No need to go to the restaurant when you can make Chick Fil A spicy deluxe chicken sandwich at home with simple ingredients. This delicious spicy fried chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and pepper jack cheese is perfect for lunch or dinner.
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What Makes the Chick Fil A Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich So Delicious?
This Chicken fil A Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich recipe is the perfect combination of spiciness, sweetness, and tang. The heat of the hot sauce-flavored egg wash and the tang from pickle juice chicken marinade provides the zip, and the brioche bun offers a sweet counterbalance.
Add a shaggy breading that makes it crunchy and helps keep the chicken perfectly tender, and you have one darn-good spicy crispy chicken sandwich.
Pepper jack cheese bumps it up more to make it cheesy and brings in some more heat. Crisp lettuce and juicy tomato complete the sandwich with their flavors and textures.
Why You Should Try This Recipe
Once you’ve had your first bite, you’ll see how the little bit of effort it takes to make this spicy deluxe sandwich at home is definitely worth it. If you are concerned about frying, don’t be. It’s easier than you think.
Just get yourself a large heavy-bottomed pan or Dutch Oven along with a good deep-fry thermometer or an inexpensive deep-fryer, and you won’t have any problems.
Once you master this copycat Chick-Fil-A recipe, it’s sure to become one of your favorite recipes when you’re craving fast-food restaurant meals at home.
Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich Ingredients
For this Chick fil A Deluxe Spicy Chicken Sandwich recipe, you’ll need:
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Dill Pickle juice
- Whole milk
- Hot sauce
- Egg
- All-purpose flour
- Powdered sugar
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Smoked paprika
- Cayenne pepper
- Oil for frying
- Brioche hamburger buns
- Butter
- Pickle chips
- Pepper jack cheese
- Lettuce
- Tomato
Because of its high smoke point, peanut oil is best in this recipe. However, if you have a peanut allergy or other health concerns, you can use vegetable oil, canola oil, or your favorite cooking oil instead.
Ingredient Substitutions
You can use a multigrain brioche bun, whole wheat bun, or regular hamburger bun instead of the white brioche bun.
You can use American, Colby-Jack cheese, or Cheddar Cheese instead of pepper jack cheese.
Add some garlic powder to the spice mix for an extra bit of flavor.
How to Make a Spicy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich
To prepare the chicken:
- Trim any extra skin or fat from the chicken breasts.
- Cut the boneless breast of chicken in half horizontally. If you use smaller chicken breasts, use four instead of two and pound them flat to ensure they cook evenly.
- Marinade the chicken breasts in a covered bowl of pickle juice for about 2 hours in the fridge.
To bread the chicken:
- Place two large shallow bowls and a wire rack on a rimmed cooking tray on the work surface.
- Pour the milk, hot sauce, and egg into the first bowl and whisk well.
- In the second bowl, stir together the flour, powdered sugar, salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, and cayenne.
- Remove the chicken pieces from the pickle juice brine and pat them dry on paper towels. Discard the pickle juice.
- Dip one piece of chicken into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Shake off any excess and transfer the chicken to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Coat the chicken well with the flour mix and lightly shake off the excess.
- Place the breaded chicken on the wire rack and repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
- Place the baking tray with the breaded chicken in the fridge to set up while heating the oil.
To fry the chicken:
- Place a clean wire rack over a rimmed cooking tray close to where you will fry the chicken.
- Pour the oil for frying into a Dutch oven-style pot. Attach a deep-fry thermometer to the side of the pot. You can also use a deep-fryer for this recipe.
- Heat the oil to 350°F.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and carefully add one or two pieces to the hot oil. You will need to work in batches to prevent the oil temperature from falling below 325°F.
- Fry the chicken for three to four minutes per side. The chicken should be golden and very crispy.
- Remove the chicken from the hot oil using a spider. Use an instant-read thermometer to double-check that the interior of the chicken is at least 165 degrees. If it isn’t, put it back in the oil for a minute or two oil longer.
- Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.
To assemble the chicken sandwich:
- Butter the buns and toast them butter-side down in a skillet over medium-low heat.
- Place lettuce, sliced tomato, fried chicken, pepper jack cheese, and pickle slices on the toasted bottom bun.
- Cover with the top bun and serve.
What to Serve With This Deluxe Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Chick-fil-A’s most popular side for the spicy sandwich is waffle-cut fries, but regular fries will taste just as good. You can also serve the chicken sandwich with onion rings, cole slaw, or a salad.
How to Store Leftovers
Keep any extra fried chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for a maximum of three days. You can freeze leftovers for up to two months in a freezer-safe bag.
What Is the Best Way to Reheat a Fried Chicken Sandwich
Reheating in an air fryer is ideal:
- Preheat the air fryer to 365°F.
- Heat thawed fried chicken breast for about five minutes or until hot.
If you don’t have an air fryer, you can reheat the chicken in the oven:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Lay the fried chicken breasts on a baking sheet and cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil, flip the chicken, and cook them for five more minutes or until heated through.
More Chick-Fil-A Copycat Recipes
Favorite Fast Food Burgers and Sandwiches
- Arby’s Chicken Sandwich
- Baconator
- Burger King Cheeseburger
- Culver’s Burgers
- Krystal Burger
- McDonald’s Smoky BLT Quarter Pounder
- Panera Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt
- Taco Bell Sandwich
Check out more of my easy sandwich recipes and the best copycat Chick Fil A recipes on CopyKat!
Chick Fil A Spicy Deluxe Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breast butterflied
- 2 cups pickle juice (total juice from 32 oz pickle chips jar)
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Peanut oil for frying
- 4 hamburger brioche buns
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 hamburger dill pickle chips
- 4 iceberg or green leaf lettuce leaves
- 4 tomato slices
- 4 slices pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Add chicken to a large mixing bowl with pickle juice. Cover and place inside the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.
- When done, drain chicken breast and pat dry.
- Add oil to a large stovetop pan and allow it to heat up.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the milk, egg and hot sauce.
- In another medium, shallow bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Mix well.
- When your oil is heated, dunk each butterflied chicken breast into the egg mixture covering well.
- Shake off any excess and dunk into flour mixture, covering completely. Work each piece through one at a time.
- Carefully drop each piece of chicken into the oil and allow it to fry on either side for 3 to 4 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown. Repeat for each piece
- Add butter and buns to a separate skillet over low-medium heat to toast.
- Assemble your sandwich toasted bun first. Top with lettuce, tomato, chicken breast, pepper jack cheese, pickle, and top bun.
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