Bobby Flay's Spicy Topping Takes Fried Chicken Sandwiches From Good To Great

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Bobby Flay may have a line of burger restaurants named after him, but the chef and Hollywood Walk-of-Fame inductee also knows a thing or two about what makes a good fried chicken sandwich. In the modern food scene, peppers have become something of a pet favorite among passionate professionals. For Flay, the chef's pepper of choice hails from Peru — and it's his not-so-secret ingredient for taking any fried chicken sandwich to the next level.

In an exclusive interview with Mashed, Bobby Flay says that he blends an aji amarillo chili pepper puree with mayonnaise for a quick, knockout condiment to add flavor to fried chicken. According to Flay, "It's hard to get them fresh, but they sell it in a jar that's completely pureed. So you just scoop it out and add it to mayonnaise [...] So, so good. I've been using that a lot." This 7.5-ounce jar of aji amarillo paste by Inca Foods brand is an affordable option on Amazon.

Clocking in at 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale (Cayenne-adjacent), these spicy, fruity peppers marry intense heat with a distinct mango-meets-passionfruit sweetness for natural dimensionality. Meanwhile, the mayo helps quell the chili pepper's heat to a more accessible level. It's no wonder that Flay chooses these impressive beauties to elevate a fried chicken sandwich ("Boy Meets Grill" won an Emmy, after all).

Complex and distinctive, this South American chili pepper is such a staple of Peruvian cuisine that it is considered part of the country's revered, mirepoix-esque trio of garlic, red onion, and aji amarillo. In fact, in Spanish, the pepper's name literally translates to "yellow chili pepper," further emblematic of its iconographic status (all the more impressive considering Peru's world-renowned pepper agriculture). 

In Flay's application, the thick, rich body of the mayo is brightened by the zippy, fruity heat of the pepper paste, creating a luscious, multilayered moisture component to upgrade a classic fried chicken sammy. Want to lean into the umami factor? Try whipping up a Peruvian-Japanese fusion by swapping the regular mayo for egg-yolk-forward Kewpie mayo. To top your fried chicken sando, opt for an accouterment that won't overpower or compete with the flavorful condiment. A light, mild cabbage slaw, a thick slice of beefsteak tomato, or a few half-sour pickle spears would perform fabulously here.

Static Media owns and operates Mashed and Tasting Table.