There are many errors that can occur when deep-frying your chicken at home. How can you know that you have cooked a perfect chicken? Well, perfectly cooked chicken is light and crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside which is juicy all the way through! If it goes wrong, don’t worry because we have the best simple solutions to help you get that perfect chicken we all desire!
Undercooked meat? Check your oil temperature!
This problem may occur if your oil is too hot therefore causing the exterior of the chicken to cook more faster than the interior. With hot oil at a high temperature it may be quite tricky to get your fried foods to be just right. Your food could go from golden-brown to black in just a blink of an eye if you are not careful. The best way to fry your chicken is on a stovetop using any pan or wok. To know that your oil is the right temperature, it may be best to use a temperature probe. Turn on your stove to medium-high and place your temperature probe inside and await till it reaches the correct temperature preferably about 350° F or 175° C. Once it has reached this temperature, just turn down the heat to medium and place your chicken inside. AND ENJOY THE AMAZING AROMA OF CHICKEN!
Do not eyeball the oil temperature!
This is a very common mistake that many people do when cooking foods even if it be chips, doughnuts etc. Maintaining the correct temperature of oil is ESSENTIAL when wanting to cook foods. Some foods may need to be fried quicker than others. Fried chicken on the other hand needs to be cooked at quite a moderate cooking temperature to ensure that the meat is cooked all the way through and the exterior does not burn beforehand.
Once you have placed the chicken into the oil, it can affect the temperature of the oil and may drop dramatically as the chicken is cold, therefore ensuring that you are constantly checking the temperature of the oil is an ESSENTIAL! Preferably, let your chicken sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before placing it in the oil as freshly cold chicken could cause it to cook unevenly. Make sure you are not eyeballing it and keep adjusting the heat!
How to measure the chicken temperature during frying?
Your chicken may look crisp and golden on the outside but may not be cooked on the inside. Don’t rely on the visual cue to remove your chicken from the heat. The internal temperature of the chicken must be checked. Using a meat thermometer, place it in the thickest part of your chicken. Get a reading in 3 to 5 seconds. The correct temperature for the chicken to be at, to know it is cooked is 165 degrees F (75° Celsius). If you do not have a thermometer, an easy visual clue is that the juices from the chicken run clear and are not pink.
