Ah, breaded chicken. Is there anything that hits that level of comfort food in quite the same way? We at Chowhound have explored how to make your chicken breading stick with one extra ingredient, but let’s get into the even more basic of basics. Your breading station should have eggs for a binder and some type of flour to dredge the meat in, plus your final coating, like breadcrumbs. But what order should you go in for the first two? The short answer: Dip first in the flour and then in the egg.
The long answer is a little more involved. First of all, no matter how much you pat that chicken dry, it’s still going to have some moisture by virtue of being … well, a piece of raw meat. When you’re dredging and breading your chicken, you want to go wet to dry. Dipping the chicken in flour first lets you form a sturdy, dry base that won’t slide right off (like the eggs would at this stage). The egg you dunk your chicken into next will bind to the flour and stick in place, and then you can dunk those bad boys right into your final breading, and the egg will glue it perfectly together.
Creating the best breading station
As mentioned, the ideal order of things is wet to dry, starting with the wet meat. But you don’t have to just stick with eggs and plain white flour. In fact, we actively encourage you to do a little experimenting. For the crispiest chicken, swapping white flour with rice flour really kicks it up a notch. Dijon mustard can upgrade your chicken, too; just blend a spoonful into your egg mixture, and each bite will have that tangy, vinegary goodness with no extra effort on your part.
You can mix dried aromatics and seasoning into your flour dredge or even your final coating. Toasted garlic belongs in your chicken breading, for example. You may also consider adding spices in a mix of about 10% to 90% flour and add in whatever spices you think sound good. We suggest a Cajun blend or your own mix of onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, and chili powder, with salt to taste. As long as you stick to the order of flour, eggs, and final breading, you’ll find your chicken comes out on top every time, and you can have fun adding other flavors to it.
