s not “real” food and when it comes to fried food, chicken specifically, despite being delicious it’s just not something we should have every day.

However, one of KFC‘s managing directors is hoping to change the perception that fast food isn’t real food. Nikki Lawson, managing director for KFC in the South Pacific spoke with News.com.au about how their fried chicken is really made.

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“There’s a perception that, because it’s fast food, it’s going to arrive pre-cooked and then it gets thrown in a fryer and then served up,’ Lawson says. “The art of cooking that goes on is something that gets misunderstood.”

So, if not pre-cooked, how does KFC make their chicken? Like fried chicken made at home, KFC starts with a fresh chicken fillet and dips it in a bucket of cold water before it’s coated in the “secret spice” breading mix. Then, the chicken is flipped in breadcrumbs before being loaded into a tray that gets lowered into a high-pressure vat of hot oil for cooking. Lawson says that the vat of hot oil is critical to the KFC flavor.

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“It’s the volatiles in the herbs that get contained by the high-pressure vat of oil,” Lawson explains. “You can cook exactly the same chicken in an open fryer and it will have a different taste.”

As for that spice mix, though, even the people frying the chicken couldn’t tell you what’s in it.

“The secret is the spice mix — our own people don’t know the recipe,” Lawson says.