OMG! This is the Popeyes Style marinade that I have settled on. I didn’t even know I had it all along. But Talk about those crevices and a nice light, airy batter with crunch.

I was messing around with this and even posted a few recipes with a wet batter that resulted in those crevices, and they’re good too. But this one just takes the batter. It’s my go-to from now on. It produces the Texture, Appearance, and Crunch like Popeyes!

But first, before we get into the Popeyes Style Marinade, let’s take a look at what the ingredients are in a Popeyes Chicken.

Popeyes Ingredients

Popeyes ingredients for their Chicken is in two parts. First the Marinade and then the breading, which contains the seasoning.

Popeyes Seasoning

It’s basically a Louisiana Cajun/Creole Seasoning. They order it from Diversify Foods.

CHICKEN MILD SEASONING: SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SEASONING INCLUDING DRIED GARLIC AND DRIED ONION. CONTAINS: MSG

CHICKEN SPICY SEASONING: SALT, SELECTED BLEND OF CAPSICUMS, GARLIC, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, CUMIN AND MUSTARD. CONTAINS: MSG

Popeyes Poultry Batter

POULTRY BATTER: ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (ENRICHED WITH NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE, MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SALT, S­PACK ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (ENRICHED WITH NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE, MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), SALT, SUGAR, FD&C YELLOW #5 (MAY ALSO CONTAIN YELLOW #6, RED #40, RED #3, GRAPE COLOR EXTRACT, BLUE #1, BLUE #2, BEET COLOR EXTRACT, ANNATTO EXTRACT AND / OR TURMERIC EXTRACT), SPICES, DRIED WHOLE EGGS, NONFAT DRIED MILK, LEAVENING (SODIUM BICARBONATE AND/OR SODIUM ALUMINUMSULFATE), MICROCRYTALLINE CELLULOSE, NATURAL FLAVOR (ALL FLAVOR INGREDIENTS CONTAINED IN THIS FLAVOR ARE APPROVED FOR USE IN A REGULATION OF FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION OR ARE LISTED AS GENERALLY RECOGNIZED AS SAFE ON A RELIABLE PUBLISHED INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIST. THIS PRODUCT ALSO CONTAINS CORN SYRUP SOLIDS). CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG, MILK AND YELLOW #5 & #6, RED #3 AND #40, BLUE #1 AND BLUE #2.

FLOUR: BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY. CONTAINS: WHEAT

Popeyes Process

Popeyes marinates their chicken for 12 hours. Then the Chicken goes straight to being breaded. It is tossed 20 times to develop that texture. Don’t press the breading in as this would collapse all those folds. Just gently toss 20 times in lots of breading and aggressively shake any excess flour off.

It’s not just the 20-time toss, either. It’s the aggressive shaking of the chicken to get rid of excess flour that really brings out the kernels.

Popeyes Chicken is deep-fried at 340 F for 12 minutes. This may have an effect on the final crisping. I’m still experimenting with this.

Popeyes Marinade Key Points

There are a few things of interest when looking at the Ingredients.

1. Popeyes uses a blend of food coloring to affect the final color of their products.
2. They do not use Buttermilk, instead, it is low-fat milk. More specifically, powdered milk.
3. They use Baking Soda. One would think that this is for leavening. However, baking soda is also a tenderizer, and since Popeyes Marinates their chicken for 12 hours. I would suspect that it is for the purpose of breaking the Chicken down or tenderizing it. This would also have an effect or promote that Popeyes Texture when breaded.
4. I find it odd that Popeyes does not state that they use Cornstarch. Instead, Bleached Wheat Flour & Malted Barley is stated.

It does appear that this type of marinade originates with Colonel Sanders. The idea of adding flour to a marinade to thicken it a bit before breading in a seasoned flour would seem to come from Colonel Sanders Fried Cauliflower’s recipe.

JAH Popeyes Marinade Ingredients

This version of a Popeyes Marinade combines the Fried Chicken Marinade with the Deep Fry Batter and 1 Egg and 1 Tbl of White Vinegar added in to make up the Popeyes marinade.

If you wanted to more closely resemble a Popeyes Chicken then I would go with a Louisiana style seasoning, used in the Marinade with a small amount of Louisiana Hot Sauce.

Popeyes Chicken Marinade

Just make up the Marinade and add your Chicken, Chicken Breast Fillets, Cauliflower, Fish or whatever else you’d like to get that Popeyes Texture & Crunch.

It’s the technique that creates the crevices and crunch. Chicken or other food items are coated in this slightly thickened batter that when it hits the breading causes it to fold in on itself. This is what creates those crevices and is also why you don’t want to press the breading in. Just toss to coat and go straight to the fryer. Don’t rest the chicken because this will flatten out the side that is resting.

Popeyes Breading

The JFC ~ Frickin Good Chicken Breading is what is used to bread the Chicken to deliver that Flavor. The beautiful thing about the JFC Breading is that you can make KFC Style Chicken or Popeyes Style Chicken! It’s the technique that is used to create a Popeyes Style Chicken vs KFC.

Just mix up the chicken or other food items again so that it can get coated good in the marinade right before breading. Toss gently 20 times and go straight to the fryer.

That’s it! A Popeyes Style marinade! I mean, just look at that Popeyes Style Fried Chicken! Isn’t it Gorgeous.

Extra Crispy Fried Chicken

I was messing around with Lupin Flour because I wanted a Keto Flour and also noticed that the Bulk Barn sold Lupin Flakes. After using the Lupin Flour and seeing that it also assisted in creating a Yellow Color for a different chicken dish. I became really curious thinking what would happen if I added Lupin Flakes into the Popeyes Chicken Marinade. I mean, they look like Kernels, and they would fry up crisp I would think, and they do promote a Golden Yellow Color. So I tested it.

Well let me tell you… it makes those Popeyes Kernels Pop! And the Crunch is even Crunchier. It does an excellent job at creating even more pronounced Kernels and a wicked Crunch. I’m impressed and will add these in whenever making the Popeyes Marinade.

Recipes using Popeyes Marinade