With homemade buttermilk biscuits and fried chicken soaked in pickle juice, this copycat Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit will leave you wanting more.
Yes you read that right! Today is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. You may recall I shared my favorite flaky buttermilk biscuit recipe last year. So why am I sharing a chicken biscuit recipe on National Buttermilk Biscuit Day? Well for me, Chick-fil-A introduced me not only to the beauty of chicken biscuits, but biscuits themselves!
I'm sure I had biscuits before going to Chick-fil-A, but my memories I most associate with biscuits are stopping at Chick-fil-A on Saturday mornings before heading to Florida Gator football games. No we didn't go every single Saturday, but we definitely went quite often. It actually took quite a while before I had anything else besides their chicken biscuit. I think at one point I honestly thought Chick-fil-A was just a breakfast joint!
Funny little side story but my old college roommate, Chris Long, was actually the opposite of me. He didn't even realize Chick-fil-A offered breakfast. I remember when I found out that he had never been for breakfast, I immediately took him the next day. Needless to say he was hooked and having it more often than me! To this day Chick-fil-A is the only fast food chain I still visit, and 90% of the time it's for their chicken biscuit.
Anyways... while it is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day, the main reason I'm sharing this recipe today is the chicken part of the chicken biscuit. If you google copycat Chick-fil-A you'll see some chicken that is soaked in pickle juice and others that aren't. Yes I know there are rumors going both ways but unfortunately I have no inside information. I just tried to create a recipe that closely resembled what I believe is their famous chicken. My first iteration I actually didn't soak the chicken in pickle juice. While I felt the breading was spot on and tasted great, I thought the flavor of the chicken didn't quite match it. So on the next go round I added the pickle juice, and at least for me it made the difference. So if you're like me and love chicken biscuits, then give this copycat Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit recipe a try.
What Ingredients are in this Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit Recipe?
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Honey
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Dill pickle juice
- Milk
- Eggs
- Breadcrumbs
- Powdered sugar
- Spices - salt, black pepper, chili powder
- Peanut oil
How to Make Chick-fil-A Chicken
There are so many versions out there of Chick-fil-A chicken. Recently a friend of mine sent me what he claims is the recipe from Chick-fil-A. Evidently an employee posted it online. Now I'm not claiming it is correct, but I feel like these are about as close as possible to the real chicken biscuits.
There are really two keys with Chick-fil-A chicken - pickle juice and powdered sugar. The chicken is soaked in a pickle juice mixture, which gives it the briny and juicy flavor. And part of the coating has powdered sugar, which gives the chicken a slight sweetness to it. If you skip these two ingredients, you aren't making the real thing.
Do I Have to Make My Own Biscuits?
No you don't, but if I'm taking the time to make homemade fried chicken, the extra work for the biscuits is worth it to me. However if you just want to make the fried chicken, then I'd suggest some Pillsbury biscuit dough.
Other Breakfast Recipes
- Bacon Avocado Toast
- Bacon Cheddar Waffles
- Pumpkin Oat Muffins
- Mini Ham and Cheese Quiche
- Corned Beef Hash
Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit
Ingredients
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ½ cup cold buttermilk
- ½ tablespoon honey
Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken
- 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
- ⅓ cup dill pickle juice
- ⅔ cup milk
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup breadcrumbs
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- peanut oil
Instructions
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 425F. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and pulse several times until coarse crumbs form. Pour mixture into large bowl.
- Create a well in the center of mixture and add buttermilk and honey. Stir everything together with a spatula until just combined - do not overwork the dough.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a rough rectangle, about one inch thick. Fold one side into the center and then the other side and turn it horizontal. Gently flatten. Repeat the folding process 6 times.
- Gently roll out the dough once more into a rough rectangle until it's about ½ inch thick. Cut the glass with a 3-inch biscuit cutter or floured glass. Re-roll any scraps until you get 8 biscuits total.
- Place parchment paper on baking sheet and arrange biscuits so they're touching. Brush each biscuit with some leftover buttermilk. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with some melted butter.
Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken
- Pound the chicken breasts to ½" thickness and cut in half. Place in ziploc bag with pickle juice, milk and eggs. Squish bag together to get everything combined. Place chicken in fridge for 30 minutes.
- Add breadcrumbs to food processor and pulse until very fine. Put the breadcrumbs, flour, sugar, salt, black pepper and chili powder in bowl and whisk together. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Fill cast iron skillet with oil about ½" deep. Heat to 350F. Working in batches, fry each cutlet about 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through. Cut freshly made biscuit and serve immediately.
Chris says
I want one!
Marisol Riddell says
Tasty, but serving size is way off. Can only get five biscuits half inch high with 3 inch cutter.
Ryan says
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know about your issue with the serving size.
avi says
what kind of bread crumbs taste best? I made this with panko once and they were fine but I wonder which ones taste closest.
Ryan says
I would use plain breadcrumbs. Panko has a little too much texture for this.
Shawn A. says
Wow- I tried both recipes! I’m impressed. The biscuits were really good-I got 4.5 out of the serving size- no worries I will probably double it next time.
I could even taste the sweetness in the breading for the chicken from the powder sugar. I will definitely make this again. A keeper for sure!👍🏽 thank you 😊
Ryan says
Glad you liked it!
Violet says
a little more higher in calorie than the regular chik fil a chicken biscuits, but, totally worth it! tasty as heck!
Ryan says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Ruth says
The chicken was pretty good, not quite like chic fil a but close enough!
The biscuits though... oh no, they did not turn out, this recipe with no pictures made for a bad turn out. Also 1 tbs of baking powder made them so so bitter...
Ryan says
Sorry to hear that. I have a post that has step-by-step instructions for the biscuits. Glad you liked the chicken.
Brianna Hutchison says
Can you make the biscuits and freeze them and reheat later?
Ryan says
Yep. Just throw in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes to reheat.
Lance says
I made the biscuits only for biscuits and gravy. They were too good to put gravy on.
Karen Marino Boykin says
I made your biscuits only, as I needed a biscuit recipe for sausage and gravy biscuits, I followed your directions exactly as written, and they were delicious!! I will definitely be making them again.
Ryan says
You can never go wrong with that!
Aimee Evans says
5 stars rounded up from 4.5. I just made the chicken. The method is fantastic, but the seasonings are a touch off for chic fil a. I adjusted to include onion and garlic powder, and replaced the chili powder with smoked sweet paprika. Cooking method, marinade, timing and processing the bread crumbs were brilliant. Can't wait to make the biscuits!