OH yea. Purely and simply delicious! One of the messiest sandwiches I’ve ever eaten, and one of the best beer-battered chicken sandwiches I’ve ever tasted! Time to just get down and dirty, have some fun, and eat over the sink! Ha! Ok, maybe not over the sink. Convenient, but not cool. Just make sure you’ve got a plate underneath to catch anything that falls…and a fork (or your fingers!) so that none of that incredible yumminess goes to waste! Because these Best Beer-Battered Fried Chicken Sandwiches are sneak another one in the middle of the night good!!

I LOVE to fry. I swear, of all the cooking methods that I do, simmer and stew, and grill and bake, and stir-fry, sauté, steam, slow-cook, broil, and braise…(I think I need a cooking intervention…)…frying is probably my most favorite way of ALL to prepare food. I swear, I can stand next to my stove and fry for literally hours on end and absolutely LOVE every second of it. I’ll even scour the fridge looking for more goodies and veggies to fry when what I’m making is all done! Am I nuts??

I guess we all have our favorite ways of cooking, or baking, that we enjoy most!

Although…*grilling* may be either second or a close tie for first place as well!! And I wish that summer would hurry up and get here so that I can do BOTH again! Grilled burgers and brats, and homemade fries here we come!!

So anyways. The past few weeks I’ve been longing for spring, and that always puts me in the mood for lighter meals and great sandwiches! We had a small taste of warm weather, but evidently Old Man Winter hasn’t packed his bags quite yet. So, though I wanted a simple sandwich versus making a huge casserole or stew, I thought to make it very hearty so that it would be plenty enough by itself for a dinner. So I whipped up these babies and served them piping hot onto toasted bread with a little hint of spring by topping it with the surprising flavors in the cole slaw that I had made to go along with! Sandwich and salad all in one. DONE.

And MAN was it ever good! What a wonderful combination it turned out to be!! I managed to eat a half, and my hubby ate his and the other half of mine. And we were STUFFED to the gills. No extra side dish was even needed. *But if you’d like to serve something with it, I’ve provided several suggestions below.

Lightly crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, flavored very nicely and not bland. And the slaw on top was INCREDIBLE. It actually came about because I couldn’t decide between a sauce, a slaw, or lettuce and pickles to top them with…and decided to just say the heck with it, and combined them all together! VERY glad that I did!!

You know you want it….so just make it!

Roll up your sleeves & grab a few napkins, this is gonna get messy! 🙂

We decided to just go straight-up chicken on toasted hoagie rolls with the slaw piled on top the first day. Then the second day, I tried them with American cheese under the slaw. But frankly, I preferred it best without the cheese. I know, I know…*GASP!!!!*….the cheeseaholic waved the cheese? Yep. But ONLY just this once!!! Hahaha!! A RARE exception!! So adding cheese is completely optional. And you don’t have to broil it or anything for it to melt. The chicken is very hot when it’s removed from the oil, so just have it ready and place it on top of the chicken right after you remove it to the paper towels and it’ll melt just fine all on it’s own without any additional heat.

So if you love to fry, too, and are hankering for a delicious chicken sandwich with a fun, unique, and VERY complimentary cole slaw to pile on top…well, then…here you have it! We LOVED these, and I was sad to see the last one disappear!! But that only means that it was good! I so hope that you enjoy these, too!

If Cole Slaw isn’t your thing,
here are some sauces that accompany this sandwich well:
Honey Mustard Sauce, Mississippi Comeback Sauce, Homemade Ranch Dressing,
Alabama White Lightning Barbecue Sauce, 3-Ingredient Chipotle Peach Barbecue Sauce,
and many more on my blog! (Search “Dressing” and “Sauce”)

Side Dishes that go well:
Sweet Creamy Southern Cole Slaw, Blue Ribbon Barbecued Baked Beans,
Old-Fashioned Mustard Potato Salad, Apple Raisin Cole Slaw,
Copycat 5 Guys Fries, or Potato Wedges

Best Beer Battered Fried Chicken Sandwiches (or Tenders)

Ingredients

For Batter:

3 cups flour (scoop so it's packed and level off with a knife)
2 Tbl. garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbl. regular table salt
1 Tbl. coarse ground black pepper
1 Tbl. sweet smoked paprika
1 Tbl. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
3/4 tsp. celery seed
3/4 tsp. cayenne
3/4 tsp. turmeric
3/4 tsp. dried dill weed
3 1/4 cups regular or light beer
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Rest of Ingredients:

4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and separated into 8 halves (pound thicker end to make level, even, and thin) and dredged lightly in plain flour just before battering
8 hoagie rolls (buttered and broiled - to toast insides)
(oil for frying)

Optional Toppings:

8 slices cheese (American, cheddar or co-jack), lettuce (shredded, chopped, or whole leaves), cole slaw, tomato slices, thinly sliced red onion, dill pickle slices, pickled jalapeño rings

Instructions

In medium bowl, whisk dry batter ingredients. Stir in beer and apple cider vinegar until well mixed. Set aside.

In large deep frying pan, add oil (about 3/4 - 1" deep), and heat over medium heat until nice and hot.

When oil is hot, totally coat one chicken filet in batter coating well, (*don't be afraid to use your finger to smear it on!), and add to hot oil. Coat a second piece and add to pan, turn heat down just a bit, and fry for 12 minutes total turning pieces with tongs 4 - 5 times to cook and achieve deep golden color on both sides evenly. Remove to several layer of paper towel to absorb excess oil. Repeat until all are cooked. These stay hot, so you really don't need to transfer them to a low oven unless you really want to or need to hold them.

While chicken filets are cooling so they're not too hot to eat, prepare the hoagie rolls. Open them, place them onto a baking sheet, butter the insides and broil just until toasted.

Place chicken filets on top of toasted bottom buns, (top with cheese if desired) and then the slaw, and place on toasted tops. Serve hot and enjoy!