I Ate Fried Chicken From EVERY Country

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Today we are taking a trip around the world to find the BEST fried chicken on Earth. From secret ingredients to techniques I’ve never seen before… these fried chicken recipes get crazy!
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FILMED BY
Sophia Greb https://www.youtube.com/c/SophiaGreb
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Today, we’re cooking the 10 best fried chicken recipes in the world. From flavor bombs perfected over generations, this is my kind of fried chicken. To vibrant Taiwanese street food night markets, globe to techniques so wild they challenge everything I thought I knew about flavor. It might be the best sauce in the world. This fried chicken journey stretches across the globe to answer humanity’s most important question. What is the greatest fried chicken on Earth? Starting off with our 10th most popular in a trip to Thailand. This is genuinely the craziest fried chicken recipe I’ve ever seen. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, fried pandan leaf chicken might be 10th on this list. But based on what I’m seeing with this flavor combination, I have a feeling it’ll rank extremely high. Just deboning the thighs and removing the skin like so, leaving us with these perfect clean thighs that will cube up. And it’s time for our first layer of flavor. To the chicken, we add some ginger and garlic paste along with salt. Getting it nicely mixed up. While that sits, let’s make our paste. These are some of my all-time favorite fresh ingredients supplemented with some iconic Thai chili peppers. And now we just grind it up. Just super aromatic. It already smells so good. Thinning it out with soy, oyster sauce, sesame, white pepper, and salt along with some genuine imported Thai palm sugar. Never seen sugar packaged like this in my entire life. It’s almost like little half circles. You already know I’m letting those intrusive thoughts win today. Looks kind of good. Tastes like sugar. Pretty fire though. Ooh, more like brown sugar. It has like a molasses component. M. That’s insane. And finally, a bit of corn starch. One final mix. And the smell of this paste is just out of control. We’ll add this paste to our chicken. This is quite easily shaping up to be the most flavorful fried chicken I’ve ever made. And we’ll let this marinate for a few hours. Okay, we are fully marinated. But just wait until you see our next ingredient. These are called pandan leaves. Native to Southeast Asia, their fragrant essence is often used to flavor rice or make desserts. But in this recipe, they add some crazy cool presentation on top of just flavor. We add the chicken to the pocket like so. Then, almost like you’re tying a tie, you kind of secure the chicken in there so it’s nice and snug. I mean, you can’t tell me this army of pondan leaf chicken doesn’t look epic. And to cook, introducing the Chick Blaster 3000. Are you tired of greasy hands, soggy skin, and emotional damage from undercooked chicken? Have no fear. The Chick Blaster 3000 is here. with patented Blasto Fry technology delivering restaurant quality crispiness in seconds. Buy now for 100 easy payments of $1.99. Side effects may include minor burns, small kitchen fires, and increased cholesterol. Chicken and oil sold separately. With that, let’s fry. I’m very interested to see how the chicken and leaves interact with the oil and if the leaves actually infuse with any flavor. Just like that, they should be done. And I have to say, visually, they look unreal. They weren’t breaded, but the exposed chicken has developed great color with no burning. I can’t lie, I am dying to see how fried chicken number one tastes. Everybody, grab your chicken pocket. Wow, they’re so cute. I will say I’m pretty impressed that we got this to work. Smells awesome. Dip if you dare. This is my kind of fried chicken cuz it’s not too rich. The pandan leaf gives it an herbal flavor that’s so nice. Like sometimes we’ll cook with banana leaves and different things and it’s just so in your face. This one is just so well balanced. I think I like it more. It’s like a fresh tasting fried chicken which I think is hard to achieve. There’s also a little kick and you really get those flavors from the marinade and the presentation was just freaking adorable. I think Thai fried chicken is going to rank extremely high. Starting off extremely hot. For our ninth most popular, we’re heading over to Nigeria. It’s Suya chicken. And this one is all about the seasoning. Got to go for a little taste here. Oh. Oh, it’s spicy. It tastes like peanuts. First ingredient is roasted peanut. Super flavorful. I think it’ll be good on chicken. A little too spicy on its own. Suya spice is a staple flavor originally from North Nigeria and commonly used in street food as well as fried chicken, so I’m going heavy. Now, we’ll assemble the brine. Keeping it simple with just buttermilk, which will keep this nice and juicy. and we’ll let it brine overnight. Okay, we are fully brined. Let’s assemble the dredge. We’ll need some flour and of course some more of that suya spice. Getting that all combined. We’ll go in with the chicken. Patting that suya seasoned flour in for texture and into the fryer until cooked through and perfectly crispy. I mean, you can’t tell me that doesn’t look like the perfect piece of fried chicken. Finishing with a bit more of that suya spice. It’s time to taste fried chicken number two. All right, guys. Nigerian Suya fried chicken. What does it smell like? It’s like spicy peanut butter or something. Yeah. Wo. Great crisp. Flavor is so unique. I got a positive and a negative here. I think the positive that seasoning is awesome. Like peanuty and savory and a little bit sweet. Better than American fried chicken. The negative is I don’t really like American fried chicken. So, all in all, it’s just a little bit better than that for me. It’s not my favorite, but I would eat this again. It’s just so different. I’m like confused. Hey, twins. Twins. Kyle, what is that score? I know this seems low, but I feel like if five is the average best fried chicken in the world, this is a little bit below that. That’s fair. Next up, we’re heading all the way to Taiwan with the coolest looking fried chicken street food I’ve ever seen called Gpie. This past week, I was actually traveling in Taiwan. So, made sure to try some of this authentic Taiwanese fried chicken. And I have to say, it was absolutely next level. So good. Let’s see if our homemade version is even remotely as good. Gpie requires relatively thin chicken breasts, but it’s still one massive piece. So, the key is butterflying like so without cutting all the way through and then butterflying again to open up the chicken breast completely for as much surface area as possible. Gently pounding it out to get it even thinner and more even. This should be perfect. And let’s assemble the marinade. Salt, some fivespice, some sugar, some rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and a bit of water. In with the chicken. It nice and coated. Let that marinade for about 30 minutes. While that marinates, this one has a very unique dredge. This is Taiwanese potato starch. typically used to thicken sauces, but it also leads to a very distinctive crunch you don’t normally see with fried chicken. To that, we’ll add some cornstarch and mix it up. Just feeling it. It has such a different texture than normal all-purpose flour. It’s almost like grainy. Before we fry, time to add an egg. Just mixing that into the chicken. Then we’ll drop that into the starch mixture, being very gentle to maintain the shape, but still packing it into all the crevices and into the oil. This is thin, so keeping the heat high to get crispy before it overcooks. And this is the color we’re looking for. Finishing with a very distinctive Asian spice blend right over the top while it’s still hot. It has such a unique looking crust. Slightly more pale than American fried chicken, but still very crispy. A bit of lemon over the top and some nice thin slices. Let’s see how this tastes. Taiwanese fried chicken smells very different. This one’s good. And there’s a very distinct flavor in it, but also the chili powder. They make it spicy, too. It’s a nice combo. Very unique crust situation. Completely different than the Nigeria. You can see how everything about it from the look to the crisp. It’s a very unique exterior. I don’t know if it’s better or worse, though. You know what I mean? It’s almost like brainy. It reminds me of like popcorn chicken because of how fine the granules are and like how small popcorn chicken is. I really like this. Pretty solid. For our seventh most popular, we’ve made it to Brazil. I had no idea Brazil had fried chicken, much less being in the top 10 most popular. But either way, we’re making Franco a pasarinho. I am very sorry for that pronunciation, but either way, it requires some chopped bone in chicken. These pieces should be perfect, and we’ll get it all into a bowl. Next up, we’ll need some lime. We’re essentially making a brine that starts with quite a bit of lime juice. To that, we’ll add a bunch of crushed garlic, some parsley, salt, peppercorns, and we’ll finish by covering in the buttermilk. And we’ll just give this a really good mix. And we’ll marinate overnight. And just like that, we are fully marinated. Time to cook. We’ll get our chicken on some paper towels to kind of dry it off. And now we’re just going to dust with our flour that we’ve mixed with a bit of cornstarch. Now we’ll move over to the pan. This is a surprising step here, but we’re actually searing some slices of lime. Essentially seasoning the oil with those flavors. I have to say, I have never fried up limes before, but they smell absolutely amazing. Smells like key lime pie. Next, we’ll add in a bunch of garlic, further flavoring the oil until they’re nice and crispy. At this point, our pan is beautifully seasoned. Just add in some more oil. And it is finally time to fry this chicken. The pasty exterior on this chicken seems to be frying up really nicely. And this is the color we’re looking for. Easily the most unique looking fried chicken dish I’ve ever seen. It is a hugely popular bar snack. So, serving alongside a cold one with lime wedges and crispy garlic over the top. I am extremely excited to give this one a shot. This one looks crazy. Seared limes. You ever see seared limes, Kyle? Yeah. They’re right here. Dude, I’ve read some comments online about this not being super flavorful. It is a flavor bomb of garlic and lime. Compact with flavor. I’m loving it. I love this for all the other flavors, but there is a really, really, really strong garlic flavor. It’s close to being too garlicky, but not there yet for me. It’s not super breaded, and for me, that just hits the spot. To me, this is perfect bar food. It’ll probably give you terrible breath with all the garlic, but flavor-wise, I mean, it is on point. Woah, that might be the biggest delta. Wow, that’s crazy. If you like garlic, you’ll love it. We’ve made it to our sixth most popular, but perhaps the most interesting preparation of the day, Indonesian fried chicken. And the cooking method on this one is completely different than what I’ve typically seen with fried chicken. It’s called nasi ayam cremes. And our broken down chicken starts in a cold pot. Next, we add a very special Indonesian yellow spice paste along with ginger slices, bay leaves, and crushed lemongrass. And now we just cover in water, slowly bringing that up to a simmer. Remember, yes, this will eventually become fried chicken. We just need to trust the process. Once cooked, they go into a container with all that broth thrown right over the top to reabsorb those flavors. And we’ll let this completely cool down in the fridge. Okay, we’ve let it sit overnight. And this is what it’s looking like. And this next step is very interesting. We’re basically adding some of that broth to a bowl. Adding in an egg yolk, then some tapioca flour and rice flour. Just progressively covering myself with more and more flour. That’s the beauty of a black shirt. You know, it really just exemplifies flour. We’ll give it a mix. And as you can see, it’s now slightly thickened. Time to fry. From here, believe it or not, we now spoon that mixture into the hot oil. What we’ve made is what I’m calling a deep fried chicken broth pancake situation that we’ll reserve on the side. I mean, this thing looks wild. And now we finally get to fry this chicken. No breading on the chicken itself. And keep in mind, this is already precooked, so really just heating through and achieving this nice golden brown color. Plated with an array of Indonesian sides and sauces. That crispy chicken broth pancake situation is then crushed over the top for added texture and flavor. I really thought that last Brazilian fried chicken recipe was the most unique I’d ever see, but honestly, I think this one takes the cake. I get a lot of crunch and then as you chew, you get a really deep like curry or lemongrass or like something in the meat, which is really nice. But I wish I got that a lot sooner in the bite. I can see that it does have a pretty subtle flavor, but it is deep in there. For me, I’m really not loving the crunchy stuff on top. I was super excited about it. It’s almost like deconstructed breaded fried chicken. Like the breading is cooked afterwards, which is kind of crazy, but for me, it’s just a little too oily. I like the chicken flavor. I like sambal, but there’s not one piece of this dish that I just love. I agree. It’s a like not love situation. You really went that low. The flavor was just a little too subtle. Beyond just chicken, I work with a lot of meat, which means my knives take a beating. So, I need knives that won’t let me down. That’s when I ditch the fancy stuff and use Dow Strong’s Gladiator Series. No nonsense, hefty, and extremely durable. For knives this tough, they’re still razor sharp. Clean slices, zero struggle. From everyday prep to specialized blades to heavyduty butcher tools, there’s a Gladiator for every job. Shout out to Dalstrong. Check them out below. For our fifth most popular, we’ve made it to China. When you think of fried chicken, China might not be the first country that comes to mind. But just wait until you learn about this dish called lads or mala chicken. We’ll slice up our boneless thighs into bite-sized pieces like this. And it’s time to marinate. Ginger, green onion, soy sauce, shaing cooking wine, salt, onion powder, and mix. Letting it marinate for only about half an hour. And this one’s going to require a double fry. Just removing out all those vegetables. And time for our first fry. The slightly lower oil temp on this first fry should keep the chicken nice and juicy. It’s been a few minutes, so I’ll just carefully remove. We’ll crank the temp now. Back in for a final fry to get crispy. And that’s the color we’re looking for. Okay, with most of that oil removed, we’ll throw in the garlic, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns. Next up, we’ll need a whole bunch of red chilies. And I mean a lot. We’ll add back in the chicken, a touch of soy sauce, some shaine cooking wine, and a pinch of sugar. We’ll finish with some green onion, and sesame seeds. Getting that all tossed up. The Sichuan peppercorns and all of those chilies should be the star of the show. Let’s see how this one compares. This one brings back all sorts of memories. I love that. I think the most distinctive part is the Sichuan peppercorns. That numbing flavor you get in your mouth. Something else I’m realizing here, all the dishes today are like so incredibly different. I was kind of worried that each one would just look like KFC or something. It’s just crazy how different each culture does fried chicken. I always think fried chicken has to have breading, but this is fried chicken with no breading. And this is one of my favorites of the day. I used to hate this one when I first went to China. Over the years, I started loving it. It is an acquired taste, but once it’s acquired, you’ll love it. Wow, that is very high. I don’t know. For me, that first one was still far superior. I love this. For our fourth most popular, we’ve made it to India with Chicken 65. There’s a variety of theories as to the origin of the name chicken 65, but based on my one and only experience eating it, what I can tell you for sure is that it is absolutely delicious. Our sliced chicken thighs get thrown into a bowl with yogurt and garlic ginger paste. Next up, we have an extremely cool ingredient. These are fresh curry leaves. They have this amazing like fresh smell to them. Can I eat them raw? That is just insane. so much flavor. I honestly had no idea fresh curry came in leaf form, but either way, I’m extremely excited to try cooking with them. From here, we add a somewhat extensive assortment of Indian spices, plus some salt and black pepper. And we’ll give it a mix. That might be the best smelling of the day. We’ve let it marinate for a couple hours and now we’re actually going to add our starch directly into the bowl, giving it this almost pasty exterior that’s still slightly moist at this stage. Let’s fry. Wow, very quickly achieving this nice golden color with those beautiful specks of curry leaves throughout. I mean, it just looks so flavorful. Now, it’s time for the magic. To hot oil, we add green chilies, ginger and garlic paste, more chili powder, and curry leaves to get crispy. Finally, adding back in the fried chicken to toss with all those flavors. And there we have it. Chicken 65. So much texture, color, and flavor with lemon over the top. Needless to say, I’m ready for a bite. Dude, wow. I think we might have turned a corner here, guys. That is the most powerful flavor of the day by far. Those leaves are so flavorful. I genuinely think it is between savory, spicy, they’re maxed out, and it’s insanely good. That is by far my favorite with this one. You get a kick, you get a crispiness, you get that chicken. India, you are doing something right. I hadn’t even heard of this dish before. It’s unbelievable. Let us know down in the comments, especially if you’re from India, cuz this right here honestly might be my new favorite dish of all time. This might be the most shocking score ever for a dish that we like never heard of. Yeah, we have made it to our third most popular and a trip to Japan with Karag chicken. Not super surprised Japan made it on this list, though. Karag chicken is a dish I’ve never actually tried done right. But either way, it starts with these bite-sized boneless thighs. And let’s assemble the marinade. Bit of soy sauce, a bit of sake, just a splash of mirin, some freshly grated ginger, some garlic, and we’ll give it a good mix. It already smells amazing. Now, for the dredge, we’ll very specifically need potato starch. Our chicken is beautifully marinated. We’ll get that into the starch and into the oil for the first fry. As you can see, the color is still very much not dark and crispy. This first step was just to bring it up to temp. We’ll crank the heat and in for the second fry. And this color is a lot more like it. Served with a special chicken kurag sauce. I have to say a very simple cooking process, especially compared to what came before. But sometimes simplicity reigns supreme. So let’s see. Chicken kurag. It’s better than say like American fried chicken. But it’s lacking that depth of flavor. I can totally see how this is a Japanese dish. It’s very simple. It really brings out the flavor of the chicken. Clean, nice tasting, but not an overwhelming like flavor bomb. Kind of like we had with the Indian. Definitely not my favorite. I want something a little bit more flavorful. I thought it was just below average, but definitely not bad. We’ve made it to the second most popular, but quite possibly the most iconic Korean fried chicken. So, if you guys have watched the channel, you know I’m a super fan of Korean food, and their fried chicken is no different. And you’re about to see why. Kyle, chances I can split this bird right down the middle first try. I have complete faith in Max. Wait a minute. Something ain’t right. Seriously? No. Were you trying to go that far this time? I didn’t want to break the cutting board. First try. With our chicken broken down, let’s move on. Time for a super simple marinade. We’ll add some rice wine, fresh ginger, salt, and black pepper. That’s it. Time to fry. And for this one, all it takes is some potato starch. We’ll gently add in the marinated chicken, packing it in and shaking off the excess. And into the oil. This is another double fry situation. So, we remove and let them sit to cool slightly. Okay, now this is the key. Time for the second fry. And just check out that color and crispiness we’ve achieved due to the double fry process and that potato starch coating. But with this one, it’s all about the sauce. This sweet and spicy combination of flavors is truly magical. This sauce is also super easy to make. So, if you take away one thing from this video, it’s that you need to try making Korean fried chicken sauce at home. You can literally put it on anything. That excessively crispy double fried chicken goes into a bowl, baptized in that mouthwatering sauce, and toss. Each piece should be perfectly glazed while remaining crispy. Finishing with some greens and sesame seeds. Let’s find out if Korean fried chicken is as good as I remember it. And this one is always a banger. You just can’t beat that sauce. It’s so good. It’s sweet. It’s salty. It’s a little spicy. It might be the best sauce in the world. It reminds me of that depth of flavor that we had on the Indian marinade. I could eat this every day. This is going to be a very tough one for me cuz the Indian was absolutely phenomenal. But this one will just always have a soft spot in my heart. I mean, it’s sticky, it’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s just so good. genuinely don’t think you can make a better sauce for fried chicken, but I don’t know if it has like that X factor. The Indian one just shocked me. It blew me away. I’m torn. You have to rank based on which one tastes better. No, don’t tell me what to do. I know my score. Wow. So far, the best of the day. We have made it to the world’s most popular fried chicken. Let’s see if it lives up to the hype. What we are of course making is Americanstyle southern fried chicken. When I think of fried chicken, this is what immediately comes to mind. And we’ll give it a nice preseason. It’s all about that buttermilk brine. To the buttermilk, we’re of course adding some Crystal Hot sauce for a little kick. And in with the chicken. This step is what keeps the chicken super tender and juicy. And we’ll let this sit in the fridge overnight. Okay, we are fully brined. Let’s make the dredge. The key here is using a combination of allpurpose and corn starch for extra crispiness as well as heavily seasoning that mixture. Our chicken goes into the flour. With these big pieces, it’s absolutely critical to get it fully coated and packed in and into the oil to fry. Did I overcrowd the Chick Blaster 3000? Yes, I absolutely did. However, we’re still left with some stunning looking southern fried chicken. Finishing with some salt immediately as they come out. And that right there is a plate of heaven. All right, guys. We have made it to the one and only American Southern Fried Chicken. Is it worth the hype? I mean, whether you like it or not, that right there tastes exactly like KFC. That fried chicken flavor, it’s so pure with this one. I just miss those other flavors that we got from India, Taiwan, Korea. If you like normal fried chicken, this is a 10 out of 10 fried chicken. That crust is insane, but it’s just below the Nigeria one. I kind of agree. At the end of the day, it’s just basic. Honestly, surprisingly low scores. There it is, guys. What it means is Korea is our winner of the day. Thank you all so much for watching. I really hope you enjoyed the video. If you’re interested in supporting the channel, please check out maxjerky.com. We have all sorts of brand new flavors. We appreciate the support and we’ll see you next time.