Chicken 65- Indian Fried Chicken

Chicken 65- Classic Indian Spicy Fried Chicken with curry leaves. Crisp on the outside yet so Tender and juicy inside. You can Deep fry or Air fry this one!

🍗What is Chicken 65

It's a street-side chicken appetizer that's very popular in south India. Chicken 65 is usually made with small morsels of chicken- with and without bone, marinated in a spicy red marinade which is finally deep fried.

This is the Indian version of fried chicken. When the craving for this fried chicken hits, nothing else will do!

Why is it called chicken "65"? There are a lot of stories attached to its catchy name. Some say its because the chicken is cut into 65 pieces and then fried.Some sources say that the chicken used is usually 65 days old.

Whatever the story may be! Chicken 65 is definitely a cult favorite. Especially with the side of chilled beer !

There are two other similar Indian style chicken recipes I make quite often-Indian style baked chicken using whole chicken and air fried tandoori chicken from both India. Both have been a reader favorite on the website! Also, check out our collection of more than 50 Air fryer Appetizers.

Ingredients

Here is what you will need

Chicken -To make chicken 65, you can use any chicken pieces. Boneless pieces not only cook faster, but they are also easier(and cleaner) to eat.

Chicken Thighs take a couple of minutes longer to cook than chicken breast. You can also use chicken tenders. Both chicken tenders and breasts will have a chewer texture than chicken thighs.
I personally prefer chicken thighs because the chicken is a lot more moist after frying. Chicken 65 using thighs also tends to stay tender even after a couple of hours of frying.

Ginger Garlic Paste- I have used store-bought ginger garlic paste for convenience.

Curry Leaves- This, in my opinion, is where the majority of flavor comes from. You can use fresh or dried curry leaves. When adding the curry leaves to the marinade, shred it using a knife or kitchen scissors.

Chili Powder - The orangish-red color of chicken 65 comes from Kashmiri chili powder. Most restaurants also add red or orange food coloring to help with the look.
Cumin, Coriander and Turmeric are basic Indian pantry spices. We prefer making our own coriander powder using toasted coriander seeds.

Flour -To make the spices and herbs stick to the chicken and get that crunchy bite, we will add two different flours- rice flour and white flour. Together, they will make your chicken 65 super crispy.

Oil for Frying - You can use vegetable oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, grapeseed oil—any neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point of at least 400ºF. Do not use olive oil.

Traditionally groundnut oil or coconut oil was also used to fry. You will need at least 2-3 cups of oil. It should be enough to submerge whatever you are frying. The smaller the pan, the less oil you’ll need.

How to make this recipe (step-by-step photos)

Note: baking and air-frying instructions can be found below.

List of tools

• Slotted Spoon or Pasta Strainer or a Skimmer Ladle- These ladles/ skimmers, have a long handle and they remove the fried "thing" leaving the oil behind. You can also use tongs but you can only take out 1 chicken piece at a time.
• Stable work/heavy Pan for frying- You need a deep pan, in which the about 2-3 inch of oil can be heated with about an extra 2-3 inch of space. So any pan with high sides should work. You can use a wok or a small Dutch oven or a cast iron pan with deep sides. If you are new to frying, use a flat, very stable, heavy pan with high sides. This will keep the hot oil stable and prevent the oil from tipping over.
  Heavy Bottomed Steel Pans, Cast iron, Indian local iron, enameled or anodized pans work best. Thin steel pans and non stick pans are not suitable for deep frying.

Step 1: Cut & Marinade Chicken

Cut the chicken into 2 inch* 1 inch pieces. My hack is to use the kitchen scissors instead of knife. It's faster and a lot more precise.

Try and keep the size relatively similar. That way, everything will cook at the same time.

I recommend marinating the chicken for 1 hour. If you can, keep it in the refrigerator overnight, it will enhance the taste and keep the chicken more tender.

If you are deviating from the recipe, I suggest you mix all the marination ingredients in a small bowl. Give it a taste , adjust it according to your preference.And then add the chicken into it.

Keep in mind that the marination will be a lot more pungent and spicy than the final dish.

Step 2: Prepare to Fry

When you are ready to cook the chicken, add the corn and rice flours to it. Mix it up so all the pieces are evenly coated.

Frying the Chicken

Add 2-3 cups or about 300-400 ml of oil to the pan that you are using to fry.You can use a kadai(indian wok) , small dutch oven or a pan with high sides.

There should be about 2-3 inches of oil in the pan with about 2-3 inches of free space over the pan.

Unlike papads and puris, the chicken will need to be fried for longer and at a medium high temperature. If the temperature is too high, the outside will burn before the chicken inside gets cooked

Heat the oil on medium flame to about 320-360 F.

Temperature of oil

The temperature of the oil varies as per the item you are frying. For this recipe, you need it to be between 320 - 360 F.

As you add more things in the hot oil, the temperature will change.

How to test if your oil is hot enough, without a thermometer: Add one tiny piece of chicken to the oil: If it bubbles, puffs up slightly, the oil is ready.

Depending on the size of your pan, it should take 10-15 minutes for the oil to reach the initial 340-350ºF temperature and 6-7 minutes to fry.

Prevent sticking. When using a wok, heat it until it just starts to smoke. Then add the oil. This method ensures the ingredients don’t stick to the wok. Plus it makes sure all the water has evaporated and the oil doesn't splutter while heating up.

Fry in 2-3 batches-Simply drop the chicken with the help of the tongs in the hot oil.Do not more it for 10-15 seconds. This will make sure the coating stays on the chicken and it doesn't stick to the bottom.The chicken will stick to the pan bottom for the first few seconds, leaving it alone for a few seconds will cook the chicken coating and unstick the chicken.

If you notice the chicken browning very quickly, lower the heat a bit.

Fry Curry Leaves

Line a plate with some kitchen towel.Remove the chicken from the oil using a strainer/ frying skimmer and place it on the lined plate.The color will darken as the chicken cools down.

Once all your chicken has been fried, switch the heat off. Add some curry leaves to the oil.Using a skimmer, take them out and add them to the fried chicken. If you like your food spicy, you can also fry a few sliced or pierced green chilies along with the curry leaves.

How to make Air Fryer Chicken 65

Both of these versions both work nicely, but the deep-fried version is hands down better.

The recipe stays the same till the marination step. The only addition is 1 tablespoon of oil to the chicken along with the flours.Just preheat the air fryer to 200C for 5-10 minutes. Brush the air fryer basket with oil so that the chicken doesn't stick to the bottom.

Air fryer time will depend on the cut ,how big the chicken pieces are and how crowded the air fryer basket is.

Chicken Breast - Air fry for 4-5 minutes
Chicken Thighs - Air fry for 6-7 minutes
Bone - in Chicken - Air fry for 10-11 minutes.

For 1 pound of chicken, you can air fry in 2-3 batches.

Tips

Deep frying can be a little intimidating when you are doing it the first time. In India, we usually have a designated woks for deep frying. Usually smaller 4 quarts woks which are heavy and stable.

Safety tips

• Make sure the wok and the frying ladle do not have any water or even water droplets attached to them while frying. This will make the oil splutter and it's extremely hazardous.
• Make sure to use a heavy stable pan which will not move easily.
• Do not fill the oil till the brim of the pan. You will need about 2-3 inches of oil plus another 2-3 inches of free space on top.

If you make this delicious Indian fried chicken 65 recipe, do leave me a rating or a comment or BOTH! I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Should you Deep Fry or Air Fry Chicken 65

If you want to make the authentic, best possible version of chicken 65, you should deep fry it.

The chicken 65, when fried using this recipe, will be

• Crispy outside but tender & juicy inside.
• Deep frying enhances the flavor and texture of all the ingredients.
• When fried at the correct temperature, it will not be oily.
• This is the restaurant's way of preparing chicken 65.

That said, frying is not the most healthiest method of cooking. If you want to control calories, I suggest air frying the chicken 65 and using chicken thighs.

The look and texture will be slightly different. Air frying will give it a more Tandoori feel, while deep frying will make it crispy on the outside and juicy inside.

That said, I love cooking chicken dishes in the air fryer- You must try making BBQ chicken wings and Homemade Chicken Katsu in the air fryer.They are great!

Summary If you can, please make the deep-fried version. It’s worth it. If you plan to make this dish on a regular basis, though, the baked version or air-fried version might make more sense.