I tried fried-chicken recipes from Guy Fieri, Ina Garten, and Alton Brown, and the best called for pickle juice and hot sauce (2024)

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Garten’s ingredient list was the shortest.

Although Garten's chicken recipe had the longest prep time (thanks to a buttermilk soak and two-step frying process), it had the simplest ingredient list.

I just needed chicken, buttermilk, salt, pepper, and oil for frying.

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I bathed the chicken in buttermilk overnight.

I cut two chickens into eight pieces as instructed, but if you're not up for dismembering a chicken, you can also purchase chicken breasts, drumsticks, thighs, or other cuts.

Because I needed to soak the cut chicken in buttermilk, I started this recipe the day before I planned to eat it.

I placed the chicken in a dish, covered it in buttermilk, sealed the container, and placed it in the fridge overnight.

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The flour mix for the breading was easy to prep.

After removing the dish from my fridge the next day, I combined flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl.

One by one, I took each piece of chicken out of the buttermilk and coated it in the simple flour mixture.

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Frying took two steps.

Next, I added oil to the bottom of a frying pan and set it to 360 degrees.

I gently placed each piece of prepped chicken in the frying pan for three minutes on each side before moving them to a metal rack on a sheet pan.

The frying process finished in the oven, so I set mine to 350 degrees and left the chicken in for 30 or 40 minutes.

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I think Garten’s chicken is best suited for large groups.

Garten's recipe is a good option for big groups. The flavor is muted — read: less polarizing — and it's a great base for a variety of sauces.

It was also pretty easy to make since most of the recipe time was spent waiting for the buttermilk to soak.

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Right away, Brown’s recipe was more involved.

Brown kicks up the spice with his chicken.

His ingredients include everything in Garten's recipe (except the ground black pepper), but he adds paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper to the dredging mixture.

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I also had to soak this chicken in buttermilk.

Like Garten's recipe, Brown also called for a buttermilk soak.

His instructions said to put the chicken pieces in a container, fill it with buttermilk, cover it, and refrigerate it for 12 to 24 hours.

Since I prepped both recipes together, I soaked mine overnight with Garten's for around 12 hours.

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Brown's recipe had a two-step dredging process.

After removing the dish from the fridge, I drain the buttermilk using a colander.

As it drained, I combined the spices in a separate bowl.

To dredge the chicken, I first seasoned it with the spice mixture and then coated it in a layer of flour.

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I fried the dredged chicken on the stovetop.

I added oil to a pan and raised the heat to 325 degrees.

Then I simply fried the chicken in small batches, cooking each piece until golden brown. This took about 10 to 12 minutes per side.

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The end result had a satisfyingly crisp exterior.

Brown's breading was a bit crispier, and the meat was equally moist as Garten's.

The buttermilk flavor was more noticeable here, which surprised me since I drained it before dredging the chicken.

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Fieri’s recipe had the most ingredients.

Fieri's fried-chicken recipe is kicked up a notch with dill salt — and was, admittedly, far more involved than the other two.

In addition to the chicken, his ingredients included buttermilk, pickle juice, hot sauce, fresh dill, garlic, onion powder, black pepper, flour, cornmeal, paprika, mustard powder, and oil.

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But it took less time to prep.

Unlike the other recipes, Fieri said to add the sauces and spices to the buttermilk and refrigerate everything for two to four hours.

It turned the buttermilk into a sort of brine for the chicken, which was intensified by the added pickle juice and hot sauce.

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I had to let the chicken rest a bit before frying.

Once the chicken was properly brined, I combined more onion powder, garlic, and black pepper with paprika, cornmeal, mustard powder, and flour in a bowl.

I dredged the chicken in the flour mixture, but then I had to let it set and rest for 20 to 30 minutes before frying.

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Like Brown, Fieri called for a simple stovetop fry.

When my oil was heated to 350 degrees in my skillet, I fried the chicken pieces for about seven to eight minutes per side.

Once everything was fried, I sprinkled each piece with dill salt I made from fresh dill, salt, and pepper.

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Fieri's chicken had the “wow factor" when it came to flavor.

Fieri isn't known as the Mayor of Flavortown for nothing. The pickle flavor and dill topping really made his chicken pop.

Allowing the flour mixture to set before frying also made the breading extra textured and crunchy.

Because the prep time was shorter, Fieri's recipe is also great if you're in a pinch.

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All three recipes were tasty, but Fieri’s flavors won me over.

I think double- or triple-dredging would've boosted the texture for all three recipes. But that didn't detract from the fact that each piece of chicken I made was juicy and tender.

Garten and Brown's recipes were very good, but they were a little less dynamic for the taste buds.

Fieri's dynamic chicken had a unique boost of flavor that tasted more like something I'd order out. It was the clear favorite and will be a new staple in my kitchen.

Click to check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.