Get the best fried chicken recipes without flour using this recipe collection. Here, you’ll find tips to make fried chicken using substitutes for all-purpose flour like dry spices with baking powder, breadcrumbs, and rice flour. Plus, I share the best recipes to make crispy fried chicken in the oven or air fryer with and without breading. Add these recipes to the best side dishes for fried chicken to make a meal.
Why Share?
Thanks to its distinctive flavors and extra crispiness, fried chicken is a favorite classic dish to many. Traditional fried chicken uses flour and/or cornstarch for perfect browning and crispiness. However, if you won’t use flour for whatever reason, there are equally great alternatives that you can consider.
In this post, you’ll find recipes with alternative breading options like dry mixed spices, breadcrumbs, rice flour, cornflakes, and cornstarch. Most of these recipes use an air fryer or oven for healthier and less messy results.
Typical Fried Chicken Recipes
Typical or Southern fried chicken includes raw chicken pieces (white meat, dark meat, or a mixture) tossed in an all-purpose flour mixture that includes flour and cornstarch along with spices like seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
For maximum flavor, the pieces of chicken should be brined in buttermilk or even pickle juice before cooking to ensure that they are crisp and tender.
The frying process is super easy. It starts with heating oil that has a high smoke point (cooking oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, avocado oil, or peanut oil are the best oils for frying food) in a deep fryer, cast iron skillet, or dutch oven.
Then, you coat the pieces of chicken in the dry mixture before cooking the floured raw meat in the hot oil until it’s golden brown.
But, what happens when you don’t want to use flour?
Different Ways To Bread Chicken Without Flour
Below are some ingredients you can use to bread chicken without flour:
- Fresh breadcrumbs
- Panko breadcrumbs
- Fine dry breadcrumbs
- Cornflakes
- Potato chips
The following fried chicken without flour recipes are easy to follow and use common pantry ingredients for breading:
Best Fried Chicken Recipes Without Flour
Make fried chicken without flour using these easy recipes. Perfect for those who want the crispiness of fried chicken without having to coat your chicken with breading. Includes a range of alternatives like simple spices, cornstarch, rice flour, and breadcrumbs.
Air Fryer Whole Chicken Wings
This crispy fried chicken recipe uses whole wings. Like the recipe above, it has a cooking time of less than 30 minutes.
Air Fryer Fried Chicken Legs
Achieve typical fried chicken flavors using less oil in less than 30 minutes. This easy recipe requires 8 simple ingredients and uses just a little bit of oil.
Nashville Hot Chicken Strips
Make Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders the easy way with this recipe. I use gluten-free frozen boneless chicken strips to save time. The batter for these includes rice flour instead of wheat flour. So, these are a perfect gluten-free and crispy option.
Sweet Chili Wings
These juicy Asian-flavored wings don’t need flour breading to be perfect. They use baking powder plus a few dry spices, and the results are top-notch. Serve this delicious oven-fried chicken recipe to a crowd.
Lemon Pepper Air Fryer Wings
Are you looking for bold and adventurous fried chicken no flour recipes? These lemon-pepper wings are crispy and packed with strong flavors.
Crispy Air Fryer Old Bay Chicken Wings
Make your favorite Old Bay wings using only 6 ingredients. No flour breading or deep frying, and the results are tantalizing.
Air Fryer Garlic Butter Chicken Thighs
Use homemade garlic parmesan butter to make juicy and tasty chicken thighs. They will be ready in just 30 minutes.
Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings
These oven-baked wings deliver fried-chicken flavors and crispiness without flour breading or the deep frying mess. You’ll use baking powder and spices for flavor and the crunchy effect.
Crispy Vietnamese Air Fryer Chicken Wings
This Vietnamese dish's sweet and tangy flavor combo is the real deal. The recipe uses a dry spice rub instead of flour, and the results are perfect.
Crispy Korean Air Fried Chicken Wings
Sticky, sweet and spicy, these Korean chicken wings dish is the epitome of perfection. It substitutes cornstarch for flour.
Air Fryer Panko Breaded Fried Chicken Drumsticks
This recipe is perfect for making kid-friendly fried chicken without flour. It uses panko breadcrumbs and 5 other ingredients.
Air Fryer Fried Chicken
Did you know you could enjoy fried chicken while on keto? Well, this recipe uses pork panko crumbs to deliver fried-chicken crispiness with fewer carbs.
Air Fryer Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Here’s an easy and sure way to make crispy, tender and delicious chicken breasts or tenders. Everything comes together in under 30 minutes.
Keto Southern Air Fryer Drumsticks
This recipe allows you to have your favorite Southern fried chicken flavors without all the carbs. Low-carb pork rind and almond flour replace regular flour breading.
Pan Fried Chicken Thighs
These 20-minute pan-fried chicken thighs are better than you’d imagine. They’re perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Baked Crispy Chicken Thighs
Baking takes longer than deep frying but still produces crispy and drop-dead-delicious thighs. This recipe uses 8 simple ingredients.
Healthy Baked Or Air Fried Sesame Chicken
Season your chicken breast, bread it with sesame seeds and bake or air fry it to perfection. You’ll need 8 ingredients to get this one done.
Haitian Fried Chicken
If you want non-conventional deep fried chicken without flour recipes, this one fits the bill. The secret weapon for this recipe is the spice blend.
Dominican Fried Chicken Wings
One is never enough with these Dominican fried chicken wings. They use just 7 ingredients, and the results are irresistibly tasty.