Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of people make hot honey chicken. I made hot honey chicken strips a while ago, these videos that I keep seeing reminded me how good they were.
So I wanted to make another hot honey-ee thing, so I made hot honey chicken burgers!
THESE BURGERS WERE SO CRISPY, JUICY AND FLAVOURFUL. It has been 3 days since I made them, I haven’t stopped thinking about them.
Video Tutorial
Breakdown of the process
Making these is pretty simple, but there are a few different parts to it.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what you are going to need to do:
- Marinate your chicken breast – I prefer breasts for chicken burgers but thighs work too. It’s best to marinate them for at least an hour.
- Make your flour mixture – this was just plain flour, corn flour and some seasonings.
- Make your wet batter – this was made of eggs, flour and milk.
- Coat your chicken
- Fry the chicken
- Make the hot honey and add this to your chicken.
Then that is it, you can assemble your burgers and dig in!
The wet batter
There are so many different ways to make fried chicken burgers.
I feel like the most common way I see is people do it, is by marinating the chicken in a seasoned buttermilk mixture. Then they dip the chicken into seasoned flour, back into the buttermilk, and into the flour again.
This way works great, but I’ve found that when I do it, the flour coating ends up falling off the chicken after it has been fried.
So instead, I like to make a wet batter out of eggs, flour and milk.
When it comes to coating the chicken, I dip it in the flour, then the wet batter, then back into the flour. This gives you very crispy chicken and the coating sticks well to it.
This wet batter method changed the fried chicken burger game for me, I don’t know who came up with it, but I love it.
Corn flour or plain flour for the flour mixture?
I used a mixture of both.
Corn flour gives you much crispier chicken. But I feel like corn flour on it’s own doesn’t stick very well to the chicken, so that’s why I use a mixture of both.
If you didn’t have corn flour, you can just use plain/all purpose flour. They will still taste great, just maybe a little less crispy.
The seasonings
I just wanted to mention that you don’t need to use the same seasonings, or you don’t need use the same measurements of the seasonings I used.
Every time I make something savoury, I get asked if certain seasonings can be left out.
Make these burgers the way you like, the seasonings are just suggestions. You don’t need to follow them exactly!
Frying the chicken
When it comes to frying the chicken, you want to fry it in oil that is at 170c-180c. In my personal opinion, the best kind of oil to fry it in is vegetable oil.
You don’t need to use a thermometer if you don’t have one. The best way to check if the oil is ready is by cutting a small piece of your chicken, then add this into the oil.
If the chicken starts gently bubbling, the oil is ready. If it doesn’t bubble, the oil needs to be heated for longer.
If it is aggressively bubbling, the oil is too hot. Turn the heat off and let it cool down for a few minutes.
You want your chicken to be gently bubbling throughout the whole process!
How to know when the chicken is ready
A lot of recipes say that your chicken is done once the internal temperature reaches 75c/165f.
My question is….who has a meat thermometer ???
Maybe I’m wrong but I feel like that’s not a thing people casually have lying around.
I fried my chicken for around 3-4 minutes on each side. But this time varies depending on the size and thickness of your chicken.
I feel like the best way to know if they’re done is by cooking them until they’re golden and crispy. Then cut into one to check if it is fully cooked, if it is pink ABORT MISSION, put it back into oil.
But if your oil isn’t too hot, by the time the chicken is crispy on the outside, the inside should be done.
This test will give you an idea on how long the rest of the chicken needs to be cooked for.
The hot honey
There is also a lot of different ways to make hot honey. But essentially you just need honey and….something hot.
The last time I made hot honey, I just used honey, ground cayenne pepper and some chilli flakes. This time I added a few other things to make it a little nicer.
Here’s what you will need to make the hot honey:
- Honey
- Hot sauce – use whatever hot sauce you want
- Butter
- Ground cayenne pepper
- Chilli flakes
Make this hot honey to taste, if you are using a hot sauce that is extremely spicy, you might not need to add the cayenne pepper and chilli flakes.
I uses the Nando’s hot sauce, it was the only one I had in the moment. It’s not the spiciest, so I added the cayenne pepper and chilli flakes for an extra kick.
But it is up to you, again make it to taste!
Don’t dip the chicken into the hot honey
Ok don’t is a bit of a strong word. You can dip it if you want.
But I’ve learnt that adding the hot honey to the chicken with a pastry brush is better because it maintains the crispiness. If you don’t have a pastry brush, you can spoon it on instead.
But it is up to you, if you want the chicken to be saucier you can dip it. They will just end up slightly less crispy!
Here are a few other recipes I think you need to try:
Hot Honey
Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts, slightly pounded (boneless thighs work too)
- For the marinade:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
- For the flour mixutre:
200g plain flour
100g corn flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
- For the batter:
2 eggs
200g plain flour
200ml milk
- For the hot honey:
200g honey
50g any hot sauce
50g unsalted butter
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- Extras:
Vegetable oil, to fry the chicken
Spicy mayo, or whatever sauce you want
Some lettuce
Directions
- Marinating the chicken:
- In a bowl, add the chicken, olive oil, lemon juice and all of the seasonings. Mix all this together then cover and leave in the fridge to marinate. Ideally you want to leave it for at least 1 hour. I only waited 20 minutes but 1 hour is better.
- The flour mixture:
- In a bowl, add the flour, corn flour and the seasonings. Whisk all this together then leave aside until you're ready to use it.
- The wet batter:
- In another bowl, add the eggs, flour and milk. Whisk until combined.
- Coating the chicken:
- Once your chicken has marinated, you can coat it.
- Dip a chicken breast into the flour, shake off the excess, then dip it into the wet batter. Now place it back into the flour. When dipping the chicken into the flour, firmly press the flour onto the chicken, so that it sticks well.
- Shake off the excess and leave this on a wire rack whiles you coast the rest of the chicken.
- Frying the chicken:
- You want to fry the chicken in oil that is around 170c-180c. The timing depends on the thickness of your chicken breasts, I fried mine for around 3-4 minutes on each side. If you are unsure if they are done, you could cut into one to see if it is fully cooked.
- Once fried, leave them on a wire rack.
- Making the hot honey:
- In a pot, add the honey, hot sauce, butter, chilli flakes and cayenne pepper. Place this on medium heat and heat until the butter has melted and it comes to a boil. Let it boil for about 30 seconds then take it off the heat.
- Brush this onto both sides of your fried chicken.
- Now just assemble your burgers. I toasted my buns then added some spicy mayo, the chicken and some lettuce. Enjoy!
