Quarantining with the Colonel

Quarantining with the Colonel: how to make your own KFC chicken at home.

Fried chicken is good food for times of self-isolation. It’s crunchy, greasy, bad for you and just as tasty (we think) cold as it is hot. That’s why a lot of folks are quarantining with the Colonel with a takeout box in their fridge. But even better, why not use some of the time on your hands and improve on the originals?

Three bean salad KFC style (plus bonus garbanzos)

We have often revisited classic KFC recipes on Burnt My Fingers and some are among our most popular posts. Start with The Colonel’s KFC Bean Salad which makes canned vegetables taste amazingly good and is definitely, unarguably better than the original (since KFC no longer has it on the menu).

Better-than-KFC buttermilk cole slaw

Also an improvement on the Colonel’s recipe is our Better-than-KFC Cole Slaw, where the secret ingredient is a reduction in sugar. (It’s still pretty sweet.) And if you’re still quarantining on New Year’s Eve (god forbid) try our variation on the bean salad called KFC-Style Black Eyed Pea Salad (AKA Kentucky Caviar).

And what about the chicken itself? It turns out that a cousin to Colonel Sanders (the real one, not the too-young imitation in today’s TV ads) shared the original recipe for the 11 herbs and spices with a local paper. We mixed some up and yep, it’s the real deal. In fact, the way this story quickly disappeared makes us think Yum Brands (the Chinese company that today owns KFC) realized that protesting or suing the guy would only expand its coverage. Mix up a batch and you can have Better-than-KFC chicken (because it will be fresher, and you’ll probably use a better quality chicken product) on demand, plus get creative with other proteins like our Kentucky Short Ribs.

We haven’t tried to duplicate the KFC biscuits which are unctuous but generic (if you like biscuits with your chicken, use butter instead of whatever is in the KFC product and you’ll be pleasantly surprised). And we’re staying far away from those awful potatoes and gravy.