Whenever we visit my grandparents in Queens, it’s all about where to go for lunch. Soup dumplings at Nan Xiang Dumpling House, Malaysian curry noodle soup at the hole-in-the-wall place I can’t actually remember the name of, cumin lamb noodles at Xi’An Famous Foods, or a trip to the food court in the New World Mall in Flushing, NY.
Sometimes, though, we keep things simple. My grandma, like most sensible people, loves fried chicken. And though she doesn’t have it often, there’s a street stall that makes some really awesome five spice fried chicken that she likes to splurge on every now and then. We gave it our best shot to recreate it here, and I’d say we did a pretty kickass job of it. This is actually our second fried chicken recipe. We have an awesome Xinjiang Spiced Fried Chicken recipe here, inspired by an epic street stall near our apartment in Beijing, China.
Here’s what you’ll need for this tasty five spice fried chicken recipe:
- 12 chicken legs
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon five-spice powder, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 ½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
Rinse your chicken legs under cold running water. Put them in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and half of the five-spice powder.
In a medium bowl, whisk together your 2 eggs and tablespoon of water. Add to the chicken, and toss everything together.
In shallow baking dish, stir together the flour, baking powder, white pepper, and the other half of the five spice powder. Fill a cast iron skillet slightly less than halfway with oil, and heat to 360 degrees (use a thermometer).
Take each drumstick and allow the excess egg to drip off. Thoroughly coat in the flour mixture, and shake off any excess.
Lay them in the oil, four at a time. You cook these five spice fried chicken drumsticks just like you do in a good southern fried chicken recipe.
Fry each batch of chicken for 14 minutes, maintaining a temperature of 350 degrees (the oil will cool right down when you add the chicken), and flipping them about halfway through, until crispy and golden brown.
Serve these five spice fried chicken drumsticks however you like it! We love it as a meal with some white rice but you can just grab a drumstick and run!
- 12 chicken legs
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon five-spice powder, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 ½ cups (190g) all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- peanut or vegetable oil, for frying
- Rinse your chicken legs under cold running water. Put them in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and half of the five-spice powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together your 2 eggs and tablespoon of water. Add to the chicken, and toss everything together.
- In shallow baking dish, stir together the flour, baking powder, white pepper, and the other half of the five spice powder. Fill a cast iron skillet slightly less than halfway with oil, and heat to 360 degrees.
- Take each drumstick and allow the excess egg to drip off. Thoroughly coat in the flour mixture, and shake off any excess. Lay them in the oil, four at a time.
- Fry each batch of chicken for 14 minutes, maintaining a temperature of 350 degrees (the oil will cool right down when you add the chicken), and flipping them about halfway through, until crispy and golden brown. Serve!
Betty says
Can you use an air fryer to “fry” the drumsticks?
Judy says
Hi Betty, we have not invested in a air fryer yet.
Alice says
I tried this with an air fryer at 390’ for 12-15 minutes (flipping over midway) and it came out quite good. The nice thing about an air fryer is you can crisp up any leftovers the next day…if there’s any leftovers!
Sarah says
Hi Alice, love the idea of putting this in an air fryer. I’ve never used one, but I have friends and family who swear by it!
Jay Horton says
How do your drumsticks get that beautiful red color? All the 5-spice I can find is brown and my chicken comes out brown?
Sarah says
Hey Jay, our chicken was more of a golden brown than red. Could have just been the lighting when we took the photos. :)
Shawn says
Ive noticed that chinese recipes that have gingerroot and wine are not the chicken wings I get at the neighborhood. Chinese resturant.Its recipes like this simple ,quick and easy are the realistic version. Unless you go to Buddakhan in Ny.But thank you for keeping it real.
Marko says
https://thewoksoflife.com/2015/04/fried-chicken-wings-takeout-style/
Bill says
Hi Shawn, there are so many variations out there for different restaurants. There really isn’t a standard, but we do like to keep recipes simple whenever possible! Check out our takeout style wings in Marko’s response as well. Those are more along the lines of your everyday takeout restaurant although results do vary as well ;-)
Anthony says
Can you use like Panko/Breadcrumbs for a coating instead of the flour mix? Or is better to use the flour mixture?
Sarah says
Hey Anthony, flour is definitely better than breadcrumbs or panko for this recipe!
Lindsay says
What should you do to keep the oil hot? If it cools so fast when you add the chicken should you have it at a higher temp before you add the chicken? And then increase the heat of the burner to get the oil back to 350 ASAP or just keep the burner at the same level?
Appreciate your guidance as i have not had much success deep frying in the past :) Thanks!
Bill says
Hi Lindsay, the art of frying does take a little practice. First and foremost, you should take let the chicken come up to room temperature so you;re not putting cold chicken into the hot oil. It cools down the oil and you may get raw chicken near the bone even with a crispy and worse, yet, overdone outside. If you are making a large batch, using more oil will help matters but I like using a smaller deep pot with a thick bottom to save oil. Fry in small batches of 3 or 4 pieces and add them one at a time. You can increase the heat initially to keep the temperature up but be sure you move the chicken so it does not burn on one side. Keep an eye on the oil temperature and use a trusty thermometer – it is one of the best tools you can buy!