Why Buttermilk Marinade Is Key To Perfectly Juicy Copycat KFC Chicken

If there's one thing foodies love, it's a secret recipe. It just gets people going! We all want to know what's so secret, and whether or not we can be the one to suss out that hint of marjoram or kimchi juice that creates that unique, arcane flavor. That level of intrigue gets exponentially intensified when the secret recipe in question is the bedrock upon which the secret keeper himself, Harland "Colonel" Sanders, built the world's third most valuable food brand, KFC.

Now, we all know it was a whole lot more than just the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices that went into making KFC the global phenomenon it is today. But if a reporter on the street asked you what you thought the reason behind KFC's success was, you, and almost everybody else, would give credit to the secret recipe. However, even when a few years ago, the press exposed the real spice blend thanks to a leak from one of Sanders's relatives, folks at home could tell that they weren't quite getting the full KFC experience.

This is why, in her recipe for Easy Copycat KFC Chicken, Mashed recipe developer Lindsay D. Mattison knew she needed a little extra to make the difference. As acknowledged by the Tribune, one additional tip is adding a shake of MSG — the flavor enhancer has been confirmed as part of KFC's original recipe by the company. However, the real key to getting it right is the buttermilk marinade.

It turns out that the real secret ingredient in Colonel Sanders' Original Fried Chicken recipe development was danger. In the service station in Corbin, Kentucky where he had his first restaurant, Sanders would use pressure cookers filled with oil to cook the chicken super-fast. But superheating oil under pressure is a very bad idea — do not try it at home! These days KFC replicates the same effect by using commercial pressure-fryers.

What pressure-frying, rather than deep-frying, does is keep the chicken even more moist. The speed with which the crust cooks and the center gets up to temperature is second to none, and that means less time in the fryer for the meat to dry out. But it's too dangerous to do at home!

So what is Lindsay's solution? Buttermilk. The slightly acidic byproduct of butter production has been a staple in Southern cooking for centuries, and it is the perfect base for a fried chicken marinade. The tanginess that makes it such a good ingredient in pancakes gets to work tenderizing the chicken, and instead of a regular water-based brine, the buttermilk will help the flour stick to the exterior of the chicken, yielding the crispy crust we're all after. Buttermilk's high fat content and the briny effect of the salt in the marinade also help keep the meat super-moist, and it's that juiciness, more than the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices, that makes Lindsay's version so lip-smackingly good.