Aaah yes, you heard that right. Crispy Keto Fried Chicken. YUM. When is the last time you ate some fried chicken that didn’t involve either pork rinds, almond meal, baking powder/soda or parmesan cheese? Look no further, because I just made the best fried chicken ever!!
The secret to these succulent crispy chicken thighs? Whey Protein Isolate! I use the NOW brand and love it because it’s much lower carb than normal protein powder.
These days I’ve been trying to make so many recipes keto-friendly by using protein powder and let me tell you something. I am in LOVE! Man, this stuff is amazing. Last week I uploaded some Keto Tempura using whey protein powder, so if you feel like some Japanese food, make sure to make some!
The trick to these bad boys are the eggs. If you don’t coat the chicken with eggs first, the protein powder won’t really stick to the chicken and will fall to the bottom of the pot when deep-fried. So please make sure to add the eggs.
I was thinking about the tempura recipe and how it worked with protein powder, so I tried coating the chicken with it without the egg and it failed miserably, so I added an egg and problem solved! So really don’t forget the egg!!!
Crispy Keto Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- as needed lard or coconut oil, beef tallow
- 1/2 cup whey protein isolate
- 2 eggs
Fried Chicken
- 450 g boneless chicken thighs
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tbsp paprika powder
- 1/2 tbsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp sage
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp celery seeds
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 45 ml unsweetened almond milk
Spicy Ranch Dressing
- 3 tbsp homemade mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp chili oil
Instructions
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Mince the garlic cloves. Cut the chicken thighs into bite size pieces. I prefer to eat the skin, but if you don't like the skin feel free to take it off 🙂
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In a bowl combine the chicken with all the spices and the almond milk. Mix until well combined. Add the two eggs to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
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Heat the lard (or any frying oil you'll be using) between 140-150C/285-300F.
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When the oil is hot, dip each chicken piece, one by one, into the protein powder making sure all the sides are perfectly coated. Once coated, add the chicken pieces to your hot oil and fry 2-3 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. The inner temperature of each chicken bites should register at 65C/150F+ when the chicken is cooked through.
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Add the fried chicken on a wire rack or some paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
Eat as is or with some spicy ranch dressing!
Spicy Ranch Dressing
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Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl together and serve with the fried chicken 🙂
Recipe Notes
- The chicken can be reheated the next day, but taste better and is crispier the same day 🙂
- The ranch dressing can also be made as a salad dressing.
I don’t have chili oil, can I substitute with anything else? Thank you in advance.
You can use cayenne pepper.
I got Pea protein flour and noticed it has more sodium and no potassium. Plus not cholesterol. Will that work?
Hi Mike! I haven’t tried with any other protein powders so if you try, please let me know if it works 🙂
Pray tell me what the hell is protein powder. Do you mean corn flour?..
Protein powder is protein powder. It is not corn flour. This is the one I use. http://amzn.to/2x2fCsH
Protein Powder is a food powder that is usually made from dehydrated whey or egg white. People use it to add protein to their diet, whether by mixing it into a shake, or using it as a type of flour, like in baking, or, in this case, as a low carb coating for making crispy fried food. There are many many brands with lots of ingredients and flavors on the market… look for one with ingredients that suit your tastes and needs…
I hope this info helps…😃👍🏻
OMG I’m craving hahaha
I made this last night and it was awesome. However i was wondering if you have tried adding some seasoning to the coating and if so how did it work out?
I usually add all my seasonings to the chicken first. I haven’t tried seasoning the protein powder first. Worth a shot!
How much of the breading comes off when you fry it? Do you think this can be made in the oven?
The breading doesn’t really come off, but the oil does get orange. I haven’t tried making it in the oven so I can’t really tell you if it works!
Could these be made with an air fryer? Also can I use Quest multi purpose protein powder?
Hi!
I don’t own an air fryer so I couldn’t tell you if it works, but if you do try, please let me know! Any protein powder will work 🙂
I made this tonight. So much flavor and perfect crispiness! I think I put too much paprika, but otherwise, SO SO SO good! Thank you!!!
Thank you so much!!
You can try different combination of spices too! I made some Japanese karaage ones that had ginger, garlic, coconus aminos, salt and pepper, and they were amazing!! I also made some with curry powder and YUM! You can also fry other cuts of meat or fish/seafood 🙂
What flavor of protein do you use? Or is there a plain protein powder on the market I’m not aware of? Because I know my French vanilla and double fudge aren’t going to work for this! Haha!
Unflavoured Whey Protein Isolate from NOW. I put the link to Amazon in the ingredients list!
Dude. This stuff was amazing. Can’t even begin to thank you for bringing this concoction into this world…
Haha thank you so much!! You can also do different spices and do it with different cuts of meat or fish!
I’m so excited to try this recipe! I’m from TX and have been missing chicken fried steak and steakfingers something fierce so I’m going to try the batter on beef cube steaks/cutlets. What do you think?
Blessings To You!
Hi!
I haven’t tried with beef but I imagine it would taste amazing! So far I’ve done it with shrimp, fish, pork and chicken! All were super yummy 🙂
I did chicken fried steak last night (with beef cube steak) and it came out fantastic, I did use different seasonings but the coating was the same with eggs & whey protein. Even my non low carb husband said he’d eat it again.
WOOHOO!! Thank you Jackie! I’m going to give it try this weekend!
I followed instructions & ingredients exact and this was perfect, even my non low carb husband liked it. Thank you so much its game changing for me.
We’ve made this twice now and HOO BOY, it’s delicious. Literally cannot thank you enough for being so clever and coming up with something so delicious and non-keto tasting 😉
Thank you so much!! I’m so happy that there are so many possibilities to using protein powder!!
The ingredient list does not contain eggs, yet eggs are clearly in the video and instructions.
Ah, there seemed to be a mistake. Added the eggs to the recipe card. Thanks for the heads up.
made these tonight…they were AMAZING…made a mushroom cap version for my kiddos…and dipped them in wheat starch (they are very limited on their protein intake)….then fried….sooooo good…thank you so much…I would have never thought of this recipe for my kids…you are awesome…
I just wanted to let you know, if you don’t already, whey protein isolate contains MSG. This is a name used to disguise MSG. Obviously, you try to cook healthy, but if you haven’t developed a sensitivity to MSG, you may soon. I recommend reviewing truthinlabeling.org, specifically the list of hidden sources. It sounds lovely, but if I ate it, I’d have a migraine of huge proportions.
MSG does absolutely nothing to me.
I’m glad you don’t have an issue. Unfortunately, all excitotoxins affect me. 😔
I live in a country where MSG is used as table salt at home and restaurants so I may just be used to it or my body can tolerate it since it’s used in every single dish here.
You are mistaken. This is a myth circulating the internet and the site you reference has been proven as unreliable. Whey protein does NOT contain MSG. Period. https://fixyourgut.com/msg-in-your-protein/
I just finished eating these and want to say THANK YOU!! These are so good and I love how crispy the crust is. It makes me feel like I’m not even eating low carb. Keep up the amazing recipe ideas. 🙂👌
Thank you so much for making it and leaving a comment about it <3
I made this chicken tonight. I wanted to say BLESS YOU!! It was delicious and so satisfying to me. Ive been missing fried chicken with a coating NOT made from almond. I made a few small modifications to it based on what I had on hand…..used breast meat, cumin for the celery seed, and chicken broth for the almond milk. Even the dip was tasty!
So, I’m definitely intrigued and excited to try. Question about the servings, would 1 serving be considered 1 piece of chicken?
Hi Nakisha,
One serving is about 110g of chicken thighs so however big or small you cut the pieces. I used 4 large thighs for this recipe and cut each thigh into 3-4 pieces. So 3-4 pieces of chicken was 1 serving for me.