By Tejal Rao
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(1,716)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This recipe for chicken biscuits could be a weeknight dinner with a side of greens, but it's made to travel, and perfectly suited for a picnic. The biscuit dough, adapted from Sam Sifton's all-purpose biscuit recipe, is lightly kneaded here, so it's not too tender to work in a sandwich. The chicken tenders, inspired by Masaharu Morimoto's katsu in the cookbook "Mastering the Art of Japanese Home Cooking," are pounded and coated in panko for plenty of crunch. Prepare both components the day you want to eat them, giving yourself at least one extra hour for everything to cool before you assemble, so the sandwich stays crisp. You can also cook well in advance, and assemble the sandwiches the next day. Either way, cooling the chicken completely, on a wire rack, is crucial. If you prefer breast meat over thigh, feel free to swap it in.
Featured in: It’s a Plan: Grab Your Picnic Baskets and Entertain Outdoors
Learn: How to Make Fried Chicken
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 3cups/450 grams all-purpose flour
- 3tablespoons/37 grams baking powder
- 1tablespoon sugar
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- 7tablespoons/100 grams cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1½cups/360 milliliters whole milk
- 6boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- ¾cup/113 grams all-purpose flour
- 2teaspoons cayenne
- 2teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
- 3eggs
- 3cups/270 grams panko bread crumbs
- Canola or other neutral oil, for frying
- 10tablespoons/142 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 3tablespoons honey
- Hot sauce, a vinegary variety such as Crystal, to taste
- Sliced dill pickles, for serving
For the Biscuits
For the Chicken
For the Butter
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
1374 calories; 74 grams fat; 27 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 30 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 119 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 16 grams sugars; 57 grams protein; 1192 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
Step
1
Prepare the biscuits: In a bowl, use a fork to mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add butter and use the fork to mash it into the flour until the mixture resembles large, lumpy crumbs. Stir in milk until a dough comes together.
Step
2
Flour your hands, then gently gather and knead the dough in the bowl for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it springs back slightly to the touch. (If the dough is sticky, sprinkle additional flour as needed.) Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and rest dough in fridge for half hour.
Step
See AlsoToast Frittata Recipe on Food52Easy Quiche - Meaty, Cheesey, Easy and Low Carb RecipeOur 16 Best Fall Salad Recipes, Because Great Produce Is Still Out ThereHomemade Poppyco*ck Recipe - Noshing With the Nolands3
Heat oven to 425 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough to 1 to 1½ inch thickness. Use a floured knife or round cutter to cut 6 biscuits, about 3½ inches wide. Reroll the scraps and cut again as needed.
Step
4
Place biscuits on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they have puffed up and the tops are slightly golden. Let cool completely on a wired rack at room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container if not using until the next day.
Step
5
Prepare the chicken: Trim excess fat and any membranes from the meat, then lightly hammer the thickest parts of the thighs with a mallet or rolling pin. Season each side with salt.
Step
6
Mix flour, cayenne and salt in one wide bowl. Beat eggs in a second wide bowl, and place panko in a third. Dip each chicken thigh in flour, coating it all over and patting off the excess, then in egg, allowing extra egg to drip off, then in panko, making sure each thigh is entirely coated in bread crumbs, and using your hands to press loose crumbs into any places where they look scarce.
Step
7
In a large, heavy bottomed skillet, pour in oil to a 2-inch depth and heat to 350 degrees. Fry 2 thighs at a time, flipping them over every two minutes or so, until golden brown and crisp all over, about 8 minutes total. Transfer to a wire rack set over a paper towel-lined sheet pan and season lightly with salt. Let cool entirely at room temperature, at least 1 hour. At this point, you can assemble the sandwiches or transfer the rack to the fridge and leave the chicken uncovered overnight.
Step
8
Assemble the sandwiches: When both the chicken and biscuits have cooled (or the next day), mix together soft butter, honey and hot sauce until smooth. Cut open cooled biscuits, smear each cut side with honey butter, and sandwich with a piece of chicken. If traveling, loosely wrap each sandwich in a piece of parchment paper and pack side by side in a hard container, in a single layer, so the sandwiches aren’t crushed. Serve with additional hot sauce and pickles on the side.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,716
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Min.
Too much baking powder in those biscuits. Usually 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup of flour so that means you would need 3 to 4 1/2 teaspoons, not 3 tablespoons (that's 9 teaspoons!!!) for this recipe. Even better, skip adding salt and baking powder and do the
smart southern thing and use self-rising flour. Works like a charm. Use the sugar if you want, but that's unnecessary.
Violet
The out-comes were wonderful! But, why not prepare the chicken first so that it can thoroughly cool as the biscuits are prepared? I worked the recipe that way and it seemed to flow more efficiently.
JCC
I agreed with Min and reduced the baking powder to three teaspoons. Other than that, I followed the recipe. The sandwiches were spectacularly good. Shatteringly crisp and well-seasoned crust, tender and juicy chicken. The kneading of the biscuit dough indeed made them less tender, as intended in order to work as a sandwich roll. And the honey butter added a nice zing. I served them with watermelon basil salad, cole slaw and quick fridge pickles. My guests loved it.
Paul L
I agree with "Min." I have always used a 3 cup flour to 1 tablespoon powder ratio, sometimes a 3:1 1/2 ratio based on use. Ditto for recipes I've seen at Saveur and Fine Cooking. Even your recipe, A Master Recipe for Biscuits and Scones, NY Times, uses a 3:1 ratio.
Melissa
My mother made delicious fried chicken by frying it a little bit in oil then putting it on a rack over a cookie sheet in the oven and finishing cooking it that way. Less greasy, cooked and moist all the way through.
MrsProwler
No self-respecting Southerner puts sugar in biscuits OR cornbread!
Eric
Attn. NYT: Is there an option somewhere to print the introductory comments and/or Notes along with the recipe?I have not been able to find one, and sometimes it would be very useful.
jaycee
I usually cut the biscuits into squares or diamonds with a sharp slicing knife, after I've patted out the dough and trimmed off the ragged edges. Much quicker, and no one has ever said, "Hey, these biscuits aren't round!"
John Golden
I don't get why the NYT or its contributors can't get the grams/cups equivalent right. This happens often in NYT recipes. Case in point is the recipe here for biscuits with fried chicken. The recipe for the biscuit dough says to use 3 cups all-purpose flour or 450 grams equivalent. 1 cup of flour is generally 120 grams to 125 grams flour, depending on your source But here it's 150 grams. What gives???
Lorraine
I would have thought that went without saying. We're all adults here. You don't like red pepper? Leave it out. Me? I GOTTA add poultry seasoning to my chicken flour. No permission required. Adjust the seasoning as you like it.
Stephen
Fry chicken by frying it a little bit in oil then putting it on a rack over a cookie sheet in the oven and finishing cooking it that way. Less greasy, cooked and moist all the way through. Substitute breasts for thighs.
David Bertan
Other than truly essential ingredients (think chicken for fried chicken, etc), I view the seasonings as suggestions, not commandments. I've cooked tons of these recipes, and haven't yet seen any of the authors in my kitchen enforcing the use of listed ingredients. You don't like spicy chicken? Don't add the cayenne. Recipes are starting points for your own experiments. Play with them as you like.
Carlton
I think two teaspoons of baking powder and two teaspoons of sugar. I would also use buttermilk rather than whole milk. Buttermilk does something for biscuits that whole milk just can't do. By buttermilk, I don't mean adding vinegar or lemon to whole milk and waiting for it to curdle. I mean store bought buttermilk or if you're real lucky making your own from raw milk.
Carlton
Well my mom is from the south and she sure did. Matter of fact while I can tolerate a sugarless biscuit the same isn't true for cornbread.
Annie43221
One caveat: many of the self-rising flours are made with bleached flour, and the bleaching process removes most of the flavor and nutrients. If you want a self-rising flour, look for one made with unbleached flour. White Lily has begun offering one, as have other companies.
Brushjl
I've never understood why you would want extra bread work breaded chicken. Fried chicken is my guilty pleasure and I love it on its own. But this is a great fried chicken recipe, I didn't bother with the honey either.
Deb
I think people are getting mixed up w/the cup measurement. In the US and all over the world, there is a difference between a liquid cup measurement and a dry cup measurement. Dry cups, in metric measurements are in grams and liquid in milliliters. They aren’t interchangeable.
Julie
Try pink peppercorn butter on this too! Bobby Flay does a good recipe for this butter.
KR
Any recommendations for air frying that chicken? I think I might try it but I'm always bad at guessing temp and times.
Post cooking notes
Matthew loved this chicken. Could make is spicier
Alix Howell
I air fried the chicken and it was very good! Saved on oil, calories, and a messy cleanup. Also, I substituted mayonnaise for butter along with the honey and hot sauce.
Dianne
I followed the recipe for the chicken. It came out golden brown, crisp, and tender. The taste, however, was floury and bland. I shook of excess flour. What did I do wrong?
Rachel
Brined ck breasts 1/2 H2O, 1/2 pickle juice-fridge 30 mins. Pounded ~1/2” flat. APF w cayenne, paprika, garlic salt, 3T powd. sugar (sounds weird-works w this), black pepper. Then 2 eggs, ~1/2c milk, cayenne, garlic salt, Crystal. Panko cayenne, garlic salt. Ck sprinkled w table salt and in flour, egg, flour, egg, panko. Browned in skillet w 1/4” veg oil both sides. To wire rack on pan 425- 5 minButter and Biscuits as written but 9 squares- done in 15- ate room temp w pickle side- yummy!
audrey and august
The real star of this recipe is the chicken. We didn’t have time to make the biscuits so we just used take and bake rolls and made sandwiches. Delicious!
Kat
Use White Lily flour if you can get it. It’s a soft wheat, self-rising flour that makes superior biscuits, compared to all-purpose hard wheat flour that produces hockey pucks.
doubling
Same flour but double salt and 3 Chile morita 1 cayenne
Jill
Perfectly beautiful with 3 tablespoons of baking powder.
Jessica M
The chicken was fantastic, although time consuming to fry. I'm not sure why the recipe recommends cooking the day before though, as no matter how long you cool them before putting in the fridge, the crispiness will be lost. I popped in my convection oven for a few mins on 400 F to warm and crisp the leftovers.As sandwiches on biscuits, they were a bit dry for me. I would have had to put a lot of butter to get the necessary moisture. I baked 2 out of 6 biscuits and froze the rest before baking.
Sean Cairne
Sugar in biscuits makes them scones, nothing wrong with that.
Adele
If you are making these for a crowd, can you use a mixer with dough hook for the biscuits?
Private notes are only visible to you.
