SaurabhFried chicken is a very popular food staple of the southern part of North America. Almost anywhere you go down south, there will be fried chicken restaurants or someone willing to make it!
This food is also a very long standing one, as it was invented in 1747! That means that fried chicken has been around for almost 300 years.
This delicious dinner course was invented by the Scots who traveled from Scotland to the southern part of North America, and also parts of west Africa. This new tradition quickly caught on and the south is now known for its deliciously battered and fried chicken.
This delectable meal is also pretty popular around the world. It is an easy and quick dinner, and you can make it for an entire party of people, a family, or just yourself!
Since it is so popular, there are many different ways you can create it. The normal way is with eggs mixed with the flour and breading to make that crispy skin on the outside.
However there are many recipes out there that you can find that use eggs and/or uses any of the items that are mentioned in the article for substituting.
But is that the only way to make the crispy outside? Or can we use a substitute for eggs? There are answers and plenty of them. This is the article to read to get these answers!
10 Substitutions For Eggs In Fried Chicken
This article is talking mostly about what good substitutes for eggs are. There are so many but there’s only enough time to go over the top 10 choices pulled from the internet and what people’s opinions are on those food items.
Some of them are very understandable and no brainers, but some on this list are a little odd, but they work wonders!
Even though this is only going to be a list of 10 different ways to substitute eggs, there are a variety of ways to do it.
There are also many different ways to do it based on your allergies or eating habits. You can sub eggs for something vegan or not which is a huge help for those who are and do not know what they can use instead.
Since eggs are used to help keep the flour and breading on your chicken, in this case, there are quite a few things you can use instead. I have collected a list of 10 things you can use:
1. Yogurt
Yogurt is a yummy treat, but can be used for fried chicken, however, you might want to get the plain kind.
2. Milk
Whether you like almond, soy, cow, goat, or something else, it can all be used for this!
3. Heavy Cream
Heavy cream is another amazing substitute. It’s heavier than milk, but not too much more.
4. Buttermilk
Buttermilk is going to make the coating thinner than the rest besides regular milk which is thinner. Either choice would be a perfect substitute for eggs however!
5. Water and Flour
Water and flour mixed together is an excellent choice for a substitution. Just make sure to mix it with equal parts to get that nice thickness.
6. Mayonnaise
Mayo is very thick and for sure an easy thing to use to sub for eggs and other things. Mayo and eggs are pretty similar with the fact that they both have fat, although mayonnaise has a lot more fat than eggs do.
7. Ground flaxseed mixed with water
This type doesn’t get super thick, and it has good coverage.
8. Melted butter
Melted butter(vegan or not) is always a go to substitute, and almost everyone has some in their fridge. However, with this it may look a little patchy and thin.
9. Vegetable oil
This one isn’t the best choice, but in a pinch it will work good enough.
10. Aquafaba (chickpea liquid)
This is a unique one, but it has pretty good coverage and crunch!
Fried Chicken With Milk Instead Of Eggs
Is there such a recipe where you can use milk instead of eggs? Of course, and there are plenty! Regular milk can be used and is a very good substitute, however, any kind of milk of your choice will work!
Just like eggs, milk is dairy and always a good substitute, especially for those who have egg allergies, or you just haven’t had time to go get any.
You can also use basically every type of milk, including buttermilk too! Even though milk and buttermilk have different tastes and coverage ability.
Milk makes a thinner coating but it doesn’t leave your chicken patchy! Buttermilk leaves it thick and full, although the crunch isn’t as crunchy as the rest. So if you are not that big on crunchy chicken, this would be the substitute for you!
Since milk is a dairy, it also has a total fat amount. Regular whole milk has around 8 grams of fat which is not a huge amount. Nonfat, however, has 0 grams of fat. Since milk does not have a lot of fat it isn’t as thick as other options that are available.
How To Make Fried Chicken Without Eggs Or Buttermilk
In the list that I made and put above, there are multiple different ways to make fried chicken without eggs or buttermilk.
There isn’t too much of a difference with making the fried chicken with other ingredients, but the difference lies with the crunch and coverage.
Let us take a quick little look at how the eggs and buttermilk can differ in crunch factor and also how well the coverage is on each piece of chicken, whether it be drumsticks or flats.
Eggs make the perfect crunch and cover the chicken perfectly, and buttermilk covers very well with a crunch that is a little less but still very good.
The other options can vary on their crunch factor and the way they cover, with the thinner ingredients not covering as well as the thicker ingredients, and the crunch isn’t as good as the thicker ingredients would make it.
So how do you make fried chicken without eggs or buttermilk? This is pretty easy to do so don’t let it intimidate you, but whatever you decide to use as a substitute for the eggs will be used basically like eggs would in this situation.
Just use your regular milk or whatever you decide in the marinating step and it will let you bread the chicken pieces just like eggs or buttermilk would.
More: 10 Best Substitutes for Egg in Meatloaf
Egg Substitute For Frying Pork Chops
There are quite a few options to use besides eggs, for breading your pork chops. Just like fried chicken, butter or heavy cream work great! There are other substitutes you can use such as: gelatin, egg replacer, and/or honey.
The best option that everyone recommends is the heavy cream. It works like milk would, but it is thicker, which makes it better at coating and getting a crunch.
Egg replacer is another great option. It has a consistency like real eggs, but it isn’t actual eggs. It is actually made of potato starch, tapioca starch, leavening, and a couple other ingredients too. It will work just like eggs would though.
Gelatin may not seem like it would be a good replacement, because gelatin is for jello and things of that nature right? Well actually, mixing a tablespoon of gelatin with 3 tablespoons of room temperature water makes it thick enough to replace 1 egg. Eggs and gelatin are close in texture as well, which is another reason this is good.
Honey is another odd, but satisfying ingredient to use as a substitute for eggs because they aren’t in the same food category and honey is stickier. But the honey being very sticky makes it an amazing binding agent for the bread crumbs, which in turn makes it cover very well and have a great crunch to it.
It could potentially make your chicken taste kind of like honey, but since it isn’t the main flavor ingredient, it will not have an overbearing flavor or taste.
Fried Chicken With Mayonnaise Instead Of Eggs
Mayonnaise is another substitute on our list above. Mayonnaise might be the closest to eggs besides the egg replacers.
It is thick and heavy. It also has a stick factor to it, which is essential for the breading to stick to your chicken pieces.
There isn’t a color to mayonnaise, just like eggs, it’s only white. Color isn’t as big of a factor to it, but it is definitely a similarity between the two.
The easiest way to apply mayonnaise to your chicken is to spread a thin layer on your pieces, then roll your chicken in the flour dredge mix.
The flavor of your chicken will still be prominent as the mayonnaise wont have a taste after being fried. If you do use the mayonnaise and it seems to be too thick, you can always use heavy cream or milk to thin it out a little bit.
Another thing that Mayonnaise and eggs have in common is the fact that they both have fat in them. Regular mayonnaise has about 165 grams of total fat. Eggs, on the other hand, have a total fat of 5 grams per egg.
So we can tell that eggs are obviously the healthier choice, but it isn’t necessary to make fried chicken with.
Recipe For Fried Chicken Without Eggs
The recipe that I’m going to share with you guys is one I have created for a party of people, so you, the readers, can have something to go by!
This is a recipe I have created for a party of people. You can divide the ingredients or multiply them to satisfy the amount of people you may be serving.
This isn’t just some ordinary fried chicken recipe though. There is something completely different in this one than the normal recipes. It uses buttermilk instead of eggs.
This will show you how to use the buttermilk in place of eggs. This may not have the same thickness and crunchiness that you might be expecting.
Other than that, this is the perfect example of a recipe for fried chicken without any eggs:
Fried Chicken Made Without Eggs
Ingredients
- 12 chicken thighs and/or drumsticks
- 6 cups buttermilk
- 1 cup any hot sauce of your choice (optional)
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoon pepper
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoon paprika
- 4 teaspoons onion powder
- 4 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoon white pepper
- 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 quarts of vegetable oil to fry with
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, hot sauce(again this is optional and not needed!), salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add the chicken pieces in and cover the bowl with plastic wrap (Saran always works best) and refrigerate for around 4 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, pour the vegetable oil in a skillet until it is about 3/4 inch deep. Heat to 350 degrees.
- Prepare the breading by combining the flour, cornstarch, and all your seasonings in a gallon sized resealable plastic bag or a shallow dish would even work too! Then mix it thoroughly.
- Doing one piece at a time, remove chicken from the buttermilk mixture that you’ve prepared. Shake it gently to remove the excess. Place it in the breading and coat thoroughly. Tap off any excess that may be there.
- Place the breaded chicken into the 350 degree oil. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time. If you have a cast iron skillet or a skillet in that range, you could do a couple more too!
- The chicken will drop the temperature of the oil so keep it as close to 350 degrees as possible. Fry each piece for 14 minutes, turning each piece at the halfway mark, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- Remove your delicious pieces from the oil and place on paper towels. You can use paper towels to pat any extra oil that may have stayed on. Let them rest before serving.
