Fried Chicken Sliders: Using slider buns, chicken breasts or chicken thighs, and a few other simple ingredients, this chicken sliders recipe is great for a family dinner or even perfect as a party appetizer!
Like our salmon sliders and sloppy joe sliders, they are hearty enough for a dinner idea, that are easy to make too! Next, you’ll want to make our roast beef sliders too!
Slider recipes are amazing as easy appetizers, or even as a side dish to a bigger, more hearty dish! Our cheeseburger sliders, Italian sliders, and sloppy joe sliders have become some of the top favorites here!
You can make sliders for an appetizer when you’re hosting a party or even when you’re looking for something fun for dinner!
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⭐️ Why This Recipe Works
- Fast Food Favorite: If you’ve ever had those delicious little chicken sandwiches from your favorite fast food place, (Uh, hello Chick-fil-A) now you can make them at home!
- Great for Kids: If you’re feeding kids, these mini sandwiches are the perfect size for them, instead of serving them a full-size crispy chicken sandwich.
- Meal Prepping: Make the fried chicken pieces in advance so you can make sliders throughout the week!
🧾 Ingredients Needed
I’ve highlighted a couple of ingredients with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic.
NOT PICTURED: You’ll also need frying oil, such as vegetable or canola oil.
- Hawaiian Rolls – We recommend using the King’s Hawaiian Savory Butter Dinner Rolls. Recipe testers also tried the Original King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls but liked the savory ones the best.
- Chicken – If using frozen chicken, thaw completely before marinating. If using chicken breasts, we think you’ll also love using chicken breasts for this chicken club sandwich!
- Pickle Juice – Hamburger dill juice is what was used in this recipe.
- Milk – Whole milk was used for this recipe. (See substitutions below.)
- Topping Ideas – Your favorite toppings can be used but we give some topping suggestions below too!
📖 Substitutions
We’ve gathered some ideas that can help you with substituting items if needed:
- Chicken – Chicken breasts or chicken thighs can be used. If using chicken thighs, using boneless, skinless thighs are best, like we used in our bacon-wrapped boneless thighs. Or, even though we used bone-in pork chops, you could use boneless, in this fried pork chops recipe!
- Flour – If you do not have self-rising flour make it by adding ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder to 1 cup flour.
- Milk – Buttermilk fried chicken is always really good too, so feel free to switch out regular milk with buttermilk. 2% can be used as well but skim isn’t recommended for coating purposes.
- Seasonings – Although we feel this recipe has the perfect blend of seasonings, feel free to change up your favorites.
- Frying Oil – Feel free to use vegetable shortening (or vegetable oil), canola oil, or even peanut oil.
- Spices – If you like a little heat, you may also want to add a bit of cayenne pepper to your flour and spice mixture.
👩🏻🍳 How to Make Crispy Chicken Sliders
We’ve created a step-by-step tutorial to show you how to make this chicken slider recipe. It’s easier than you may think!
These Fried Chicken sliders are broken into 3 components:
- marinating (make sure you allow enough time for this!)
- breading and frying
- making the sliders
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
How to Marinate Fried Chicken for Sliders
Marinating the chicken can make a big difference. I suggest marinating the chicken the day before if you’re able, that way it can sit overnight.
However, you can marinate it for only two hours if that’s all you have. (It just won’t have as much flavor as marinating longer.)
STEP 1. Mix the marinade. In a large bowl, medium bowl, or Ziploc bag, mix the milk and pickle juice together. (Images 1 & 2).
- TIP: Cut the chicken in to smaller pieces before marinating if you can. (One chicken breast can be cut in to three pieces.) This way more marinade can get in to the chicken. However, if you want or need to wait to cut it, you can until after marinating.
STEP 2. Begin the marinating. Add the milk mixture and chicken to a Ziploc bag, removing all of the air when closing. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2-8 hours (Images 3 & 4).
Frying the Chicken Pieces
STEP 3: Make breading. To make the flour mixture add the flour, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, salt, and black pepper to a medium bowl (or shallow bowl), and stir well to mix (Images 5 & 6).
STEP 4. Cut and Dredge. When the chicken is done marinating, remove it from the milk mixture and cut it into medium-sized pieces – just larger than a dinner roll (Image 7 and Image 8).
STEP 5: Heat oil. Next, pour some oil in to a deep skillet or frying pan (enough to be deep enough to cover the chicken pieces. Then heat the frying oil to 350 degrees.
- TIP: For a little extra crust on the chicken, re-dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture before placing them in the frying oil. Do this especially if they are looking “wet” before you place them in the oil.
STEP 6: While waiting for the oil to heat, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and place on a baking sheet.
STEP 7: Once the oil is hot, place 3-4 pieces of chicken into the oil. Fry for 5-7 minutes until golden brown and cooked thoroughly. (NOTE: The thickest part of the chicken needs to have reached 165 degrees for it to be fully cooked.)
STEP 8: Remove chicken from the oil and place, in a single layer, on a paper towel-lined pan or plate. (You may want to drain on a wire rack, and that’s ok too.) Repeat this process until all the chicken is fried (Image 9 below).
Building the Sliders
STEP 9. Build the sandwiches. Once the chicken is done, make your sliders. Using a bread knife cut the dinner rolls in half to form a sandwich bun, then dress sliders with your favorite toppings (Image 10).
🍳 Equipment
You’ll either need a dutch oven, or deep frying pan, or you can use your favorite deep fryer. Then, while you have it out, you may want to consider this country fried steak recipe for this week, too!
💭 Recipe Pro Tips
- Tips for cooking the chicken evenly. Be sure to butterfly any thicker pieces to ensure even cooking. (Meaning, cut thicker pieces in half if thicker than the other pieces.)
- Fry in Batches. Depending on the size of your frying pan, you may need to cook in batches. Make sure there’s a distance between your chicken pieces so they don’t overlap and cook unevenly.
🥬 Topping Ideas
In case you’re looking for fried chicken slider topping ideas, here are some of our favorites:
- hamburger dill pickles
- mayonnaise
- leaf lettuce
- ketchup
- mustard
- BBQ sauce
- cheese
- tomato
- red onions
- hot sauce (like we use in our buffalo chicken sliders)
- ranch dressing
📋 Recipe FAQs
Using self-rising flour in this recipe will help achieve crispy chicken. You may also try re-dredging the chicken in the flour again, as that can help. Some even say coating chicken in egg whites (with flour) can help!
Soaking (or marinating) chicken in milk and pickle juice before cooking can add some great flavor to the chicken, as well as tenderize it and make it juicy.
Self-rising flour can give a great batter for crispy fried chicken. Some also prefer a mixture of flour and cornstarch.
❄️ Storage
If you have leftover chicken, it’s best to store chicken separately from the slider fixings. It is also best if the chicken is eaten immediately or you can refrigerate fried chicken in an airtight container for 2-3 days. When reheated it will not be as crispy, however, it can be crispier if you reheat in an air fryer.
🍗 More Fried Chicken Recipes
We love southern fried chicken recipes around here, and even some fried chicken recipes that are made in the air fryer! Here are some of our favorites that we think you’ll love:
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Fried Chicken Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- ½ cup milk
- 3 Tablespoons dill pickle juice
- ¾ cup self rising flour
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 12 Hawaiian Rolls or dinner rolls
- Frying oil Vegetable, Canola, Peanut
- Favorite toppings Pickles, lettuce and mayo seen on sliders
Instructions
Marinating
- In a small bowl (or Ziploc bag) mix the milk and pickle juice together. Add the milk mixture and chicken to a ziploc bag, removing all of the air when closing. Marinate in the fridge for 2-8 hours.
How to Make the Breading
- To make the flour mixture add the flour, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, salt, and black pepper to a medium sized bowl, and stir well to mix.
- When the chicken is done marinating, remove from the milk mixture and cut into medium sized pieces (just larger than dinner roll). Be sure to butterfly any thicker pieces to ensure even cooking.
- Next, pour some oil in to a deep skillet or frying pan (enough to be deep enough to cover the chicken pieces). Then heat the frying oil to 350 degrees.
- While waiting for oil to heat, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and place on a baking sheet.
Frying the Chicken
- Once oil is hot, place 3-4 pieces of chicken into the oil. Fry for 5-7 minutes until golden brown and cooked thoroughly. Remove chicken from oil and place, in a single layer, on a paper towel lined pan or plate. Repeat this process until all the chicken is fried.
Build Your Sliders
- Once the chicken is done, build your sliders. Using a bread knife cut the dinner rolls in half to form a sandwich bun, then dress sliders with your favorite toppings.
Notes
- TIP #1: Cut the chicken in to smaller pieces before marinating if you can. (One chicken breast can be cut in to three pieces.) This way more marinade can get in to the chicken. However, if you want or need to wait to cut it, you can until after marinating.
- TIP #2: For a little extra crust on the chicken, re-dredge the chicken pieces in the flour mixture before placing them in the frying oil. Do this especially if they are looking “wet” before you place them in the oil.
- TIP #3: Cooking the chicken evenly. Be sure to butterfly any thicker pieces to ensure even cooking. (Meaning, cut thicker pieces in half if thicker than the other pieces.)
- TIP #4: Fry in Batches. Depending on the size of your frying pan, you may need to cook in batches. Make sure there’s a distance between your chicken pieces so they don’t overlap and cook unevenly.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Yolanda F says
We just made these for our anniversary gathering and everyone loved them. So easy and delicious! Great recipe.
Abby says
These were amazing! The batter on the outside got nice and crispy and the chicken was juicy. Will definitely make again.