Homemade McDonald's McSpicy Chicken Burger Recipe
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Are you hooked on the McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burger? It’s new and limited in Canada, so of course I had to jump on it! It was the perfect lunch, and I knew right away that I wanted to make it myself! If you need some motivation to try out something new in the kitchen, then I highly recommend you check out my free motivational guide, Make Cooking Fun!!. One of my 5 tips to spark creativity is going out to eat! If you’ve been around on the blog for awhile, then you know I love to make McDonald’s recipes at home! I’ve made McDonald’s copycat breakfast recipes by making the egg and sausage McMuffin, and you gotta pair that with some hash browns! Even before coming to Canada, I loved McDonald’s in India! In particular, McDonald’s India is iconic for its vegetarian burgers, such as the McAloo Tikki Burger (potato-based patty). When the sweet tooth strikes, I’ve made McDonald’s desserts, including the McDonald’s Oreo McFlurry and the limited edition Canadian Frozen Hot Chocolate McFlurry! Yup, I’m a real fan boy!
Now, I totally love a good crispy chicken sandwich, as you can see from my Panko Chicken Burger recipe! With that being said, I also really love some Buttermilk Fried Chicken. Making this McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burger recipe was the opportunity to finally share a crispy chicken sandwich featuring some buttermilk fried chicken, and let me tell you this will become your new favourite crispy chicken sandwich recipe ever! If you’ve always wanted to make your own fried chicken sandwich at home, then prepare this Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burger recipe to check it off your bucket list as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can start on your cooking journey for free today by signing up to my email newsletter, plus you’ll receive all of my latest recipes right in your inbox!
To follow along from start to finish for this McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burger recipe, from the chicken marination, to breading and frying, and assembling the McSpicy, don’t forget to watch the video at the bottom of this post! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’re not already so that you never miss a video recipe to go along with the written ones! Let’s get cooking!
WHy You’ll Love this Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burger Recipe!
Fresh and flavourful: We’ll be adding lots of flavour and juiciness to our Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy recipe! The fried chicken will have lots of time to marinate, absorbing the incredible spice blend and buttermilk goodness to give crunchy and crispy results! We’ll also add some homemade spicy mayo that is super delicious, and some fresh crunchy lettuce. Who knows what exactly is in the chicken at McDonald’s or the sauce, not to mention the lifespan of those ingredients as well!
Customizable: The best part of making your own Homemade McSpicy chicken burger is that you have so much freedom to do exactly what you want with it to make it suit your tastes perfectly! If you want more heat, then you can increase the hot spices in the marinade spice blend. If you want less spice, then that’s not a problem either!
Budget-friendly: Want a second patty? You won’t be charged extra! As much as I really enjoyed having the McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken burger with a second patty, but unfortunately it was quite a pricey meal! With my customizations, the burger ended up costing $13 CAD, and I had no side or drink! Isn’t that crazy! A bit too much for a tiny little burger in my opinion, and without customizations I still paid $8 CAD.
Satisfying: I feel this one may be self-explanatory just from seeing the comparison photos! Our homemade buttermilk fried chicken for the Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy is just so much meatier, crispier, and more flavourful! The overall burger will just have you satisfied, whereas with McDonald’s you’ll probably eat the McSpicy in about two minutes and want to have another one. Confession time: When I had the McDonald’s McSpicy I did indeed gobble it all up and was craving a second since it just disappeared right before my eyes, and my stomach was not really full up!
Can I Bake or Air Fry The chicken for Homemade McDonald’s Mcspicy Chicken Burger?
Using an air fryer or oven can be a great healthy alternative to enjoy this recipe. The air fryer will definitely help get a crispier texture.
Simply follow the same set of steps until the chicken pieces have been bread.
Then, for the air fryer, preheat the air fryer to 375 F and spray the chicken on each side with oil. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the basket and fry for 25-30 minutes or until the breading is golden brown and crispy. Flip the chicken halfway and ensure the internal temperature at the thickest part reaches 165 F. While for the oven, preheat to 425 F and place the chicken on a baking sheet that is topped with a wire rack. Spray the chicken on each side with oil and bake for 35-40 minutes until the breading is golden brown and crispy and the chicken reaches 165 F. Flip the chicken half way down the cooking time.
Tools Needed to Make Homemade MCDonald’s McSpicy Chicken
Meat thermometer: The one I used is the Typhur sync smart wireless meat thermometer, which Typhur kindly sent my way! I really like this one because it can withstand ambient temperatures up to 930 F. While Typhur does have a dedicated product specific to deep frying, a workaround I had with this product was to insert the black part with the ambient temperature sensor into the oil to check the temperature to see if the oil was ready to fry. Then, I used the probes to check the internal temperature of the chicken to ensure that it is cooked. To save on Typhur, be sure to click here!
Ingredients for Homemade McSpicy Burger
Scroll to the bottom of this post has the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card with the full list of ingredients and their quantities, plus you can save the recipe for later. You can also scale the recipe based how many McDonald’s McSpicy Chicken Burgers you want to make! By default, you will get four burgers from the ingredients listed below.
For the spice mix
For the Marination
Chicken thighs: I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
Spice mix: As described above.
Buttermilk: Buttermilk really adds a nice sourness and tang! I really don’t recommend you omit this!
Salt: Key seasoning to bring out all the flavours in the spice blend.
For the breading
Flour: All-purpose flour is perfect here.
Baking powder: Baking powder is key to get an airy and light batter to make the final fried chicken crunchy but not sense.
To cook and serve
Oil: I used sunflower oil, but you can use any neutral oil that has a high smoke point for frying, such as vegetable oil, peanut oil, canola oil, or grape-seed oil.
Spicy mayonnaise: I always make my own spicy mayo! It’s so easy and flavourful! While I already had a jar of mayo that I needed to use up, there’s definitely some bonus points
Lettuce: I just used iceberg lettuce that I’ve shredded.
Burger buns: I recommend brioche buns because they are just super fluffy and so delicious, definitely my favourites! If you really wanted to, you could repurpose some homemade dinner rolls you’ve got on hand as the burger buns, as I do for my Smash Burger Sliders!
How to Make thE Ultimate Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy Burger
For the spice mix
Combine all the spices together and store in an airtight container.
For the marination
Place the chicken thighs between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound to flatten it to an even thickness.
In a large bowl, add the chicken pieces and 2 Tbsp of the spice mix from earlier and salt. Mix well to coat the spices all over the chicken.
Pour buttermilk over the chicken and add enough to completely submerge the chicken.
Toss the chicken well in the buttermilk.
Marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.
To bread the chicken
In a large casserole or bowl add flour, salt, pepper and baking powder. Mix well.
Add 2-3 Tbsp of the buttermilk marinade on the breading mix and mix to combine.
Add the chicken pieces one at a time and toss well with the flour. Press lightly to ensure you get crusting and layers of flours over the marinated chicken. There is no need to drip any excess marinade while breading the chicken.
Repeat step 3 for the remaining chicken pieces.
To cook the chicken
Pour oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven until it fills around 2 inches of the height of your skillet/dutch oven.
Preheat the oil to around 350F.
Carefully, transfer each breaded chicken to the oil and fry until crispy golden brown outside, make sure to turn the chicken every 2-3 minutes to ensure even colour on each side.
Once the chicken is added, the oil temperature should drop to 300F, adjust heat as required to ensure the oil maintains this temperature.
Cook for 8-12 minutes, or until the chicken is a light golden brown and the internal temperature at the thickest part of the chicken is 165F. For any pieces that are under, transfer those pieces on the middle rack of the oven heated at 350 F and cook for 5-10 minutes or until they are cooked through.
For the sandwich
Heat a pan on medium heat while the chicken is frying and melt some butter. Toast the buns until lightly golden brown.
Spread spicy aioli on the top and bottom halves of the bun. Place the fried chicken piece on the bottom bun, top with shredded lettuce and close the sandwich.
Enjoy!
TIPS FOR Crunchy McSpicy Chicken Burgers
Make sure the oil is not too hot (375F and up). This will cause the crust to develop and brown too quickly and not give the chicken enough time to cook completely.
Once the chicken has been added, adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a temperature of 300F.
You can keep the oven heated at 200 F to keep the chicken warm if you intend to hold it for a few hours before serving.
For boneless wings, chicken tenders or popcorn chicken, you can use the same process to make great tasting chicken.
Can I Make Homemade McSpicy Chicken Burgers In Advance?
I really would advise against this! Fried chicken reheated - in addition to burgers reheated, for that matter - is not as amazing as freshly cooked. But, if you have leftovers or you need to prep them in advance, then first remove the fried chicken from the fridge and allow it to sit on the countertop for 15 mins to remove the chill. Then reheat for 15-20 minutes in an oven preheated at 350 F.
Fried chicken and burgers are food that are to be enjoyed freshly made! If you want the cooking and assembly process to be seamless, then you can take some prepping steps by marinating your chicken in advance enough prior to when you want to enjoy the burgers. Additionally, you can have your lettuce chopped and spicy mayo prepared so that they’re ready to be added into your burger!
Other Crunchy Fried Chicken Delights!
Watch how to make Homemade McDonald’s McSpicy Here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!