Step Up Your Fried Chicken Game With This Spicy Snack Crust

Spicy, crunchy, salty, moreish: Takis has everything you could want in a snack and then some. If you somehow missed the Takis hype train, now's the perfect time to catch it. We've talked before about the spicy jalapeno Takis snack we can't wait to devour, and now you can take your favorite Takis and bring them into your next fried chicken batch for a succulent and flavor-blasted piece of chicken that you'll want to add to your list of favs in no time. All you need for this is chicken tenders or breasts, ingredients for a typical fried chicken dredge, and your favorite flavor of Takis.

First, you want to crush or grind your Takis into a powder and add them to the final dry ingredient in your dredge, whether that's breadcrumbs, panko, or something else. You can even entirely replace this with Taki powder if you want, but we personally like the added body that panko provides. Next, take your chicken and dunk them into your flour, followed by your egg mixture, and then into the breading. Finally, you can deep-fry these in oil, pan-fry them, or air-fry them. Just make sure to cook them all the way through, and you've got yourself a spicy piece of fried chicken with a delicious Takis crust.

It's important to select high-quality ingredients to pair with your Takis to truly maximize their flavor. We recommend using the absolute best type of flour for making fried chicken (regular all-purpose, for the curious), though we also love using rice flour for a more delicate crunch. Either flour will yield a nice, even, golden crust that complements the tangy, spicy flavor without compromising the full-bodied texture of a good, crunchy piece of chicken. For even crispier chicken, there's one fried chicken prep step that should be done twice: dredging your chicken. This gives twice as much batter to fry, resulting in a thicker and crispier crust. Just be sure to dredge in this order: wet, dry, wet, dry, with the chicken itself being the first wet ingredient. More specifically, we suggest dunking the chicken in flour, then in egg, followed by Takis, and finally in egg and Takis one more time.

You can either eat your fried Takis crusted chicken on its own, or you can cook yourself up a killer fried chicken sandwich. The Takis crust pairs well with a mayo slaw or sauce to tame the heat and balance the citrus. Add pickles to enhance the tang, match the spice, and give it the feel of a traditional fried chicken sandwich. Once you try this fried chicken, you may have a hard time going back.