Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich Recipe

Burger King's Original Chicken Sandwich is a breaded, deep-fried white-meat chicken patty with mayonnaise and shredded lettuce on a sesame seed sub-style bun. This copy pounds two chicken breasts into four long cutlets, coats them in seasoned flour, egg and fine breadcrumbs, and fries them at 350°F for four to five minutes. It makes four sandwiches.

What the Original Chicken Sandwich is

Wikipedia's article on Burger King's Specialty Sandwiches describes it as a breaded, deep-fried white-meat chicken patty with mayonnaise and lettuce on a sesame seed sub-style bun. The line it belongs to was developed in 1978 and introduced in 1979 as fare for adults, and the chicken sandwich is the one member still sold.

A sub-style bun takes a long, flat piece of chicken. At home that shape comes from a chicken breast cut in two and pounded to half an inch. This is a reconstruction, not Burger King's recipe, and MakeFoodLovely is not connected with Burger King.

Recipe

Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich

A reconstruction of Burger King's Original Chicken Sandwich — a long breaded, fried chicken cutlet with mayonnaise and shredded lettuce on a sesame seed sub roll. Four sandwiches.

5.0 (1)Print

Prep

20 min

Cook

15 min

Total

45 min

Serves

4

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (2 breasts)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs
• 3 cups vegetable oil, for deep-frying
• 4 sesame seed sub rolls, 6 to 7 inches long
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

Instructions

1. Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally to make 4 thin cutlets. Put them between sheets of plastic wrap and pound them to an even 1/2 inch, shaping each one long and narrow to fit the rolls.
2. Mix the flour with the salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder in a shallow dish. Beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water in a second dish and put the breadcrumbs in a third.
3. Pat the cutlets dry. Coat each one in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, pressing the crumbs on. Let the coated cutlets rest on a rack for 10 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a deep, heavy skillet to 350°F. Fry the cutlets two at a time for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden and 165°F inside. Drain them on a rack.
5. Split the rolls and toast the cut sides in a dry skillet. Spread 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise on each top half, pile the lettuce on the bottom halves, add the chicken and close the sandwiches.

Does Burger King have a grilled chicken sandwich?

It had one for almost thirty years. According to Wikipedia's history of them, Burger King introduced the BK Broiler in 1990, the first grilled chicken sandwich of a major chain, and reformulated it several times. The last version, called simply the Grilled Chicken, was discontinued in 2019.

To grill this sandwich at home, skip the breading. Rub the pounded cutlets with the salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder and cook them on a hot grill or in a skillet for 3 to 4 minutes a side, to 165°F.

Breading that stays on

• Dry, flour, egg, crumbs. Flour sticks to dry meat, egg to flour and crumbs to egg. A wet cutlet sheds its coating in the oil.
• Fine dry breadcrumbs give a thin, even crust. Panko gives a thicker, shaggier one.
• Ten minutes of rest lets the coating set before it meets the oil.
• Two at a time. More than that drops the oil below 350°F, and the crust soaks up fat instead of crisping.

Air fryer and oven

Spray both sides of the breaded cutlets with oil. In an air fryer they take 10 to 12 minutes at 400°F, turned once. In the oven, bake them on a rack at 425°F for 18 to 20 minutes. Either way the chicken is done at 165°F.

Roll, lettuce and sauce

A 6- to 7-inch sesame seed sub or hoagie roll is the nearest shape in a supermarket. Shred the iceberg finely so it stays on the roll. For a sauce with more going on than mayonnaise, the Stacker sauce on this site works on chicken too.

Other Burger King copies on this site are the Shroom n' Swiss Melt and the bacon cheeseburger. For a round, bun-sized version of the same idea, see the Jack in the Box chicken sandwich.