FEMAIL cooked home-made KFC chicken after 'secret recipe' was revealed (2024)

• Top-secret formula was supposedly found by Colonel Sanders' nephew
• Joanne Gould, 31, from London, put it to the test
• She followed formula exactly and then compared it to chicken from KFC
• Joanne believes the 'secret' recipe is genuine as flavour is the same
• But KFC owners Yum! Brands denies formula is the real deal

It’s been a closely guarded family secret for decades, but it looks like the Colonel’s famous fried chicken recipe could finally be out of the bag.

The formula for KFC’s globally successful Original Recipe Kentucky fried chicken is believed to have been discovered by Colonel Sanders' nephew, revealing the entrepreneur's top-secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.

The current owner of KFC, Yum! Brands, has disputed the discovery, but many now believe this to be the original secret recipe still used today in the fast food chain.

To find out, expectant mother Joanne Gould, 31, put the family recipe to the test for FEMAIL...

Scroll down for full recipe

THE PROCESS

The famous recipe is said to have been kept in a vault since the 1940s, but now Joe Ledington, a nephew by marriage of Colonel Sanders, claims to have a handwritten copy of the original.

It was found in a scrapbook which was owned by Sanders’ second wife, Claudia Sanders, according to The Chicago Tribune.

There’s a plethora of fried chicken recipes out there - and many of them attempt to replicate the famous KFC style - but up until now I’ve not been hugely impressed so I’m excited to try this, potentially, original version.

I’m surprised at some of the ingredients and would never have guessed at including things like ground ginger, dried basil or such a large amount of paprika – whilst other spices are fairly obvious, like dried oregano, garlic salt and mustard powder.

After mixing the herbs and spices with flour in one bowl, I combine the buttermilk and egg in another.

I then soak the chicken – a mix of wings, thighs, drumsticks and breasts, halved – in this gloopy mix for 30 minutes before shaking off the excess batter.

Now it’s time to coat the chicken in the spice mix, which is a bit of a messy business. I leave the chicken to rest again for another 20 minutes or so on a wire rack.

Using a large, high sided pan, I heat the canola oil to a specific 350F (about 175C) temperature.

There’s quite a bit of oil, so this takes a while, but then the first batch of chicken is ready to go in and be fried for around 15 minutes.

The chicken pieces need to be cooked in batches of three or four so as not to overcrowd the pan, so it takes a fair amount of time to get through my 10 pieces.

Each one is then drained on kitchen towel to remove excess oil – and that’s it.

It certainly looks the part, with a far more impressive crispy coating than I’ve ever managed myself.

I think my chicken is perhaps a tad overdone too (I couldn’t get hold of a frying thermometer to monitor the temperature of the oil) but, regardless, I can’t wait to eat it and compare it to the famous chicken chain's version.

TASTE TEST

Quickly popping to my local branch of KFC in Golders Green, London, I pick up a six-piece family bucket so as to compare it to my version.

Immediately I’m struck by the difference in colour, although they do smell very similar.

My version definitely has a crunchier and crispier coating – in fact, the actual KFC is a bit flabby by comparison.

Taste-wise, I’ve roped in some very willing volunteers to help me judge whether this is the exact recipe – 28-year-old brother-in-law Simon and my husband Rich, 31.

Aside from the difference in colour, we all agree that the herb and spice mix is bang-on.

The flavour is almost identical, though the KFC is far, far saltier.Too salty, in fact, the more we try it.

One of my testers, Simon – a keen KFC fan – says that he prefers the home-made version as he can taste the individual flavours of the spices, whilst the KFC's spices seem overpowered, possibly by the salt.

However, I think it is safe to say that this is probably the correct original recipe, though the KFC outlet's version is slightly sweeter and saltier.

You can taste the spices much more clearly in the home-made version and the recipe has a more pleasing kick to it from the paprika and mustard powder - which is lost a bit from the overpowering saltiness otherwise.

VERDICT

I’m really impressed with this recipe and - although it took about an hour to make all-in - I’d definitely try this again.

This is despite the ingredients coming in at double the price of a bargain bucket - £22 compared to the KFC price of £12.49.