Best Fried Chicken in Every State

Fried chicken isn't Kentucky's to claim. It's a global phenomenon with long roots that include a Scottish battering process that gave the world fry-everything chip shops and West African seasoning, unfortunately as a result of recipes traveling with the slave trade. Now, whether it's India's Chicken 65, Southeast Asia's ayam goreng, Japan's karaage and katsu, Hong Kong's shrimp paste chicken, or Korea's own KFC (Korean fried chicken), it has permeated various cultures — and even in the United States, the term "fried chicken" encompasses far more than Col. Harlan Sanders' original recipe. We scoured reviews and rankings by expert food writers and countless hungry customers to find what is considered by many to be some of the best fried chicken in each state.

Related: Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches in America

Birmingham
What to Get: A half of Famous Fried Chicken

We gave Little Donkey the nod over other impressive establishments such as Saw's for one reason: It's unique. Taking its cues from Mexican recipes, the chicken is soaked overnight in a three-chile brine, touched with habanero-infused vinegar, and fried into gold. It's more burn than Southern fried chicken fans may be accustomed to, but a pleasant surprise.

Related: The Best Fried Foods Around the World

Anchorage
What to Get: The "Pop" five-piece

In business since 1955, The Lucky Wishbone has been buttermilk battering and pan frying its fresh chicken for more than six decades. This gem of a roadside stand — with its midcentury lines and atomic signage — includes fries and a corn muffin with a two- to five-piece offering, but the chicken stands on its own.

Phoenix
What to Get: Golden Brown Southern Fried Chicken

The menu at Mrs. White's is purposefully scant: fried chicken, chicken-fried steak, pork chops, oxtail, catfish, or the same in sandwich form. Sure, there are cobblers, pies, cakes, and sides, but this institution has been making straightforward soul food since 1964 and isn't about to get fancy now. 

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Springdale
What to Get: Original AQ Pan-Fried Chicken

Arkansas Quality chicken has been enjoyed by presidents (Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush) and scores of loyalists since 1947. If there's room after a plate and two sides, save room for fried pickles or mushrooms.

Related:The Best (and Worst) Fast-Food Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

West Oakland
What to Get: Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Cornmeal Waffle

Brown Sugar Kitchen chef Tanya Holland's buttermilk fried chicken and cornmeal have been among Oprah's favorite things, but skip the at-home recipe and head straight to Oakland for this combo. You can ditch the waffle, but at a place that serves oyster po' boys, catfish, jerk chicken, egg tarts, beignets, and a host of sides and pies, we don't know why you'd go for less food rather than more.

Related: The Best Fried Chicken and Waffles Across America

Denver
What to Get: Fried Chicken

Lots of folks love the fried fish at Welton Street Cafe, a soul-food mainstay in Five Points. Others have been fans of the wings since it was Wings and Tings. But wait the 20 minutes for a four-piece meal and two sides, tided over by a spicy pâté (Caribbean meat pie), and save room for peach cobbler.

New Haven
What to Get: Sharwyn's Church Plate

In a state that steams its hamburgers, spice can get lost in the shuffle. Sandra's Next Generation has it covered, thanks to the Southern and Caribbean recipes of owner Sandra Pittman's mother, Mrs. Mary Harris. Between the fish, chopped barbecue, and other specials, there are a lot of distractions, but the fried chicken with corn, fried okra, fried plantains, and candied yams should be all you'll need.

Wilmington
What to Get: Three-Piece Dinner

Founder Harry Sheppard opened this place as an ice cream shop in 1973 with boss and business partner Walt Samuels (the Walt of Walt's). After people took to the chicken at a new location in 1978, it became the focus — and a legacy wife and co-owner Symanthia Lynch-Sheppard has maintained since Harry's passing. Walt's golden-battered chicken is best enjoyed with fries and a dinner roll.

Miami Beach
What to Get: Lewellen's Fine Fried Chicken

Yardbird Southern Table & Bar has expanded to L.A., Las Vegas, Dallas, and Singapore with its embrace of Southern cooking traditions and recipes from the grandmother of restaurant group CEO John Kunkel, brining meat for 27 hours before dredging it in spices and flour and frying it up. Start with one of three varieties of biscuits or end with bacon chocolate cake or a fried Oreo.

Atlanta
What to Get: Busy Bee's Fried Chicken

Much of Atlanta's business, sports, and hip-hop communities make regular pilgrimages to Busy Bee (Killer Mike from Run the Jewels ate here with then-candidate Bernie Sanders in 2015.)  The chicken, marinated for 12 hours before frying and served in halves or quarters with two sides, is mandatory first choice.

Honolulu
What to Get: Mochiko chicken

Because the late Anthony Bourdain loved being the most intrusive tourist on the planet, this fusion plate-lunch spot was already shared with much of the world. While that may be bad news for mainland hipsters, it's been great news for Ethel's. The Mochiko chicken gets a thin coating of rice flour that serves as just enough resistance for a ginger ponzu dipping sauce.

Boise
What to Get: Cast Iron Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Cheddar Waffle

Fork has a precious commodity on its hands. Served only on Tuesdays and in such finite amounts that it runs out, Fork's fried chicken gets a classic buttermilk coating and pan frying before being plated atop a savory waffle infused with local cheese. Paired with local honey-orange infused butter and balsamic infused maple syrup, it's decadent to those who show up early enough to enjoy it.

Willowbrook
What to Get: Famous Fried Chicken Basket

There are a lot of places in Chicago that make their best effort to unseat Dell Rhea's, but this Route 66 spot would have to close to give up the title. Open for 73 years and on the National Register of Historic Places, the Chicken Basket has chicken marinated for 24 hours, hand breaded, cooked to order, and served with fries and biscuits. It's worth the half-hour wait.

Related: Route 66 Then and Now

Indianapolis
What to Get: Indiana Fried Chicken Dinner

Hollyhock Hill celebrates its 94th birthday this year and still makes its chicken in a cast-iron skillet, serving it with mashed potatoes, corn, and green beans. We love that it comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the end.

Donnellson
What to Get: Half chicken

Donnellson has fewer than 1,000 residents, which means the 200 people crowding Mt. Hamill Tap on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday Chicken Nights increase the town's population by more than 20%. The Tap has been making its chicken for more than 50 years.

Kansas City
What to Get: Three-Piece Dinner

Kansas has no shortage of excellent fried chicken and the fighting can get fierce over whose is the best. Rye Plaza serves farm-to-table favorites such as steaks and chops, but it's the fried chicken that is truly celebrated. Beard-rated chef-owners Megan and Colby Garrelts serve their fried chicken — described by one Yelp reviewer as as "crunchy, flaky, moist, and flavorful"  — with pickles, mashed potatoes, and ham gravy.

Related: Legendary Restaurant Rivalries Across America

Louisville
What to Get: Fried Chicken Steam Buns

The Asian-inspired comfort foods of Chik’n & Mi include ramen noodle soups and kimchi macaroni and cheese, but Laotian-spiced fried chicken is clearly the star here despite the temptation of sides such as fried cauliflower and bonito fries. For a treat you'll wander the country seeking elsewhere, though, supplement an "Asian Fried FreeBird Chicken" meal with a side of $8 fried chicken buns with marinated cucumber, hoisin, hot mustard, and pickled red onion.

New Orleans
What to Get: Fried Chicken

Willie Mae's in the Sixth Ward is beloved for spending more than a half-century as a neighborhood institution. Once a salon, barber shop, and bar, Willie Mae's began its restaurant business around 1970 and rode its founder's fried chicken recipe to a James Beard Award in 2005. You get three pieces and one side, and you won't need more.

Portland
What to Get: Chicken Sammy

Choosing the best chicken at the Thai-infused Crispy Gai is challenging not just because there's lots of competition on a relatively small menu, but because the items people crave might disappear. (The restaurant's delicious glazed nuggets sell out fast, for instance, but also aren't listed on current menus.) If you're here for brunch, get the sandwich of extra-crispy chicken on a sesame seed potato bun with karaage mayo and turmeric pickles; if you're not, ask for it. If you can't get it, you'll be happy anyway with the brined Hat Yai Fried Chicken; any flavor of wing; or the Crispy Waterfall Salad.

Baltimore
What to Get: Six-Piece Combo

Hip Hop puts fish atop the menu and in its logo, but quick and top-notch straight wings and legs with fries, slaw, and bread is just $9 to $10. We'd go for the trout and chicken-leg combo ($12.49), but it's not that kind of list.

Related:Amazing Seafood Shacks Across America

Somerville
What to Get: Fried Chicken

A fried clam or scallop is easier to come by in the Bay State than good fried chicken, but this stylized dive bar (real dives don't have a second location in Amesbury) saw an opening. It serves up plates of fried chicken with hot pepper syrup, mashed potatoes, and collard greens. Come into Trina's at brunch and they'll put it on a waffle, but you can have it with a cocktail or Miller High Life any time.

Ann Arbor
What to Get: Two-Piece Buttermilk-Fried Chicken

Zingerman's expanded from its Ann Arbor delicatessen to a small food empire ranging from candy and coffee to Korean barbecue. The Roadhouse has an extensive menu of its own, but the real star is the buttermilk-fried chicken that comes with mashed potatoes, housemade chicken gravy, and a garnish of yellow mustard coleslaw that will make salad seem like weak filler by comparison.

St. Paul
What to Get: Quarter-Chicken Dinner

When a state is better known for lutefisk, eating barbecue can be a trust exercise. Rooster's has the requisite ribs, pulled pork, and even fried fish, but the name is built around the menu's pressure-fried chicken. It's a quick box of chicken and fries that can hang with any in the country.

Lorman
What to Get: Golden Brown Southern Fried Chicken

Owner Arthur Davis does not skimp on his Heavenly Fried Chicken or anything else at his Old Country Store — which TV foodie Alton Brown swears by and food publications select as Mississippi's best. His entire menu is a $20 all-you-can eat buffet of fried chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, black-eyed peas, green beans, and okra.

Related: The Most Indulgent Buffet in Every State

St. Louis
What to Get: Four-Piece Box

Keep the fried chicken simple and consistent and people will come back faithfully. For more than three decades, Porter's has made it the same way: double-coated in a flour-based breading, with an extra-spicy option. For a little extra, pick your own pieces.

Bozeman
What to Get: Fried Chicken on a Stick

It's a bold move serving up fried chicken in steer country, but Roost pulls no punches. With a modern aesthetic and traditional menu, Roost lets customers take their fried chicken in a basket, in sandwich form, Nashville hot, or, for five bucks, on a stick. The latter version is not only slightly cleaner, but leaves plenty of room for pecan pie or ice cream.

Omaha
What to Get: Big Mama's Oven-Fried Chicken

We'd like to dedicate this one to Big Mama's Kitchen founder Patricia Barron, who passed away in 2018 at age 76. The longtime catering business got its storefront in 2007 and featured an oven-fried chicken, first soaked in spice-laden buttermilk for 24 hours, that remains a large part of her legacy and moved with her family to a new space in North Omaha.

Las Vegas
What to Get: Fried Chicken Eggs Benedict

Hash House a Go Go has the usual fried chicken skewers, salads, sandwiches, bacon-waffle towers, and mashed potatoes with bacon, but the Benedicts of fresh biscuit, sage-fried chicken breast, fresh spinach, tomato, chipotle cream, and griddled mashed potatoes are great for soaking up what happens in Vegas the night before.

Related: You Have to Try These Famous Sandwiches in Every State

Manchester
What to Get: Fried Chicken Tenders

The Puritan, founded by Greek immigrants who also put kebabs, spanakopita, and fried feta on the menu, claims to have invented chicken tenders in 1974. Other sources say they only likely invented the name, which is good enough. They come spicy or in Buffalo or coconut flavors, but we recommend them just as they are, with the house sauce.

Kearny
What to Get: Four-Piece Chicken Dinner

Full disclosure: This was the chicken place my family ordered from when I lived in Kearny decades ago. I wouldn't recommend them based on the experience of a 6-year-old, but recent trips back confirmed the call. Owned by the same family since 1963, Chicken Galore adds some spice to the Northeast chicken-and-fry basket formula with a zesty yet thin buttermilk batter and steak fries that deviate from the shoestring approach of regional chicken chains such as Crown or Kennedy.

Albuquerque
What to Get: Three-Piece Fried Chicken

Golden Pride gets the basics right: buttermilk-battered chicken with sides of mac and cheese, green beans and bacon, spicy beans, mashed potatoes, potato salad, coleslaw, or corn. It excels by including it on a menu that also offers green chili stew, pozole, burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and all-day breakfast burritos.

Related: Best All-Day Breakfast Spots in Every State

Harlem
What to Get: Fried Chicken

North Carolina-born Charles Gabriel started by frying chicken on a food truck in the '90s, but moved to Harlem and started frying his dry-rubbed birds on a cast-iron stove in a 15-seat restaurant. Charles' Country Pan-Fried Chicken has an Upper West Side spot in addition to the James Beard Award semifinalist location in Harlem.

Chapel Hill
What to Get: Three Pieces of Southern Fried Chicken

In another highly contested fried-chicken state, Mildred Council has spent roughly four decades making Mama Dip's the South's gold standard for the dish. Now a small empire of sauces, rubs, cookbooks, and other gems, Mama Dip's is a temple of Southern cooking with fried chicken at its spiritual center.

Fargo
What to Get: Two-Piece Fried Chicken Dinner

Open for around 20 years, but with a soul seemingly much older, The Shack is a down-home diner that isn't big on frills, though its menu stretches from big breakfasts to steaming bowls of spaghetti. The fried chicken comes with choice of potato (various fries, hash brown, baked, or mashed), baked beans, coleslaw, salad, or cup of soup.

Barberton
What to Get: Serbian Fried Chicken

Back in 1933, Serbian immigrants Mike and Smilka Topalsky opened this place and enticed Ohio customers with lard-fried chicken, "djuvece" hot sauce, coleslaw, and fried potatoes. It spawned competitors, but a thigh at Belgrade Gardens is a good first step into Barberton's Serbian culinary scene.

Okarche
What to Get: A Fried Chicken

We didn't tell you to get some fried chicken at Eischen's Bar: We said get a whole fried chicken. Eischen's Bar dates back to the end of Prohibition and claims to be the oldest bar in Oklahoma. As such, it's fairly traditional: The menu is limited, it's closed on Sundays, and it's cash only. Oh, and the fried chicken is simply a whole fried chicken. The smaller option is no chicken at all.

Related:The Oldest Bar in Every State

Portland
What to Get: Three-Piece Chicken Dinner

On a stretch of Portland's food-saturated, vegan-friendly Division Street is a window-deprived bar laden with lottery machines, old neighborhood memorabilia, a full-volume jukebox, and a fridge filled with tall, cheap beer cans. This bit of "Old Portland" hasn't ceded ground to the encroaching bourgeoisie. Instead, Real M' Inn sticks to a one-page menu focused heavily on Southern-battered chicken (and the gizzards, if you want them) and potato wedges. We suggest calling ahead or realizing that the locals love this place and having a beer or two while waiting.

Philadelphia
What to Get: Marilyn's Fried Chicken

Named after chef Marcie Blaine Turney's grandparents and paying tribute to the restaurant they ran in her Wisconsin hometown, Bud and Marilyn's is couched in a cozy midcentury vibe and a menu of comfort foods. The half-bird of fried chicken is served with a biscuit, honey butter, dill pickles, and a housemade hot sauce.

Providence
What to Get: Southern Rhody Fried Chicken Sandwich

Ogie's Trailer Park has taken a midcentury atomic lounge, Tiki bar, and vintage trailers and turned them all into one restaurant and bar. To soak up the cocktails and cheap beer, this Dorito-fried chicken breast, slab bacon, sharp cheddar, house mayo, marinated tomato, and sweet red onion gastrique is the most original fried chicken for the job.

Columbia 
What to Get: Chicken and a waffle

Open since 2012, Kiki’s now has two locations to serve its signature dish of four crispy fried chicken wings atop a warm Belgian waffle. (Though you can sub in two breasts, and the waffle can be blueberry, walnut, pecan, sweet potato, chocolate, or red velvet in addition to plain wheat.) The waffles are a "perfect combo of crunchy and chewy," worth the wait to get in, and the chicken is also worth a fight: "After eating the appetizer it was all I could do to finish all of the wings," a Yelper says, "but I did it."

Sioux Falls
What to Get: Three-piece chicken mix

There are some folks who'll say the best fried chicken here comes from a multistate chain. They are flat-out wrong. Cluckin' Good Chicken, formerly Bob's Carryout and Delivery, has not only served up some of the tastiest chicken in the state for nearly 20 years, but uses pressure frying and a mix of spices to produce a crisp, savory treat. Ask nicely and get a pressure-fried potato side dish as well.

Related:Best Hole-in-the-Wall BBQ Joints Across America

Nashville
What to Get: Monday Fried Chicken

Arnold's Country Kitchen serves its fried chicken only on Mondays, but it comes with a choice of three sides such as turnip greens, pinto beans, creamed corn, or fried apples. The Nashville hot chains have done well, but a classic meat-and-three is always the best place to start a chicken run.

Houston
What to Get: Southern Fried Chicken

For 75 years, the Skrehot family has run the Barbecue Inn with smoked meat as the main attraction. When in Texas, though, good barbecue is plentiful and highly debated, while the inn's fried chicken is a far more rare and unifying treat. It'll serve an all-dark or all-white plate, but get the original mix and ask for the baked potato side filled with chopped meat.

Layton
What to Get: Three-Piece Meal

The chicken at C&B Maddox looks different — not as lumpy and ridged as buttermilk fried chicken, but with a smooth texture almost akin to Korean fried chicken. The key difference: The chicken's skin is peeled off and the meat gets coated and flash-fried before serving. It knocks off a calorie or 10, but also creates a signature chicken that pairs well with Maddox's homemade cornpones, rolls, potato salad, coleslaw, or baked beans.

Winooski
What to Get: Fried Chicken

Fried chicken has a negligible presence in Vermont, but this food-camper-turned foodie to-go spot makes chicken a centerpiece. Misery Loves Co. serves a huge family-style portion of fried chicken coated in fresh buttermilk and served with honey butter dipping sauce.

Charlottesville
What to Get: "The Big Eater" Five-Piece

Wayside Fried Chicken makes a juicy, spicy bird that pairs well with mac and cheese, collard greens, potatoes, beans, or a bottle of Cheerwine. The hush puppies cost more but are worth the splurge.

Seattle
What to Get:Drumsticks

The Seattle area is a wealth of fried chicken options, but James Beard-winner and native Hawaiian Mark Fuller's Ma'ono takes top honors by pairing brined, buttermilk-coated, soy-and-chili-spiced, twice-fried chicken with sides such as spicy kimchi, Spam musubi, sweet rolls, and "mac & kimcheese."

Related:The Best Chicken Wings Spot in Every State

Morgantown
What to Get: Four-Piece Chicken Box

West Virginia University students with Dirty Bird in their backyard since 2011 have been lucky to limit the damage to a freshman 15. Sandwiches topped with gravy, bacon, cheddar jack cheese, shaved ham, and blue cheese are marquee items, but free-range chicken served with a buttermilk biscuit, dipping sauce, and a drink are all you'll need.

Milwaukee
What to Get: Famous Friendly Basket

While these folks have been better known for Buffalo-style wing sauces since opening in 1991, TomKen's will keep its sauce well away from your bucket of fried goodness. Made with TomKen's own special-recipe batter, the thin-battered chicken can be served with coleslaw, fries, or bread in a deluxe bucket for an extra few bucks.

Jackson Hole
What to Get: Fried Chicken
For the more upscale, costly version of anything in Wyoming, go to Jackson Hole. But to find what's basically the best interpretation of fried chicken in the state that isn't from a pan in someone's home, the Red Bird Farms half-chickens from Café Genevieve are the best bet. The mac and cheese is included in the price, which, considering the cost of everything else on the menu, isn't bad.

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