Cracker Barrel Sunday Homestyle Chicken

If you’re looking for the perfect recipe to keep Sunday dinner a family-favorite, look no further than Cracker Barrel’s Sunday chicken. This recipe will have your whole house smelling like the classic Southern restaurant that so many people love. The best part is that it’s easy to recreate in your own kitchen! Homestyle comfort food has never tasted so good, add some country sides, and you will have the perfect meal any day of the week.

homestyle fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on a plate


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Cracker Barrel Sunday Chicken

Cracker Barrel is well known for its down-home menu, and this chicken recipe is no exception. I know I have made a point to go there on a Sunday to try this delicious homestyle chicken.

This chicken is easy to make and will remind you of the excellent fried chicken the ladies in your family used to make. This recipe has boneless chicken breasts hand-dipped in Cracker Barrel’s special buttermilk batter. The result is a flavorful and crispy chicken fried chicken.

Why you should try this copycat recipe from Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

This recipe is only served on Sundays if you go to the restaurant. So you can only enjoy this traditional southern fare on Sundays. You can make this recipe any day of this week. This golden-fried Sunday homestyle chicken is packed full of flavor. When I make this at home I like to make some homemade cream gravy to enjoy the chicken. There is nothing as satisfying as good southern cooking.

Recipe Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make southern fried chicken:

  • Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • All-purpose flour
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • Buttermilk
  • Water
  • Oil for frying
Cracker Barrel homestyle fried chicken ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Buttermilk gives this dish its unique taste. If you can get it, I love Borden’s Country Style buttermilk; it is rich and thick buttermilk for this recipe.

I tried making this with the powdered buttermilk that you rehydrate with water, but it didn’t give me good results. This is one of the few times I specifically buy buttermilk for cooking. You can always make some buttermilk biscuits with this to help use up all of the buttermilk.

The chicken is deep-fried in oil. In this order, I recommend oil for deep frying: peanut oil, cottonseed oil, Crisco brand shortening, then generic vegetable oil.

I like how peanut oil crisps everything up, and if you are clean with your batter by shaking all of the excess loose flour off, you can reuse the oil later. Again, this is my preference, but I often get asked this

How to Make Cracker Barrel Sunday Homestyle Chicken

  1. Pour enough oil into a deep fryer or large pot 3 to 4 inches deep. Heat the oil to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
  3. In another bowl, combine buttermilk and water.
  4. Pound chicken breasts between wax paper or plastic wrap until uniform in thickness.
  5. Pat chicken breasts dry with a paper towel and season them with salt and pepper.
  6. Dredge chicken in seasoned flour and shake off excess.
  7. Dip floured chicken into the buttermilk mixture.
Raw chicken breasts being breaded to make Cracker Barrel Sunday Chicken.
  1. Dredge the chicken again in the flour.
  2. Deep-fry the chicken pieces in the hot oil until golden brown and done, about 7 to 8 minutes (internal temperature is 165°F). Turn the chicken over while frying.
  3. Remove the fried chicken from the oil and drain it on a wire rack.

This chicken is prepared quickly so that you can have this on your dinner table in about 20 minutes. So this is a perfect main dish for any night of the week.

homemade Cracker Barrel homestyle fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on a plate

How to store leftover Sunday Homestyle Chicken

Store any leftover portions in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze the chicken for up to 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer for best results.

How to reheat chicken fried chicken

For best results, I like to reheat this in my air fryer. I reheat it for about 7 to 8 minutes at 375 degrees in my air fryer. When you reheat this in the microwave the crust retains some of its crispiness. You can reheat this in the microwave, for about 1 minute on high power.

Easy Chicken Recipes

Be sure to take a look at more of my Cracker Barrel copycat recipes and the best chicken restaurant recipes.

homestyle fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on a plate

Cracker Barrel Sunday Homestyle Chicken

You can make Cracker Barrel Sunday Chicken any day of the week! 
4.89 from 9 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cracker Barrel Recipes, Cracker Barrel Sunday Homestyle Chicken
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 503kcal

Ingredients

  • oil for frying
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Instructions

  • Pour 3 to 4 inches of oil into a deep fryer or large pot and heat the oil to 350 degrees.
  • Prepare seasoned flour by combining the flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
  • In another bowl, combine the buttermilk and water.
  • If your chicken breasts are not fairly uniform in size, place them between two pieces of wax paper and gently pound them out with a meat pounder until they are more uniform in size. This will help with even cooking times.
  • Pat chicken breasts dry with a paper towel.
  • Season the chicken with salt and pepper and then dredge them in the seasoned flour.
  • Dip floured chicken in buttermilk.
  • Dredge the chicken again in the seasoned flour.
  • Deep-fry the chicken pieces in the hot oil until done, about 7 to 8 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts over while frying to make sure both sides of the chicken are golden brown.
  • When the chicken is done, remove it from the oil and drain on a wire rack.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 1229mg | Potassium: 161mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 3mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

      • Diedre_k

        Paula deen makes a wicked biscuit that is my go to! They are really easy, you should try it! 🙂 if I can find my way back I’ll post it for you

    • Ashley

      http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/330/Cracker_Barrel_Biscuits48939.shtml

      I’ve made these a couple times and they’re pretty close to Cracker Barrel biscuits!

    • Jamie

      5 stars
      I know I’m late to the game, but I work at a Cracker Barrel in retail. We sell the cornbread muffin mix in the store for $5.99 (if I’m thinking of the right price). It’s a decent sized box, so you could have it for a while. I know making your own is preferable, but if you want Cracker Barrel corn muffins, it’s exactly the same mixture that they use in the kitchen.

  1. Tonya

    For crunchy oven fried chicken: use the chicken breast then dip in a buttermilk/onion dressing mixture then crushed corn flakes. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Make sure to lightly spray the pan before baking.

  2. Deborah

    I just want to say if the PEANUT OIL is heated to 350 degrees and is checked with a thermometer, not with just the setting on the fryer,(we took back 2 before one was correct) food absorbs very little oil. Eat cake, drink the wine, eat fried chicken and dance…you only live once!!! It’s not like we eat it everyday! Thank you for the tips and recipe I can’t imagine BAKING this recipe….PS… just recently made cauliflower mashed potatoes with about half cup sour cream and fourth cup parmesan cheese and dab of butter in food processor and it is sinful delicious!!

  3. Carol Hollingshaus

    I am about to make this recipe for the second time. The first time I made it, it was so deliciously good, I almost couldn’t believe it! I do flatten the chicken breasts first and then soak them in buttermilk for at least several hours before dredging them in the flour mixture. I rarely fry foods, but this chicken needs to be fried! It is worth it! I served it was mashed potatoes and made cream gravy from the drippings with a little help from packaged cream gravy mixes. Absolute heaven on a plate!

  4. Barbara Goldstein

    Love your video of this lovely fried chicken!
    Have everything except fresh peanut oil which I shall
    get post haste.

    One thing I wish you would do is cut those chicken breasts in half
    after cooking so that we may see how done it is in the middle

    Thanks
    barbo

    • Karen

      Hello Barbara,
      Just a curiosity are you related to any Goldstein’s in Pennsylvania ? Goldstein is my mom’s maiden name and was just curious…perhaps you never know what a small world this truly is after all.

  5. Karen Kilpatrick

    I love this recipe! I did however tweak it a little to our taste by substituting garlic salt for the salt. It makes GREAT chicken nuggets too.

  6. MATYCHY

    This is the first recipe for fried chicken that ever worked for me. Thank you. I have been trying to fry chicken for at least 1/2 my life. Was so easy and sooooo good. I did have this at Cracker Barrel a few years ago and waited for a copy Kat recipe.

  7. Star Prater

    The recipe indicates you salt and pepper the chicken first… but then says to dredge it in the flour and spice mixture. Both or only one? Which one? I am looking forward to trying it. It was the best I had ever had (at CB) but I would have sworn that there were crouton shapes in the crust.

  8. brandy

    Wow! I made this tonight with mashed potatoes, green beans, buttermilk biscuits…and it was yummy!! It took way longer than 10 minutes, but definitely worth it! Not a single complaint 🙂 Even my pickiest eaters were impressed. Thx!

  9. lynnekz@aol.com

    does someone have the exact measurements for this recipe? The video says to click the link under the description but that link just brings you back here. Thanks!

  10. real_world_truth

    Try marinating the raw chicken in buttermilk for a few hours, then dredge in flour, buttermilk and flour before frying. It’s even more moist than Cracker Barrel’s. Also, if you like a little heat, add a bit of powdered cayenne pepper to the flour mixture.

    • stephaniemanley

      I am sure marinating the raw chicken in buttermilk does wonders for making the chicken moist. Great suggestion. Thank you for dropping by.

  11. MyTSA

    Boneless, skinless chicken breasts?? Every good cook knows to use bone-in chicken when frying; the bones add flavor and moisture!

    • stephaniemanley

      You have a great point, but the Cracker Barrel serves the boneless skinless one, and that’s what I tried to duplicate. Thanks for stopping by!

    • kleklips

      Okay, EVERY good cook knows? Since Stephanie is doing “copycat” recipes and Cracker Barrel uses boneless skinless breasts, it wouldn’t exactly be a copy cat recipe if she used bone in chicken now would it? However, Cracker Barrel ‘ s version has been a huge money making hit and Stephanie is the one who has the successful Copy Cat website. So I highly doubt anyone in her right mind, would question whether or not she is in the league with “every good cook.” Hmmm…Cracker Barrell? Awesome &Successful Restaurant Chaine, Stephaniemanley&CopyCat? Brilliant and Successful Site, TSAfan? Umm.. a cook in a league with “every good cook who knows..??”. Hmmm. Wouldn’t know.Never heard of ya..Lol.
      Ridiculously jealous people make me have second hand embarrassment on their behalf.

    • Kat

      It probably wont be the same Sherry, but what I do is put a good layer of coconut oil on a shallow pan than bake in oven, if you want to try, coconut oil a little better for you

    • Bonnie Valcik

      I always bake my “fried” chicken. I follow the recipe just like you were going to fry it, but place it in a baking dish instead. I then pour about 1/2 – 1 C. melted butter over the top of the chicken pieces. Pop it in an med. hot oven (375 degrees) for about 40 to 45 minutes. Pull it out when the chicken is done.

  12. SusanH

    I’ve been frying chicken for more than 40 years and have never heard the tip about letting the chicken sit for a few minutes after dredging in flour. Makes sense; can’t wait to try it.

      • Lee Doyle

        Stephanie,
        I’m a 76 yr young woman, I’ve been cooking since I was a young girl.
        I have also been cooking chicken pretty much like your Cracker Barrel recipe.
        Small world.
        I love your website and read the whole news letter when I get it.
        Keep up the good work.
        Lee Doyle

      • Stephanie

        Thank you very much for your kind words Lee! I think it is awesome you get online and look up recipes. Let me know if I can do anything for you.

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