The Cooking Oil That's Just Not Worth Using For Fried Chicken

Few things in life are as satisfying as sinking your teeth into a piece of perfectly fried chicken with a shatteringly crisp, golden-brown crust. Sure, picking up a bucket of KFC works when you're in a hurry, but nothing can beat homemade fried chicken if it's maximum flavor that you're after — where else would you get to choose exactly how spicy, salty, or seasoned you want your chicken to be than in your own kitchen? Before you get to frying, here's a crucial tip for success: you're better off steering clear of high-quality extra virgin olive oil.

While EVOO can add a layer of flavor to salad dressings, pastas, and more, it's simply not worth it for a dish like fried chicken. Extra virgin olive oil is typically more expensive than other common cooking oils like vegetable or canola, and that price only goes up for premium bottles. That's certainly worth the splurge when you're using it to drizzle, dip, and even saute sometimes. But deep frying requires a large amount a cooking oil and the cost of that can add up. Not to mention, you won't really taste the oil on your finished fried chicken anyways. 

It's also worth noting that the smoke point of extra virgin olive oil varies between around 350-430 degrees Fahrenheit, and expensive, unrefined EVOOs tend to fall on the lower end of that spectrum. Fried chicken needs to be cooked at around 375 degree Fahrenheit. Some sources suggest that when unrefined olive oil reaches this temperature, it can start to break down, filling your kitchen with smoke and developing bitter, acrid flavors that'll leak into your chicken and ruin the entire batch.

Save the premium EVOO for your salad dressings and the light olive oil for frying eggs or sauteing vegetables. When it comes to deep frying, it's best to choose another kind, and fortunately, there's plenty to choose from.

Generally, it's good to opt for a cooking oil with a smoke point over 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Canola oil, for instance, is a very popular option. How popular? Well, enough that McDonald's uses it in their fryers. You see, aside from having a high smoke point of over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, canola oil is neutral-tasting, ensuring chickens cooked in it will come out crisp and clean-tasting. Plus, it's gentler on your wallet than genuine EVOO.

Coconut oil is another worthy alternative. Its 400-degree Fahrenheit smoke point and high saturated fat content make it remarkably stable, allowing it to maintain its quality even after hours of frying. You'll want to use the refined version, which is neutral-tasting and has the high smoke point that we're looking for. Unrefined coconut oil isn't recommended, since it'll smoke at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Finally, we'll have to talk about the classic, but oft-overlooked animal fats like lard or duck fat. These old-school cooking fats, while rarely seen in kitchens these days, have really high smoke points and are the unexpected secret to extremely flavorful fried chicken. Plus, if you can make them at home from meat you've already got, then you're saving money. Melt them down in a well-seasoned cast iron pan and sizzle the chickens within, and you're guaranteed to be in for a Southern-esque fried treat.