Fried chicken isn’t Kentucky’s to claim. It’s a global phenomenon with long roots that include a Scottish battering process that gave the world fry-everything chip shops and West African seasoning, unfortunately as a result of recipes traveling with the slave trade. Now, whether it’s India’s Chicken 65, Southeast Asia’s ayam goreng, Japan’s karaage and katsu, Hong Kong’s shrimp paste chicken, or Korea’s own KFC (Korean fried chicken), it has permeated various cultures — and even in the United States, the term “fried chicken” encompasses far more than Col. Harlan Sanders’ original recipe.
We scoured reviews and rankings by expert food writers and countless hungry customers to find what is considered by many to be some of the best fried chicken in each state.
Alabama: The Little Donkey
Birmingham What to Get: A half of Famous Fried Chicken
We gave Little Donkey the nod over other impressive establishments such as Saw’s for one reason: It’s unique. Taking its cues from Mexican recipes, the chicken is soaked overnight in a three-chile brine, touched with habanero-infused vinegar, and fried into gold. It’s more burn than Southern fried chicken fans may be accustomed to, but a pleasant surprise.
Related: The Best Fried Foods Around the World
Alaska: Lucky Wishbone
Anchorage What to Get: The “Pop” five-piece
In business since 1955, The Lucky Wishbone has been buttermilk battering and pan frying its fresh chicken for more than six decades. This gem of a roadside stand — with its midcentury lines and atomic signage — includes fries and a corn muffin with a two- to five-piece offering, but the chicken stands on its own.
Related: The Best Chicken Wings in Every State
Arizona: Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe
Phoenix What to Get: Golden Brown Southern Fried Chicken
The menu at Mrs. White’s is purposefully scant: fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, pork chops, oxtail, catfish, or the same in sandwich form. Sure, there are cobblers, pies, cakes, and sides, but this institution has been making straightforward soul food since 1964 and isn’t about to get fancy now.
Arkansas: Monte Ne Inn Chicken Restaurant
Rogers What to Get: AYCE Fried ChickenWay in the northwestern corner of the state is Monte Ne Inn, which has been serving chicken for over four decades in a dining room with mauve vinyl tablecloths and antique farm tools on the walls. Everything is served family style, and the only entree choice is fried chicken, so you know it must be good. The chicken’s coating is flecked with pepper, and the loaf of bread is freshly baked. What’s more, it’s an all-you-can-eat extravaganza for under 20 bucks.
California: Howlin’ Ray’s Hot Chicken
Los AngelesWhat to Get: Fried Chicken SandwichThe talented husband-wife duo behind Howlin’ Ray’s brought the heat of on-trend Nashville hot chicken to L.A. and have kept the bar high (and lines long) with a phenomenal sandwich. It features a huge boneless breast with a flavorful crust, topped with sliced pickles, cole slaw, and Southern-style comeback sauce on a buttered and toasted bun. Pick a heat level on a scale from cool Country to the searing Howlin’ — just be ready for the delicious burn. Also on the menu are quarter birds, half birds, tenders, and wings.
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Colorado: Juniper Valley Ranch
Colorado Springs What to Get: Skillet-Fried ChickenLocated in a Southwestern-style farmhouse building on a ranch, Juniper Valley Ranch is a family business that started in 1951. Chicken is fried in big cast-iron skillets and served family style with homemade biscuits and apple butter, okra casserole, slaw, and potatoes and gravy. On Thursdays and Sundays, you can get the chicken with a Nashville-style hot glaze.
Connecticut: Sandra’s Next Generation
New Haven What to Get: Sharwyn’s Church Plate
In a state that steams its hamburgers, spice can get lost in the shuffle. Sandra’s Next Generation has it covered, thanks to the Southern and Caribbean recipes of owner Sandra Pittman’s mother, Mrs. Mary Harris. Between the fish, chopped barbecue, and other specials, there are a lot of distractions, but the fried chicken with corn, fried okra, fried plantains, and candied yams should be all you’ll need.
Delaware: Walt’s Flavor Crisp Chicken
Wilmington What to Get: Three-Piece Dinner
Founder Harry Sheppard opened this place as an ice cream shop in 1973 with boss and business partner Walt Samuels (the Walt of Walt’s). After people took to the chicken at a new location in 1978, it became the focus — and a legacy wife and co-owner Symanthia Lynch-Sheppard has maintained since Harry’s passing. Walt’s golden-battered chicken is best enjoyed with fries and a dinner roll.
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Florida: Yardbird Southern Table & Bar
Miami Beach What to Get: Lewellen’s Fine Fried Chicken
Yardbird Southern Table & Bar has expanded to L.A., Las Vegas, Dallas, and Singapore with its embrace of Southern cooking traditions and recipes from the grandmother of restaurant group CEO John Kunkel, brining meat for 27 hours before dredging it in spices and flour and frying it up. Start with one of three varieties of biscuits or end with bacon chocolate cake or a fried Oreo.
Georgia: Busy Bee Cafe
Atlanta What to Get: Busy Bee’s Fried Chicken
Much of Atlanta’s business, sports, and hip-hop communities make regular pilgrimages to Busy Bee (Killer Mike from Run the Jewels ate here with then-candidate Bernie Sanders in 2015.) The chicken, marinated for 12 hours before frying and served in halves or quarters with two sides, is mandatory first choice.
Hawaii: Itchy Butt
Honolulu
What to get: Garlic chicken
Don’t let the name fool you: the only odor coming out of Itchy Butt is the fragrant garlic fried chicken. Takeout boxes at this walk-up window are full of chopped fried chicken pieces coated in shoyu, green onion, or the popular sticky, pungent garlic sauce. Don’t bother asking for the usual sides because your box comes with Korean radish, corn salad, and gooey wonton-wrapped fried cheese sticks. (And in case you’re wondering, the owner’s daughter named the eatery when she was 3!)
Idaho: Fork
Boise What to Get: Fried Chicken & Ballard Cheddar Waffle ‘Sliders’
Fork has a precious commodity on its hands. On its brunch menu and served in such finite amounts that it runs out, Fork’s fried chicken gets a classic buttermilk coating and pan frying before being plated with savory waffle sliders infused with local cheese. Paired with local honey-orange infused butter and balsamic infused maple syrup, it’s decadent to those who show up early enough to enjoy it.
Illinois: Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket
Willowbrook What to Get: Famous Fried Chicken Basket
There are a lot of places in Chicago that make their best effort to unseat Dell Rhea’s, but this Route 66 spot would have to close to give up the title. Open for 77 years and on the National Register of Historic Places, the Chicken Basket has chicken marinated for 24 hours, hand breaded, cooked to order, and served with fries and biscuits. It’s worth the half-hour wait.
Indiana: Hollyhock Hill
Indianapolis What to Get: Indiana Fried Chicken Dinner
Hollyhock Hill celebrates its 95th birthday this year and still makes its chicken in a cast-iron skillet, serving it with mashed potatoes, corn, and green beans. We love that it comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the end.
Iowa: Mt. Hamill Tap
Donnellson What to Get: Half chicken
Donnellson has fewer than 1,000 residents, which means the 200 people crowding Mt. Hamill Tap on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday Chicken Nights increase the town’s population by more than 20%. The Tap has been making its chicken for more than 50 years.
Kansas: Rye Plaza
Kansas CityWhat to Get: Three-Piece Dinner
Kansas has no shortage of excellent fried chicken and the fighting can get fierce over whose is the best. Rye Plaza serves farm-to-table favorites such as steaks and chops, but it’s the fried chicken that is truly celebrated. Beard-rated chef-owners Megan and Colby Garrelts serve their fried chicken — described by one Yelp reviewer as as “crunchy, flaky, moist, and flavorful” — with pickles, mashed potatoes, and ham gravy.
Related: Legendary Restaurant Rivalries Across America
Kentucky: Chik’n & Mi
Louisville What to Get: Fried Chicken Steam Buns
The Asian-inspired comfort foods of Chik’n & Mi include ramen noodle soups and kimchi macaroni and cheese, but Laotian-spiced fried chicken is clearly the star here despite the temptation of sides such as fried cauliflower and bonito fries. For a treat you’ll wander the country seeking elsewhere, though, supplement an “Asian Fried FreeBird Chicken” meal with a side of fried chicken buns with marinated cucumber, hoisin, hot mustard, and pickled red onion.
Louisiana: Mama’s Fried Chicken
OpelousasWhat to Get: Four-piece dinner
If you can live without fancy surroundings and decor but can’t live without excellent fried chicken, Mama’s is the place for you. Proving that some of the best food in Louisiana can be found outside New Orleans, Mama’s chicken garners loads of praise for its seasoning and moist tenderness. Family-owned Mama’s proudly offers items others restaurants don’t, like fried gizzards and livers. (James Beard-winner and long-time favorite Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans’ Sixth Ward is temporarily closed due to a fire earlier this year, but hopefully not forever.)
Maine: Crispy Gai
Portland What to Get: Chicken Sammy
Choosing the best chicken at the Thai-infused Crispy Gai is challenging not just because there’s lots of competition on a relatively small menu, but because the items people crave might disappear. (The restaurant’s delicious glazed nuggets sell out fast, for instance, but also aren’t listed on current menus.) If you’re here for brunch, get the sandwich of extra-crispy chicken on a sesame seed potato bun with karaage mayo and turmeric pickles; if you’re not, ask for it. If you can’t get it, you’ll be happy anyway with the brined Hat Yai Fried Chicken; any flavor of wing; or the Crispy Waterfall Salad.
Maryland: Hip Hop Fish and Chicken
Baltimore What to Get: Six-Piece Combo
Hip Hop puts fish atop the menu and in its logo, but quick and top-notch straight wings and legs with fries, slaw, and bread is just $9. We’d go for the trout and chicken-leg combo, but it’s not that kind of list.
Related: Amazing Seafood Shacks Across America
Massachusetts: Trina’s Starlite Lounge
Somerville What to Get: Fried Chicken
A fried clam or scallop is easier to come by in the Bay State than good fried chicken, but this stylized dive bar saw an opening. It serves up plates of fried chicken with hot pepper syrup, mashed potatoes, and collard greens. Come into Trina’s at brunch and they’ll put it on a waffle, but you can have it with a cocktail or Miller High Life any time.
Michigan: Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Ann Arbor What to Get: Two-Piece Buttermilk-Fried Chicken
Zingerman’s expanded from its Ann Arbor delicatessen to a small food empire ranging from candy and coffee to Korean barbecue. The Roadhouse has an extensive menu of its own, but the real star is the buttermilk-fried chicken that comes with mac and cheese, a house-made béchamel sauce, and a garnish of yellow mustard coleslaw that will make salad seem like weak filler by comparison.
Minnesota: Rooster’s BBQ & Deli
St. Paul What to Get: Quarter-Chicken Dinner
When a state is better known for lutefisk, eating barbecue can be a trust exercise. Rooster’s has the requisite ribs, pulled pork, and even fried fish, but the name is built around the menu’s pressure-fried chicken. It’s a quick box of chicken and fries that can hang with any in the country.
Mississippi: The Old Country Store
Lorman What to Get: Golden Brown Southern Fried Chicken
Owner Arthur Davis does not skimp on his Heavenly Fried Chicken or anything else at his Old Country Store — which TV foodie Alton Brown swears by and food publications select as Mississippi’s best. His entire menu is an all-you-can eat buffet of fried chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, black-eyed peas, green beans, and okra.
Missouri: Porter’s Fried Chicken
St. Louis What to Get: Four-Piece Box
Keep the fried chicken simple and consistent and people will come back faithfully. For more than three decades, Porter’s has made it the same way: double-coated in a flour-based breading, with an extra-spicy option. For a little extra, pick your own pieces.
Montana: Roost Fried Chicken
Bozeman What to Get: Half BasketThis cozy shack that’s been featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” brings the flavors of the South to Rocky Mountain country. It’s a bold move serving up fried chicken in steer country, but Roost pulls no punches. With a modern aesthetic and traditional menu, Roost lets customers take their fried chicken in a basket, in sandwich form or in a bucket. There are also boneless dinner options.
Nebraska: Big Mama’s Kitchen
Omaha What to Get: Big Mama’s Oven-Fried Chicken
We’d like to dedicate this one to Big Mama’s Kitchen founder Patricia Barron, who passed away in 2018 at age 76. The longtime catering business got its storefront in 2007 and featured an oven-fried chicken, first soaked in spice-laden buttermilk for 24 hours, that remains a large part of her legacy and moved with her family to a new space in North Omaha.
Nevada: Hash House a Go Go
Las Vegas What to Get: Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict
Hash House a Go Go has the usual fried chicken skewers, salads, sandwiches, bacon-waffle towers, and mashed potatoes with bacon, but the Benedicts of fresh biscuit, sage-fried chicken breast, fresh spinach, tomato, chipotle cream, and griddled mashed potatoes are great for soaking up what happens in Vegas the night before.
New Hampshire: The Puritan Backroom
Manchester What to Get: Fried Chicken Tenders
The Puritan, founded by Greek immigrants who also put kebabs, spanakopita, and fried feta on the menu, claims to have invented chicken tenders in 1974. Other sources say they only likely invented the name, which is good enough. They come spicy or in Buffalo or coconut flavors, but we recommend them just as they are, with the house sauce.
New Jersey: Chicken Galore
Kearny What to Get: Four-Piece Chicken Dinner
Full disclosure: This was the chicken place my family ordered from when I lived in Kearny decades ago. I wouldn’t recommend them based on the experience of a 6-year-old, but recent trips back confirmed the call. Owned by the same family since 1963, Chicken Galore adds some spice to the Northeast chicken-and-fry basket formula with a zesty yet thin buttermilk batter and steak fries that deviate from the shoestring approach of regional chicken chains such as Crown or Kennedy.
New Mexico: Golden Pride
Albuquerque What to Get: Three-Piece Fried Chicken
Golden Pride gets the basics right: buttermilk-battered chicken with sides of mac and cheese, green beans and bacon, spicy beans, mashed potatoes, potato salad, coleslaw, or corn. It excels by including it on a menu that also offers green chili stew, pozole, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and all-day breakfast burritos.
New York: Charles’ Country Pan-Fried Chicken
Harlem What to Get: Pan Fried Chicken
North Carolina-born Charles Gabriel started by frying chicken on a food truck in the ’90s, but moved to Harlem and started frying his dry-rubbed birds on a cast-iron stove in a 15-seat restaurant. Charles’ Country Pan-Fried Chicken has an Upper West Side spot in addition to the James Beard Award semifinalist location in Harlem.
North Carolina: Mama Dip’s
Chapel Hill What to Get: Three Pieces of Southern Fried Chicken
In another highly contested fried-chicken state, Mildred Council has spent roughly four decades making Mama Dip’s the South’s gold standard for the dish. Now a small empire of sauces, rubs, cookbooks, and other gems, Mama Dip’s is a temple of Southern cooking with fried chicken at its spiritual center.
North Dakota: Brew Bird
FargoWhat to Get: Hot as Cluck
Located in a former tow-truck shop in an area with deep Nordic roots, Brew Bird serves up a habanero-tinged Hot as Cluck chicken that it specifically notes is “not meant for Scandinavians.” But that is far from the only option available. The restaurant happily encourages customers to “get sauced” at its sauce bar with flavors ranging from brown butter marshmallow sauce to white barbecue. Chicken and waffles are on tap for weekend brunch.
Ohio: Belgrade Gardens
Barberton What to Get: Serbian Fried Chicken
Back in 1933, Serbian immigrants Mike and Smilka Topalsky opened this place and enticed Ohio customers with lard-fried chicken, “djuvece” hot sauce, coleslaw, and fried potatoes. It spawned competitors, but a thigh at Belgrade Gardens is a good first step into Barberton’s Serbian culinary scene.
Oklahoma: Eischen’s Bar
Okarche What to Get: A Fried Chicken
We didn’t tell you to get some fried chicken at Eischen’s Bar: We said get a whole fried chicken. Eischen’s Bar dates back to the end of Prohibition and claims to be the oldest bar in Oklahoma. As such, it’s fairly traditional: The menu is limited, it’s closed on Sundays, and it’s cash only. Oh, and the fried chicken is simply a whole fried chicken. The smaller option is no chicken at all.
Oregon: Reel M’ Inn
Portland What to Get: Three-Piece Chicken Dinner
On a stretch of Portland’s food-saturated, vegan-friendly Division Street is a window-deprived bar laden with lottery machines, old neighborhood memorabilia, a full-volume jukebox, and a fridge filled with tall, cheap beer cans. This bit of “Old Portland” hasn’t ceded ground to the encroaching bourgeoisie. Instead, Real M’ Inn sticks to a one-page menu focused heavily on Southern-battered chicken (and the gizzards, if you want them) and potato wedges. We suggest calling ahead or realizing that the locals love this place and having a beer or two while waiting.
Pennsylvania: Bud and Marilyn’s
Philadelphia What to Get: Marilyn’s Fried Chicken
Named after chef Marcie Blaine Turney’s grandparents and paying tribute to the restaurant they ran in her Wisconsin hometown, Bud and Marilyn’s is couched in a cozy midcentury vibe and a menu of comfort foods. The half-bird of fried chicken is served with a biscuit, honey butter, dill pickles, and a housemade hot sauce.
Rhode Island: Ogie’s Trailer Park
Providence What to Get: Southern Rhody Fried Chicken Sandwich
Ogie’s Trailer Park has taken a midcentury atomic lounge, Tiki bar, and vintage trailers and turned them all into one restaurant and bar. To soak up the cocktails and cheap beer, this Dorito-fried chicken breast, slab bacon, sharp cheddar, house mayo, marinated tomato, and sweet red onion gastrique is the most original fried chicken for the job.
South Carolina: Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles
Columbia What to Get: Chicken and a waffle
Open since 2012, Kiki’s now has two locations to serve its signature dish of four crispy fried chicken wings atop a warm Belgian waffle. (Though you can sub in two breasts, and the waffle can be blueberry, walnut, pecan, sweet potato, chocolate, or red velvet in addition to plain wheat.) The waffles are a “perfect combo of crunchy and chewy,” worth the wait to get in, and the chicken is also worth a fight: “After eating the appetizer it was all I could do to finish all of the wings,” a Yelper says, “but I did it.”
South Dakota: The Keg
Sioux Falls What to Get: Chicken by the piece: dark, white or mixedYou can get chicken by the piece or wings here, but adventurous souls will want to try the Five-Pound Food Challenge: 16 pieces of chicken, a pound of French fries, two sides (one pint of each) with all the soda or water you want. Winners who finish in 45 minutes get a Keg Yard Bird T-shirt, a picture with the Yard Bird Challenge champion belt, a picture on the Wall of Fame and on the Facebook page. Lose, and you pay for the meal.
Tennessee: Jackie’s Dream
Knoxville What to Get: The Jody You can get regular fried chicken or “Knox hot chicken,” but either way, Jackie’s Dream offers soul food made with care. The Jody gets you two breasts and a wing. Need sides with your chicken? Consider the collard greens, fried green tomatoes, or beans (pinto, white, or green). While this place just looks like a boring cement box from the outside, it’s the food that counts.
Texas: Barbecue Inn
Houston What to Get: Southern Fried Chicken
For more than 75 years, the Skrehot family has run the Barbecue Inn with smoked meat as the main attraction. When in Texas, though, good barbecue is plentiful and highly debated, while the inn’s fried chicken is a far more rare and unifying treat. It’ll serve an all-dark or all-white plate, but get the original mix and ask for the baked potato side filled with chopped meat.
Utah: C&B Maddox Famous Chicken
Layton What to Get: Three-Piece Meal
The chicken at C&B Maddox looks different — not as lumpy and ridged as buttermilk fried chicken, but with a smooth texture almost akin to Korean fried chicken. The key difference: The chicken’s skin is peeled off and the meat gets coated and flash-fried before serving. It knocks off a calorie or 10, but also creates a signature chicken that pairs well with Maddox’s homemade cornpones, rolls, potato salad, coleslaw, or baked beans.
Vermont: Onion City Chicken & Oyster
Winooski What to Get: Whole Bird
Fried chicken has a negligible presence in Vermont, but this food-camper-turned foodie spot makes chicken a centerpiece. Onion City Chicken & Oyster serves a huge family-style portion of fried chicken with a choice of five sides, such as buttermilk biscuits, collard greens and succotash
Virginia: Wayside Fried Chicken
Charlottesville What to Get: “The Big Eater” Five-Piece
Wayside Fried Chicken makes a juicy, spicy bird that pairs well with mac and cheese, collard greens, potatoes, beans, or a bottle of Cheerwine. The hush puppies cost more but are worth the splurge.
Washington: Ma’ono Fried Chicken & Whisky
Seattle What to Get: Drumsticks
The Seattle area is a wealth of fried chicken options, but James Beard-winner and native Hawaiian Mark Fuller’s Ma’ono takes top honors by pairing brined, buttermilk-coated, soy-and-chili-spiced, twice-fried chicken with sides such as spicy kimchi, Spam musubi, sweet rolls, and “mac & kimcheese.”
West Virginia: Dirty Bird
Morgantown What to Get: Four-Piece Chicken Box
West Virginia University students with the seasonal Dirty Bird in their backyard since 2011 have been lucky to limit the damage to a freshman 15. Sandwiches topped with gravy, bacon, cheddar jack cheese, shaved ham, and blue cheese are marquee items, but free-range chicken served with a buttermilk biscuit, dipping sauce, and a drink are all you’ll need.
Wisconsin: TomKen’s Friendly Fried Chicken
Milwaukee What to Get: Famous Friendly Basket
While these folks have been better known for Buffalo-style wing sauces since opening in 1991, TomKen’s will keep its sauce well away from your bucket of fried goodness. Made with TomKen’s own special-recipe batter, the thin-battered chicken can be served with coleslaw, fries, or bread in a deluxe bucket for an extra few bucks.
Wyoming: Café Genevieve
Jackson Hole What to Get: Fried ChickenFor the more upscale, costly version of anything in Wyoming, go to Jackson Hole. But to find what’s basically the best interpretation of fried chicken in the state that isn’t from a pan in someone’s home, the Red Bird Farms half-chickens from Café Genevieve are the best bet. The mac and cheese is included in the price, which, considering the cost of everything else on the menu, isn’t bad.
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