What is the best way to reheat fried chicken?
Put a piece of fried chicken in the microwave and you’re going to get a tough inedible piece of breading with hard chicken! OR you’ll get a soggy breading with dried out meat or it won’t be evenly cooked. You want that perfect crunch like when it was freshly fried- not chicken jerky!
The best way to reheat fried chicken is a two-step process.
First- remove the leftover fried chicken from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. (As someone who is a little obsessed with food safety- less than an hour on the countertop and bringing it to a high temperature shouldn’t cause any issues. According to the FDA -perishable foods shouldn’t be left out for more than 2 hours)
While the chicken is coming to room temperature- preheat the oven to 400F. After 30 minutes, place the chicken on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet (this allows air flow and re-crisps the breading). Heat for 14- 18 minutes for breasts and 10-12 minutes for smaller pieces. (Don’t have a wire rack suitable for oven use? Place a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any drippings and place the chicken straight on the oven racks!)
I made boneless chicken cutlets this week and reheated them the same way- they were thin pieces and took about 12 minutes to get piping hot and crispy.
This gives perfectly hot – but moist- reheated fried chicken!
Thank you
I didn’t see a temperature for it.
“While the chicken is coming to room temperature- preheat the oven to 400F”
That’s the way I warmed up my $4.99 eight piece deal tonight but didn’t let it come up to room temp. Just took it out of the fridge and into the oven. It was crunchy and juicy and not greasy because the grease dripped on the sheet tray (which I covered in foil to make clean-up easy!).