Copycat Chicken Joy

Copycat Chicken Joy is Ang Sarap’s take on imitating the famous fried chicken icon from Jollibee, its crunchy, its juicy and it has that inexplicable taste that is unique to that red bee.

Fried Chicken, who does not love that? I think generally speaking, most people would put fried chicken in one of their top five comfort or favourite food, it’s easy to understand why, it’s easy to eat, it’s delicious, its crispy, its moist and its deep fried, what can go wrong. But not all fried chicken are created equal, there is your usual Southern Style Fried chicken and there is this, the Chicken Joy.

So what is a Chicken Joy, basically this is the Filipino style fried chicken, hand-breaded, crispy and juicy then served with a side of gravy that’s out of this world. Filipinos around the world crave for this, it’s like crack for us and unlucky me there is no Jollibee in New Zealand, and the closest one is in Hawaii. That is why when I go to a country where there is Jollibee, that’s first on the itinerary regardless of what, and that explains how addictive it is. Unlike KFC where its recipe is not a secret, Jollibee’s one is, hence Filipino’s all over the world just try to recreate them at home in the hope of the getting the formula right. The simplest one would be Erwan Heussaff’s version and the closest one would be from ATBP, but with a caveat since some of its ingredients are not available commercially or is hard to find. Now with those two in mind, I will be recreating it at home but with easy to find ingredients and the recipe below is how I did it. I have many versions before I came up with this and for the record, this is the closest one I can do for now.

Some people may dislike this recipe since I used MSG, trust me there is totally nothing wrong with it, in fact all of us eat that on a regular basis, its just hidden as another ingredient called E621 or some other chemical name. You can find it in many condiments, also in fast foods, even junk foods and definitely in a lot of Asian restaurants. But if you are still opposed to it, just remove it from the ingredients list but the recipe wont taste as what you would expect, anyways, I invite you to give it a shot and let me know.

Copycat Chicken Joy

★★★★★ 4.9 from 7 reviews

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 25 mins
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Filipino

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Description

Copycat Chicken Joy is Ang Sarap’s take on imitating the famous fried chicken icon from Jollibee, its crunchy, its juicy and it has that inexplicable taste that is unique to that red bee.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Chicken

• 12 pcs chicken legs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 egg, beaten

Brine

• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp MSG

Coating Mix

• 1 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp five spice powder
• 1 tsp MSG
• shortening, for deep frying

Gravy

• 3 tbsp Coating Mix leftover
• 2 cups rich chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cup chicken drippings (from roasted chicken)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp cream

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Instructions

1. Place milk and egg together in a large bowl then set it aside
2. Combine brine ingredients in a large zip lock bag, mix well then add the chicken. Let it marinate for a maximum of 30 minutes, no more than that. Once done discard brine then place chicken it into the bowl of milk and egg mixture.
3. Heat enough shortening for deep frying in a pot, wok or a deep fryer. Oil temperature should be 180C.
4. Combine coating mix together in a large covered container. Place chicken into the container in small batches, Cover the container then shake to coat the chicken with the flour mixture.
5. Deep fry chicken in small batches for 10 minutes, do not over crowd otherwise the oil temperature would drop.
6. While chicken is frying, in a small bowl combine all gravy ingredients together, mix well then pour in a saucepan. Place in a stove-top over medium heat then simmer until sauce thickens, mix occasionally.

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