Making The Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich At Home | But Better

The quest to defeat this spicy chicken sandwich might have resulted in our best homemade chicken sandwich yet.

Prep
3 hours, 30 minutes
Cook
30 minutes
Total
4 hours
Serves
9
people
Making The Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich At Home | But Better
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Ingredients

Items Used: 

Buns:

  • Vegetable oil or cooking spray 
  • ½ cup (125ml) whole milk
  • ½ cup, plus 3 tablespoons (170ml) water
  • 2.5 tsp (9g) bread machine yeast
  • 2 large eggs, divided
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 3.5 cups (525g) unbleached bread flour
  • ⅓ cup (60g) granulated sugar
  • 1.5 (11g) fine sea salt
  • 4g amylase enzyme 
  • ¼ cup (55g) unsalted butter, softened
  • Melted butter, for brushing

Toum Mayo:

  • 15 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
  • 1 Tbsp (15g) Dijon mustard 
  • 2 tsp (7g) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 Tbsp (14g) distilled white vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp (5g) nutritional yeast
  • Kosher salt, to taste 

Chicken Marinade:

  • 2 cups (475ml) buttermilk
  • ½ tsp (1g) onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp (11g) garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp (14g) kosher salt
  • 1 tsp (5g) granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp (7g) paprika
  • 1.5 tsp (4g) cayenne
  • 1.5 lbs (680g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Fried Chicken:

  • 3.5 quarts (3.3L) vegetable oil, for frying 
  • 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp (6g) paprika
  • ½ tsp (0.5g) cayenne
  • 2 tsp (8g) garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp (7g) kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp (5g) nutritional yeast

Spicy Chili Oil:

  • 1 Tbsp (10g) light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp (4g) kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp (10g) garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp (10g) smoked paprika
  • 2.5 Tbsp (13g) cayenne
  • 1.5 cups (360ml) hot oil from fried chicken

Assembly:

  • 9 homemade burger buns 
  • Unsalted butter, at room temperature 
  • Toum mayonnaise
  • Spicy fried chicken 
  • Butter lettuce leaves
  • 2 large tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with salted

Directions

Buns:

  1. Lightly grease a medium bowl with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Set aside. 
  2. In a small saucepan heat the milk and water to 100℉ (38℃). Pour into a small bowl and whisk in the yeast, 1 egg and the egg yolk until homogenous. Pour the liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. 
  3. In a separate, medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and amylase enzyme. 
  4. With the stand mixer running on a medium-low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, ¼ cup at a time, until all is fully incorporated. Knead for 3 minutes.
  5. Add the butter, mixing until incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, as needed. Knead for 2-4 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
  6. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and form into a smooth ball. Add the dough to the greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. 
  7. While the dough is proofing, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Grease nine 4” ring molds with cooking spray and arrange them, evenly spaced apart, into 2 rows on the prepared baking sheets. Alternatively, if you don’t have ring molds, you can make them using aluminum foil; make sure to grease these as well.  
  8. Once doubled in size, punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Divide the dough into 9, evenly-sized pieces, weighing about 90g each. Roll each piece into a taut ball and place one ball into each of the greased ring molds.
  9. Using the flat bottom of a glass or cup to press down onto each ball of dough to create a disc. Cover the buns with greased plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature to rise for 1 hour, or until puffed.
  10. Preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃).
  11. In a small bowl whisk together the remaining egg and 15g water. Brush the tops of each proofed bun with the egg wash. 
  12. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
  13.  Remove from the oven, immediately brush with melted butter. Transfer the buns to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Toum Mayo:

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic and vegetable oil. Heat until the oil reaches a light fry, occasionally stirring the garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes until the garlic is softened and golden brown. Remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Strain the garlic out of the oil and set aside to reserve. Cool the oil completely to room temperature. 
  2. Into a blender, add the mustard, sugar, confit garlic, egg yolk and vinegar. Blend on high speed until you get a paste, then slowly stream in the room temperature garlic oil until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy.
  3. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. 
  4. Season with salt, to taste, and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Chicken Marinade:

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, sugar, paprika and cayenne. Add the chicken and toss to fully coat. Set aside at room temperature to marinate for 20 minutes, or in the fridge overnight. If marinating in the fridge make sure to remove it at least 1 hour before frying to bring to room temperature. 

Fried Chicken:

  1. Fill a 7-8 quart (6.6-7.5L) heavy bottomed pot just over halfway with oil. Heat to 350℉ (175℃). Line a baking sheet with a cooling rack and place that next to the hot oil.
  1. ln a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, salt and nutritional yeast until evenly combined. 
  2. In batches, remove the chicken from the marinade, allowing the excess to drip off. Add the chicken to the dredge and press into the seasoned flour to adhere, leaving no bald spots. Place on a separate baking sheet. 
  3. To fry, gently lay half of the chicken thighs into the hot oil. Fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 165℉ (73℃). Remove from the oil onto the prepared cooling rack and keep hot until ready to serve. 
  4. Reserve the hot oil for the spicy chili oil.  

Spicy Chili Oil:

  1. In a medium, heat-proof bowl, add the brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, paprika, and cayenne. Ladle in the hot oil from the fried chicken and carefully whisk to combine. 
  2. While the chicken is still hot, add each piece of fried chicken into the hot chili oil and baste for a few seconds to evenly coat. Return the chicken to the cooling rack and repeat with the remaining pieces of fried chicken. 

Assembly:

  1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut the burger buns in half and brush both sides with butter. Toast the buns in the hot, dry skillet until golden brown. 
  2. Onto the bottom half of the toasted bun, spread a generous spoonful of toum mayonnaise. 
  3. Top with a piece of spicy fried chicken.
  4. Add 1-2 leaves of butter lettuce followed by a slice of seasoned tomato.
  5. Spread toum mayo onto the top bun and place the lid onto the sandwich.
  6. Serve and enjoy!