Are These The 'Secret' Spices You Need For Copycat KFC At Home?

The hunt for KFC's secret spice vault could be a title for the next Indiana Jones movie, such is the mystery around its fried chicken recipe. So, if you've tried and failed to create a Kentucky Fried Chicken copycat at home, you're not alone. In truth, even the KFC head chef doesn't know the recipe. It is believed to be locked in a vault at the company headquarters in Louisville, with a copy kept under heavy protection in Sweden. So when a handwritten recipe shared by Colonel Harland Sanders' nephew, Joe Ledington of Kentucky, landed at the door of the Chicago Tribune, it took curiosity levels beyond the measuring meter.

The note lists 11 ingredients, the so-called "secret spices," which Ledington told the Tribune he used to blend for his uncle: salt, thyme, basil, oregano, celery salt, black pepper, dried mustard, paprika, garlic salt, ginger, and white pepper. However, KFC has refuted the claims and said no published recipe has ever gotten it right. But is it really so impossible for the handwritten note to be the real deal, especially when the original recipe was reportedly stuck on the door of the chain's first diner for everyone's taking? 

The Tribune decided to try the recipe to see if the claims fit the bill. The conclusion was an uncanny similarity to the original, but only after they added a missing ingredient: MSG.

Though the recipe that Ledington said he found in a scrapbook belonging to Colonel Sanders' second wife doesn't mention MSG as one of the missing pieces of the puzzle, KFC adds it to a bunch of its items, including its Original Recipe fried chicken. Whether you want to add or leave it out of your homemade KFC bucket is up to you. What's crucial, however, is getting the ratio of each spice just right. 

The handwritten note calls for ⅔ tablespoon salt, ½ tablespoon thyme, ½ tablespoon basil, ⅓ tablespoon oregano, 1 tablespoon celery salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried mustard, 4 tablespoons paprika, 2 tablespoons garlic salt, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, and 3 tablespoons white pepper — all mixed into two cups of white flour. To bring it all together, you can soak the chicken in a buttermilk and egg mixture for a few minutes, then dredge each piece thoroughly in the seasoned flour. Let the chicken rest briefly so the coating sticks, then fry until you achieve that crispy, golden finish.

Before you get your hopes up, it's worth knowing that KFC uses pressure fryers to cook its famous fried chicken, a rarity in residential kitchens. So don't expect an exact match in flavor or texture. Close enough should be good enough. So, does this mean we've finally cracked the secret KFC code? Maybe. Or maybe not. Perhaps that mystery can only be revealed by KFC itself.