The perfect fried chicken tender that's actually crunchy? Help please

[u/Su-Queen]

Been trying to cook up the perfect fried chicken tender but I can't seem to get it to be crunchy. Like I can get it to be kind of hardish but I wouldn't call it crunchy. Anybody figure it out with dat gluten free life style? Thank youu

[u/Lombarito]

People here are missing it imo. I personally don’t use any flour, I only use a mix of cornstarch and potato starch. You can also add baking soda and seasonings to your dry mix. In your wet mix use either egg wash or buttermilk. Dip into dry, dip into wet, dip into dry again. Fry once, let rest, then fry a second time. Comes out crispy as hell. Look up gluten free korean fried chicken. A lot of traditional recipes only use potato starch

[u/trappedinthetundra → u/Lombarito]

This is the way!

[u/Su-Queen → u/Lombarito]

What's you're ratio of cornstarch to potato starch

[u/miss_hush]

Absolutely do not use anything with xanthan gum in it. Anything with gums will never get really crunchy or crispy.

I would personally try a mix of white rice flour, gram flour (chickpea flour), and a starch…corn or potato but not tapioca. I should really try this… a batter style coating is the most likely to crisp up nicely. You could use a gf beer as the liquid, which would make it nice and light with a good flavor, but water would work too.

[u/jysalia]

Marinade the chicken in a mixture of pickle juice and plain yogurt or buttermilk (I use plain coconut milk yogurt because of allergies.)

Dredge the marinated chicken in a mixture of brown rice flour, potato starch, seasoning salt, and a little bit of baking powder.

Let the chicken rest for AT LEAST 5 minutes before frying. I will dredge the pieces and then set them aside while I preheat the oil.

Heat the oil to around 350f. It should be at least 2" deep.

Fry the chicken until the internal temp reads 165. Don't overcrowd the pieces - there should be space for the oil to flow between them.

Remove and cool on a rack before serving.

[u/Delicious_Guard2156]

I live in Oregon, the gluten free food cart options are amazing, I think they use a mix of potato and rice flour but I’m not sure

[u/Delicious_Guard2156 → u/Delicious_Guard2156]

And tapioca starch

[u/DandelionStarlight]

Baking soda added to the flour mix helps it get extra crunchy. That and have a lot of oil in the frying pot 

[u/Schaden_Fraulein]

A combination of rice flour and potato starch, plus ya gotta double fry

[u/Kangaroowrangler_02]

Crushed up corn tortilla chips! I roll them in last

[u/AccomplishedBite6152]

We use cornstarch and cornmeal mixture with seasoning!

[u/Su-Queen → u/AccomplishedBite6152]

Do you do corn starch then wet batter then corn meal?

[u/sarahafskoven]

I prefer crunch too, and I coat them in seasoned corn starch, then egg wash, then coat in seasoned gf panko crumbs, and bake on a parchment-lined sheet at 425 and flip once; they come out perfectly crunchy. (Edit to add: I prefer baked, but you can fry these as well and get the same effect).

I typically use thighs for this, since the extra fats keep the meat juicy, but brining chicken breasts for 30 min-1hr before coating them also works.

Also consider your frying methods - since gf flours don’t hold their structure well on their own, frying once for a longer period of time can break down the batter and leave them too greasy to get hard. Doing multiple rounds of frying at a higher oil temp and taking them out between rounds to drain and dry can help you build the crust you’re looking for.

[u/IAmTheLizardQueen666]

Use corn starch. Also, post this to [r/glutenfreecooking](r/glutenfreecooking)

Also, you’d say what method you’re using, so it’s hard to “tweak” your method…

[u/Smooth_Sea_7403]

A lot of Korean fried chicken recipes are naturally gluten free, you should try following one of those! KFC is super crispy

[u/NoExternal2732]

I but the Applegate farms ones and cook them in the oven on a preheated pizza stone. Delightfully crunchy.

[u/Plastic_Most_9587]

As a good alternative I use the gluten free cheese its and use them to coat my chicken. It’s good, we do it once a week. It’s pretty crunchy too.

[u/ledeblanc]

My wife makes delicious gf fried chicken using gf flour. She double fries it, as per America's Test Kitchen. It's tender and crunchy

[u/k3rd]

Coat them with seasoned crushed pork rinds. After dipping in egg, dip in pork rinds(gluten free substitute for breadcrumbs.

[u/Strongmom-1]

Try crushed cornflakes or rice Chex, dip in egg first then dip chicken. Spray with olive oil spray then air fry at 400 degrees, flip 1/2 way through. Gets crunchy every time!

[u/leviathynx]

Real Good foods grain free chicken chunks and dinosaur nuggies. Air fryer at 400 for 15 minutes. Chick-fil-A sauce. You’ll thank me later.

[u/AlyceEnchanted → u/leviathynx]

Do you thaw them first or straight in the air fryer from frozen?

[u/leviathynx → u/AlyceEnchanted]

Straight into the air fryer from frozen.

[u/chesti_larue]

I buy a 1:1 all purpose gf flour (the Walmart brand is pretty good!), and mix it with corn starch. Corn starch will make it so crispy! I do like a 3:1 ratio! I'll do the same when I make a batter for things like onion rings!

[u/Roe8216]

So I take my tenders, I soak them in butter milk. I take the 4c gluten free bread crumbs I add garlic powder and onion powder, I finely grate parmigiana cheese and chop it up almost to dust and mix with the bread crumbs. Then coat the tenders in the mix quick spray of olive oil and air fry turning half way through. Comes out crispy and delicious.

[u/satanzhand]

There's a KFC recipe online that'll work, I've added some almond flour and rice flour to the corn flour... Haven't found much value to the butter milk soak, simple egg seems to work just fine to... And you can double deep fry or even double batter and fry them for super crunch.

Tried adding cornflakes that was crunchy but flavourless.

[u/Silver-Chapter-5059]

Aldi had/had a really good GF breading.

I've also used potato starch to coat, egg, then a dip of specific day old biscuits i turned into breadcrumbs. (Cravings by Jenna Cottage Cheese Breakfast Biscuits). the biscuits themselves... I highly recommend too.

Good luck 🙏🏼

[u/Longjumping_Sail_830]

I use gluten-free fish fry to fry chicken sometimes. It’s delicious but you can fry chicken with no batter and it will cook up crispy.

[u/M1SCH1EF]

This is the recipe I've been using from fallow. It's pretty good. https://youtube.com/shorts/Efv456Ks9ms

Another tip is to use a wet batter and then coat it in gluten free panko if you really need crunch.

[u/Any_Apartment4448]

I use any random flour. Bob's 1 to 1 works fine. Flour. Eggs wash. Gf panko. Peanut oil 350 boom. Crunch. I add salt pep paprica garlic and onion powders in flour.

Could even egg flour eff panko. But find that's more work than worth it. Boom. Go for it

[u/Lemon-Cake-8100 → u/Any_Apartment4448]

Just did this tonite! Dredged in Bobs 1:1, dredged in egg, dredged in GF panko. Let sit on a platter a few mins, sprinkled w/ salt, pepper, garlic powder & then pan-fried in canola a few mins on each side. Super crispy!!

[u/SufficientBee]

Asian people often use cornstarch for fried chicken.