MasterChef at Home: How to Make Fried Chicken That Packs a Punch

On Sunday, May 8, MasterChef favourite John Carasig was sadly eliminated from the 2022 cooking competition. After taking on an elimination challenge that asked contestants to whip something up that heroes eggs, it was announced that Carasig’s lemon tart recipe didn’t deliver and he had to pack up his MasterChef apron.

On departing the MasterChef, however, Carasig shared his favourite quick and easy recipe with Lifehacker Australia for ‘MasterChef at Home’ – here, he gave his take on fried chicken.

The recipe, according to Carasig, is one that “uses a simple but tasty marinade that adds a punch of flavour” to the fried chicken recipe.

He shared over email that “this recipe calls for chicken ribs, but you can substitute it with chicken wings, legs, or thighs. These pieces will take a little longer to marinate. The marinade is simple but [has] loads of flavour. You can also use this marinade on porterhouse steak sliced thinly or sliced pork shoulder/neck, placed in skewers and cooked over fire”.

“This is my go-to fried chicken marinade. The fish sauce adds a beautiful umami flavour and the lemon juice adds enough acidity to cut through the salty fish sauce. …[it] allows the chicken meat to retain its juices while frying and [the] potency of the marinade cuts down the marinating time, without the need to marinate overnight.”

Here’s his guide to this MasterChef at Home fried chicken recipe.

MasterChef at Home: John Carasig’s fried chicken recipe

Cooking time: 30 mins

What you’ll need for this fried chicken recipe:

• 500g Chicken Ribs (skin on)

Chicken marinade

• 4tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of half lemon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/8 cup of plain flour

Flour coating

• 1⁄2 cup rice flour
• 1⁄2 cup corn flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1tsp ground white pepper or chilli powder
• Peanut oil for frying

Directions for this fried chicken recipe:

• In a bowl add chicken and mix in all the ingredients for the chicken marinade (except for plain flour).
• Marinate in the fridge for 15mins.
• Meanwhile, mix together all ingredients for Flour coating.
• Heat oil in a saucepan and bring to 1700C for deep frying.
• Take the marinated chicken from the fridge and add plain flour and mix well.
• Take individual chicken ribs and coat with the flour coating. Dust off any excess flour and repeat for the rest of the chicken.
• Deep fry for 7 – 10 mins.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove fried chicken and place onto paper towel lined tray and rest for 5 mins.
• Enjoy it on its own or served with a bowl of rice/pickles.

Hot tip: “I like to serve this with a traditional dipping sauce of equal part vinegar, soy sauce, finely chopped garlic and chopped bird’s eye chillies,” Carasig added.

“You can even make a quick Korean dipping sauce to coat the chicken. In a saucepan, heat up 3 tablespoons of butter, add 2 tbsp of gojuchang paste and fry off till nice and fragrant and the butter has taken on a beautiful red colour. Add 3 tbsp of mirin, 3 tbsp of rice wine vinegar, 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Reduce to half its volume or until sauce has thickened. Add a pinch of salt. Fold through fried chicken ribs. Serve with pickled radish.”

If you want more MasterChef recipes as easy as this fried chicken dish, check out these examples from Chris Tran and Dulan Hapuarachchi next.