caribbean fried chicken Archives

Fried Chicken! There are as many ways to make this iconic dish as there are people who claim that their recipe is the greatest on the planet. While I won’t make such a bold statement, I will say this fried Chicken will rival and ‘better’ many of the recipes you’ve tried before. After-all my mommy taught me how to rock this one.

You’ll Need…

10-14 Chicken drumsticks
1 tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 medium onion (grated)
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (I used homemade Peppersauce)
1 teaspoon Curry Powder (madras blend)
1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch

To season the oil…

5-8 sprigs of thyme
2 scotch bonnet peppers
1 head of garlic (cut in half – skin on)
3-4 cups vegetable oil

TIP! Pre-heat the oil to 350ºF – While the chicken is frying, adjust the heat to maintain 325ºF in the oil.

It’s time to season and marinate your cleaned chicken drumsticks. In a large bowl or large zipper bag, add the chicken, Caribbean Green Seasoning, salt, black pepper, pepper-sauce, curry powder, corn starch (it will give the chicken a crispy finish) and grate in the onion. Mix well and set in the fridge to marinate for 2 hours (at least).

It’s time set up your frying station and heat the oil – heavy skillet and around med-high heat. Basically I have the seasoned and marinated chicken (room temperature now), the cast iron pan and a sheet pan with a wire rack and tongs.

You have 2 options here. As the oil heats, add the garlic, thyme and scotch bonnet peppers. Or as in my case, I added the first batch of chicken to the pan, then added the garlic, scotch bonnets and thyme. Do NOT over-crowd the pan with chicken pieces or the temperature of the oil will drop and you’ll get soggy/oily chicken. Do NOT over-fill the pan with oil – leave room for when you add the chicken pieces to fry. And DO NOT break the scotch bonnet peppers, or you will release the beast.

It will take between 15-20 minutes to cook the chicken (depending on the size of the drumsticks) all the way through and do remember that as the chicken cools it will go a bit darker in color. Set on to the wire rack to drain off any excess oil and if you want you can sprinkle on some additional salt while they’re still hot. Keep in mind that I’ve cut back on the amount of salt I use in my daily diet.

Such a simple yet delicious way to prepare fried chicken as we do in Caribbean. Try to not skip seasoning the oil as I did, this adds a wonderful flavor to the completed fried chicken.

Don’t forget to watch the video below. If you can, please support. And should you have questions about this recipe or anything food related, be sure to Ask Chris.

Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Island Spicy Fried Chicken.

May 27, 2025June 28, 201611 Comments

I must have been about 10 years old when my aunt and uncle had gone on vacation in Canada and I spent the nights (weekends) with my older cousin. With an entire house to ourselves, you can only imagine the commess (creative trouble) we got into. It was about 11 pm one night when we decided we’d make fried chicken. Beyond the total destruction of the kitchen (oil and flour everywhere), we ended up with bland over-cooked chicken. As with any true Caribbean child, we employed the use of peppersauce, ketchup and mustard to salvage things.

By the end of that August Holidays (aka Summer break) we had not only perfected our fried chicken recipe, we started inviting friends to sample. The following recipe is totally different than our childhood one, but that was the start of my affection for fried chicken.

You’ll Need…

4-5 lbs chicken (trimmed)

Seasoning:
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
3-5 cups butter milk
1 1/2 tablespoon pepper sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 heaping tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

—————

Veg oil frying

2 cups flour
4 tablespoons corn starch

2 eggs + 1/2 cup of the brine we made
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (hot)

Note: for that true heat and authentic Caribbean flavor I recommend you use a Caribbean peppersauce (hot sauce).. there are several recipes on this website if you can’t source one in your grocery. While it’s a spicy fried chicken, you can obviously cut back on the heat level or kick it up further, to your own liking.

Trim off the excess fat and skin off the chicken (please don’t remove all the skin.. you don’t have to eat it later) and wash with the juice of a lime or lemon (not mentioned in the list of ingredients) and cool water. Drain and season with everything mentioned in the ‘seasoning’ part of the ingredient list. I like mixing everything, then adding the butter milk last. Cover and allow to marinate in the fridge overnight for best results. If you’re pressed for time, 2 hours marinating will work on too. When I don’t have buttermilk, I usually use a beer.

After marinating, drain, but save back about 1/2 cup of the brine/marinade. Add that marinade to the eggs, curry powder and hot smoked paprika (add more peppersauce here if you want) and whisk. Then mix the flour and corn starch in a separate bowl.

While your veg oil heats on a medium flame in a deep pot, coat the chicken pieces with the egg mixture, then roll into the flour.. tap off the extra flour. I usually do all the pieces and set aside so when I start frying they’re all ready to go.

Slowly add 3-4 pieces of the chicken to the pot, so you’re not splashing hot oil on yourself. By not crowding the pan, you’ll end up with an overall better ‘fry’. Depending on how big/thick your chicken pieces are they should be fully cooked and golden between 25-30 minutes. Please DON’T fry on a high heat or it will go brown very fast and be under-cooked in the middle.

Remove from the hot oil and drain on paper towels as you fry off the other pieces. You can sprinkle them with some sea salt if you like. I’m cutting back on my sodium intake, so the salt from the marinade was enough for me. Yes, this will be very spicy, but I assure you if you’re a fan of heat.. this will be one of the best fried chicken you’ve ever enjoyed.

Yes, get your “Caribbean” on and serve it up with ketchup, mustard and peppersauce!

Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich.

May 27, 2025September 14, 20153 Comments

Though this recipe was influenced by an image/advertising poster we saw at a local McDonalds restaurant, the manner in which we marinate, ‘bread’ and fry the chicken is 100% Caribbean! It’s a recipe our mom would use when making fried chicken for us and not unlike many such recipes you’ll encounter as you make your way up the island chain which makes up the West Indies. For maximum flavor and texture, I’ll highly recommend using boneless chicken thighs, but if chicken breasts are your thing… you’ll also have fun with that.

You’ll Need…

6 chicken thighs (boneless)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon Caribbean green seasoning
1/2 teaspoon peppersauce (hot sauce – as much as you can handle)
1/2 lemon (juice)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
3 cups veg oil frying

Optional: season flour with a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon smoked hot paprika

To learn how to debone chicken thighs, WATCH THIS VIDEO << CLICK! Season the chicken with the salt, curry powder, Caribbean Green Seasoning, black pepper, lemon juice and peppersauce (hot sauce) and allow it to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Remove the marinated chicken from the fridge about 10 minutes before you’re ready to get started frying, so it comes back to room temperature. Place the all-purpose flour on a plate and whisk the two eggs in a wide bowl. The goal here is to create a sort of breading station. Heat the vegetable oil on on a medium heat as we prepare the chicken pieces for frying. Dip each piece of chicken in the egg, then dust in the flour so it’s fully coated. Dust off any excess flour.

Don’t worry about the remaining marinade on the chicken pieces as we really want that. Now gently add the dusted chicken pieces to the hot vegetable oil. Try to not over-crowd the pan. Fry on each side for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. When deboning your chicken thighs, try to make sure they are all the same thickness, so they cook evenly.

Have a plate or wire basket lined with paper towels handy, so when you remove the pieces of fried chicken from the pan, you can set them to drain off some of the excess oil as they cool. Since we seasoned the chicken with salt you will not have to salt it further.. but, your tolerance for salt will be different than mine, so here is when you can sprinkle on some sea salt if you want as the pieces of chicken are hot out of the oil.

This in itself is an amazing way to do fried chicken, so feel free to serve this up if you wish. In our case we’re doing a sandwich. So I had some wonderful brioche buns which I lightly toasted, then on went a piece of (still warm) chicken and I topped it with some of my homemade coleslaw<< click for the recipe. The crunch from the fried chicken, followed by the juicy-seasoned meat itself and the slight creamy tangy coleslaw will set this off as the best fried chicken sandwich – without doubt!

You can obviously top it any which way you like.. so if ketchup, more hotsauce and a bit of mustard is your thing – ENJOY! So back to McDonalds… we were at the drive-thru when Tehya saw the poster with their chicken sandwich and challenged me to make a version. You NEVER challenge a Caribbean bred to anything! Here’s one challenge she lost, but WON.. guess who had two sandwiches?

Meat & Poultry

The Ultimate Fried Chicken Wings Recipe.

May 27, 2025May 1, 201419 Comments

I love me some chicken wings, but I’ve come to accept that most restaurants in North America do them “Buffalo” style. Which basically means… fried crisp then tossed in a vinegar based hot sauce. Vinegar is one of those ingredients you won’t see being used much in the Caribbean, unless it’s for an escovitch sauce or as a preservative for home made peppersauces (hot sauces). Like other West Indians I dislike vinegar, so this chicken wings recipe is based on a traditional way of making fried chicken in the Caribbean. Where you get that crispy skin, followed by tender and juicy pieces of chicken, seasoned perfectly with herbs and spices. No-lie.. this fried chicken is much better than KFC and Popeyes!

You’ll Need…

4 lbs Chicken wings (trimmed and washed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup flour
vegetable oil for frying (about 2-3 cups)

Note: I washed the trimmed pieces of chicken wings with about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (you can use lime juice as well) and cool water.

Place the trimmed, washed and drained chicken wings in a large bowl and mix in the salt, black pepper, curry powder and Caribbean green seasoning. Mix well and marinate for a couple hrs in the fridge.

Remove from the fridge about 20 minutes before you’re ready to fry so they come back to room temperature. Now beat the eggs in a small bowl and pour over the seasoned chicken wings. Be sure to mix well so the wings get coated in the eggs. In a large zipper bag (or in a mixing bowl), mix together the corn starch and flour (you can also add a pinch more of black pepper, salt and a bit of paprika). Mix well, then add (a few at a time) chicken wings to the bag and toss around to coat.

Heat vegetable oil or whatever fat you like using for making fried chicken on a medium high heat in a large pan. I like using my wok when frying so the splattering does not soil the stove top as much. I hate cleaning up grease on the stove.

Add about 3-5 pieces of dusted chicken wings to the hot oil at a time so as not to overcrowd things.

Fry until golden brown (about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the wings you’re using) and set on paper towels or on a wire rack (over a baking sheet) as I did, so we can get the excess oil to soak up or simply drain off as they cool a bit. Fry the chicken wings in batches and remember to serve warm for tastier results!

Our last visit to Trinidad and Tobago for Carnival 2014, while the rest of us were ordering bake and shark sandwiches at Maracas Bay (beach) Indy (our youngest daughter) opted for deep fried chicken wings which were almost exactly like these. Those chicken wings came with fries and a wonderful garlic sauce (like a garlicky mayo).

Before you go, don’t forget to check out the latest cooking videos, connect with me on twitter and join our community on facebook. Oh yea! Leave me a comment below – it’s appreciated!

Meat & Poultry

Fried Chicken From The Islands.

May 27, 2025September 18, 201053 Comments

caribbean style fried chicken recipe

If you’ve been following the updates on the Facebook Fan page, you would have seen where I was asking for suggestions for a fried chicken recipe, as I had a severe craving and didn’t feel like KFC or Popeye’s! I wanted chicken that had that strong home-fried taste, texture and smell. I wanted to control the spices I used as well, since the goal was to recreate the same sort of chicken I enjoyed as a boy growing up on the islands. I still recall my mom saying “yuh have to let it cool down”, ignoring that and feeling the pain of steaming hot chicken.

Thanks to everyone who left me their suggestions and family secret recipes. Rather than use one, I combined some aspects of all and the end product was simply amazing. When all you see are bones on a plate after your children had their dinner, you know you’ve struck gold with that particular recipe. So again.. thanks to everyone who contributed.

You’ll Need…

For seasoning the chicken:

5-6 LBS chicken pieces (I used legs and thighs)
1 teaspoon peppersauce (hot sauce – use as much as you can tolerate)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ginger (powder or as I did – fresh grated)
1 teaspoon green seasoning (see notes below if you don’t have green seasoning)
1 lime / lemon or 3 tablespoons of vinegar to wash the chicken pieces before seasoning.
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the dusting:

1-2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

* oil for frying. I shallow fried, so I used about 2 1/2 cups vegetable oil.

* if you don’t have the green seasoning (<< click there for the recipe) mince fine:
– thyme
– scallions
– shado beni or cilantro
– parsley (flat leaf)
– 2 cloves garlic

* You’ll also need 2 eggs.

Start off by trimming of fat and excess skin, but I left a fair amount of skin on the chicken ( you can remove it while you’re eating). I find that the skin give the meat a sort of protection and prevents it from drying out while frying. Then I pour the lime or lemon juice over it (you can also use vinegar). Rinse with water and strain dry. Then it’s on to seasoning the chicken (btw I used dark cuts of meat and I tried to keep them all the same size). In a large bowl use the ingredients mentioned above to season the chicken. Make sure to stir well, cover and allow to marinate in the fridge for about 2 hours.

trini fry chicken

jamaican fry chicken recipe

In a heavy pan, heat the oil on medium/high heat and while this heats up, lets do a couple things.

1. Crack the two eggs into a small bowl and whisk… then add to the bowl with the seasoned chicken and give it a good stir. Try to get all pieces of the chicken coated with this egg mixture.

2. Pour the flour onto a plate and add the paprika and black pepper and mix well.

jamaican fry chicken

seasoning for fried chicken

seasoning flour for fried chicken

The next step is to dust the pieces of chicken into the flour mixture we just made. Be sure to cover all pieces and shake off any excess flour before placing into the hot oil. My pan was not very large, so I did 3 pieces at a time, as I didn’t want to crowd the pan and have it go soggy from the reduction in the oil’s temperature. Depending on how big the pieces of chicken you have and the cut (dark or white meat), the cooking time will vary between 15 and 20 minutes. In my case it took about 18 minutes and I flipped each piece every 4-5 minutes, since I was shallow frying. If you find that the outside is going brown too fast, it’s an indication that your oil may be too hot. Adjust accordingly.

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Remember that it’s hot oil that you’re working with so be very careful. Have a wire tray or paper-towel lined basket ready to place the cooked pieces of chicken to drain off any excess oil. Continue doing in batches and remember to give it a few minutes to cool down before serving.

trinidad fry chicken recipe

trini fried chicken recipe

Give this a try and I’m sure you’ll be amazed at how tasty, moist (without being “wet”) and crispy at the same time. I’d really appreciate it if you leave me a comment below, even if it’s just to say hello. And for those of you who assisted with this recipe on Facebook, thanks. BTW, if you’ve not already connected with us on Facebook, do so NOW by clicking on the image below.

caribbean fried chicken

Incredible Caribbean Fried Chicken (gluten free too).

The Ultimate Island Spicy Fried Chicken.

The Ultimate Fried Chicken Sandwich.

The Ultimate Fried Chicken Wings Recipe.

Fried Chicken From The Islands.

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