This KFC-Style Crispy Fried Chicken Burger aka Zinger Burger is the ultimate comfort food. Ditch the restaurants and enjoy this utterly crunchy burger at your home. It's packed with loads of flavour, requires no fancy ingredient and is pretty easy to recreate.
A well-seasoned, crispy fried chicken fillet slathered with a special burger sauce, topped with a slice of Cheddar cheese, finished off with Romaine lettuce and put inside a soft Broiche bun; this is what dreams are made of.
And I am gonna make these dreams come true with this fool-proof, incredibly mouth-watering recipe of Zinger Burger. This crunchy chicken burger is just how you get it at KFC or maybe even better.
Serve it with a side of my Greek Potato Wedges or street-style Masala Fries and brace yourself for an epic meal.
And if you are in a mood for a juicy beef burger try this Ultimate Cheeseburger recipe instead!
How To Make Zinger Burger
- Marinate the chicken. Add all the spices and sauces to the boneless fillets and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or overnight. You can use either boneless thighs or breasts. Thigh meat is juicier and more flavourful.
- Prepare dry mix. Combine the dry ingredients together for dredging the chicken.
- Make a batter. For dipping the chicken make a thick batter with flour, milk and seasonings.
- Coat the chicken. Dip the chicken fillets in the batter and then dredge in flour. Use a wide shallow bowl for your flour mix and while dredging the chicken with flour press hard to create flakiness.
- Deep fry. Drop these fillets in your pot of heated oil with flame on medium. Fry for total 15 mins or until cooked through.
- Assemble burger. Toast your hamburger buns. I use Broiche. Add the chicken fillet, slice of cheese, fresh tomatoes, homemade burger sauce and lettuce.
Tips For An Ultra Crispy Chicken Fillet
- Flatten the chicken fillet with a steak hammer so it is even on all sides and fries evenly.
- When dredging in flour, press firmly to get a crispy, flaky coating similar to the KFC Zinger Burger.
- You can coat the chicken fillet once but I recommend double-coating for maximum crispiness.
- Make sure the oil is not too hot but still heated otherwise the flour coating will fall off the chicken. Don't touch the chicken for the first 5 minutes and fry on medium heat.
- Use a strainer to drain excess oil instead of kitchen paper towel. Paper towel can make the chicken soggy.
Watch How To Make It
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📖 Recipe
KFC-Style Crispy Chicken Burger
Ingredients
FOR CHICKEN FILLET
- 500 g chicken fillets breasts/thighs boneless
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoon sriracha sauce or chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon mustard sauce
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
FOR BATTER
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornflour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce or chili sauce
- ¾ cup cold milk
FOR DRY MIX
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
FOR BURGER SAUCE
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoon ketchup
- 2 tablespoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoon mustard sauce
FOR ASSEMBLING
- 4 hamburger buns
- 4 salad leaves
- Tomato slices
- 4-8 Cheddar cheese slices
Instructions
- Slit the chicken fillet from the middle and flatten each piece. You will get 4 thin chicken fillets from 500g chicken.
- Marinate the chicken with salt, white pepper, garlic powder, ginger powder, sriracha sauce and mustard sauce. Leave overnight or for 1 hour at least.
- Make a batter with all the ingredients written under 'Batter'. Add the milk gradually and keep checking the consistency. The batter shouldn't be too runny. It should be able to stick to the chicken fillets.
- Combine the 'Dry Mix' ingredients in a wide shallow bowl and keep aside.
- Dip the chicken fillets in the batter first, then thoroughly coat with the dry flour mix. Press hard when dredging with flour and slide your fingers on it to create flakiness. Then dip the same fillet in batter followed by flour mix. We want two layers of for ultra-crunchiness.
- Heat a pot with oil for deep-frying. On medium heat add the chicken fillets. Don't over crowd the pan, fry in batches. For the first 5 mins do not move the fillets. Cook the chicken for total 15 mins until cooked through. Don't forget to flip in between.
- When done, take a big strainer and put chicken fillets on it. Use it to drain excess oil. This will prevent them from getting soggy.
- Make a burger sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients.
- Start assembling your burger. Toast the buns. Take the bottom bun, on it put the crispy chicken, then 1-2 slices of cheese, couple of tomato slices, drizzle some of the burger sauce, add the salad leaf and close the burger with the top bun.
- Serve with french fries and enjoy!
Video
PIN IT FOR LATER
SPD says
If I have already dredged the chicken can I freeze them?
Qashang says
Yes, you can freeze chicken after dredging it! You can fry the dredged chicken directly from frozen. Just lower the heat slightly at first to ensure it cooks evenly all the way through.
Poppy says
I've never made such crispy fried chicken before, I was so amazed at how good this recipe was! I did a bit of a different zinger sauce with Sriracha and no mustard, but everything else was the same, can't wait to make it again, thank you!
sam says
What mustard is this English or Dijon?
Qashang says
I have used yellow mustard. But you can use any that you have. No need to especially buy the yellow mustard for this recipe. 🙂
Ali says
Hi. I’m trying to do this recipe and when I’m doing at the moment it works amazing, but for different reasons I need to do it and freeze it. So when I fried them after freezing it, the chicken lost all their Crispiness and flakiness the breading turns like a uniform layer around the chicken. What can I do to avoid this? Because it’s necessary for me to freeze the chicken
Qashang says
Unfortunately yes, flour coating doesn't freeze well. You can freeze marinated chicken and do the dredging process just before frying. Or you can change the coating to crushed cornflakes, it will taste different from KFC though.
brian says
this is an awesome recipe and very similar to kfc.
Sharon says
Have made this several times now and the whole family love it. It's just like having a zinger burger at KFC.
N says
I made these today.
Everyone really liked the recipe.
This burger goes really well with Nando's Perinaise sauce.
Brendan says
Hi, would this recipe work with chicken wings? Kinda like the wicked wings KFC have
Qashang says
I am sure this will work with wings too. Do share your feedback if you try. 🙂
KD says
This is my favouriteeeee fried chicken sandwich recipe omg! The other ones I've tried, the batter always falls off the chicken when frying or doesn't stick well. This one is perfect!
Qashang says
Yay thank you! Your appreciation means a lot.
Shekhar says
Very good and easy preparation style and good taste
Lee says
Hi, thanks for the recipe. Do I need to get most of the batter mix off before adding to the flour mix or leave it really thick?
Worried it is going to taste a bit like pancake in the outside..
Qashang says
Hi! The batter is not too thick (it's runny but dense enough to create a coating) so most of it should automatically fall off. Just leave a light layer of it on the chicken so that the flour can stick well.
panjtanpakstore says
so yummy! I would try it.
Elise-Marie says
Superb zinger burger better than KFC thank you 5 stars
Qashang says
Thank you so much!
Mehak Javaid says
Made Zinger burger with help of ur Recipe .... aaaaa .. we all loovvee it .... thank u for sharing .. hopong for kore vedios especially Chinese menu
Kulsoom says
This Homemade Zinger Burger is honestly the best! Comes out perfect every single time! Can’t wait to try out other recipes 🙂
Chili to Choc says
Yaay I am so happy to hear that!
Alya Zafar Hashmi says
Hey!
I tried the zinger burger recipe and it was OMG amazing! For the first time I came across a recipe that actually came close to KFC zinger burger. It was crispy and the taste was top notch!
Chili to Choc says
Aw so glad that the recipe worked out for you! Thanks for the feedback.
Safaa says
I have made this homemade Zinger Chicken burger recipe several times and it has been a great success every time! I can honestly say that it is as good if not better than the original KFC sandwich. This burger is a festival of flavors and textures. The chicken is so crispy on the outside and super juicy on the inside and the sauce is to die for! This easy recipe will definitely make you think twice before ordering take out.
Chili to Choc says
Aw I appreciate the detailed review! Thank you so much Safaa.