Our copycat Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe is easy to make at home! Super crispy and juicy fried chicken on brioche buns with pickle chips smothered in a spicy sauce. These are delicious and 100% worth making!
After careful consideration, my husband and I finally did it – we tried the infamous Popeyes Chicken Sandwich.
This sandwich went completely viral when it first came out and basically sold out everywhere! I remember being shocked by seeing crazy lines out the door, driving by one of their locations.
After the crowds and lines finally died down, we gave them a try. We both thought the sandwich was really tasty and enjoyed the buttery brioche bun they used, but overall wished it was a little bigger, haha.
My favorite part of the fried chicken sandwich was the flavorful and crunchy breading, that actually didn’t taste greasy, as well as the juicy chicken that was perfectly cooked. The sandwich seemed easy enough to try and recreate so I decided to tackle it at home.
After a handful of tests in the kitchen, I ended up with a copycat Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe that I’m really happy with. It’s crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and finished with a simple spicy mayo with nice kick, salty pickles and a perfectly buttered and toasted brioche bun. Our Popeyes chicken sandwich recipe is fairly simple, don’t require any hard to find ingredients and are really delicious.
How to Make our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Process
- Pour buttermilk into a baking dish and add chicken breasts, turning to coat.
- Marinate chicken.
- In another baking dish combine flour, cornstarch, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Whisk together.
- Drizzle a couple spoonfuls of buttermilk from the baking dish with the chicken into the baking dish with the flour mixture and gently stir together.
- Season chicken breasts with salt and dredge into the flour mixture until fully coated.
- Shake off any excess coating and transfer to a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack.
- While breaded chicken sits, preheat some oil in a large skillet to 350˚F.
- Carefully slide each chicken breast into the hot oil and fry for several minutes. Gently flip each piece of chicken and continue frying until golden brown, crispy and cooked through.
- Transfer cooked chicken onto a clean baking sheet lined with a cooling rack. Season with salt.
- Combine mayo and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined.
- To assemble: Spread the spicy mayo on the tops and bottoms of each bun. Place pickles on top of the bottom bun and top with a piece of fried chicken. Place top buns over chicken and gently press. Serve immediately!
Making the Fried Chicken and Sauce Ahead of Time
Fried Chicken
While we prefer to make and eat this right away for the freshest experience, you can fry the chicken ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
When ready to reheat, place chicken pieces onto a cooling rack lined baking sheet and heat for 10 minutes in a oven preheated to 375˚F. The chicken won’t get quite as crisp from when they were first fried, but will still be delicious and full of flavor.
Sauce
The spicy mayo can be made up to 1 week ahead of time and can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator.
Tips and Tricks for our Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Recipe Success
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to regular dairy milk and allowing the mixture to sit for a minute.
- Add some cayenne pepper (1/4 to 1 teaspoon) to the flour mixture to really bump the heat up!
- Allow breaded chicken to sit out for 15 to 20 minutes. It will really help the flour coating to adhere to the chicken better and prevent the coating from falling off when fried. It will also help to dry the dredging mixture out, creating a crispier, crunchier coating once the chicken is fried.
- Although not necessary, I love swiping a small amount of mayo on the tops and bottom of each brioche bun and lightly toasting them, mayo side down, in a skillet. This creates a nice lightly toasted texture to the insides of each bun, while keeping the outside of the buns buttery and fluffy.
