Top 5 BEST Fried Chicken in America | Spciest Fried Chicken Ever!

I love fried chicken. It's crispy, greasy, unapologetically loud. This is the food that built road trips, late nights, and at least for me, a lot of food comas. I've eaten fried chicken all across the country, and in this video I am counting down the top 5 best fried chicken spots in America. And we're starting with a couple of honorable mentions. A Michelin fried chicken restaurant in the middle of New York City, and what I think is the best fried chicken chain Yeah, this is a very beautiful looking Korean fried chicken restaurant. Definitely the fanciest I've ever been to. Whoa, this is really interesting. So you just come here and there's a hand washing station as soon as you walk in, and this is where you wash your hands with all sorts of very, looks like very pricey hand wash. Okay, so right now I am at Coke with Doc, and this is a Michelin rated Korean fried chicken restaurant, and it is fancy. And the chicken here is different as well. I think they called it the Wagyu of chicken, and all their chicken are from Pennsylvania, Amish, and Mennonite farms. Never given antibiotics. They only eat vegetables, and their diet consists of surplus vegetables from farmer's markets. Okay, these chickens eat better than I do. Their batter is also different than traditional Korean fried chicken batter. So here they use rice batter. If you've ever tried fried chicken with rice batter, it's typically crispier, airier, and it retains less oil. And the oil they use, oh, it's made from sugar cane plants. Sugar cane plant oil is used to fry this chicken. And I'm here during lunch, and they have a lunch special, and they also have a bucket list, which is their signature fried chicken feast, which includes banchan, and there's two styles of fried chicken. One is soy garlic glaze, the other is gochujang glaze. So it's basically like a course menu Korean fried chicken restaurant. And the first course is, here check this out, this is a chicken consomme with red Korean ginseng. And the other one is from the lunch specials. Got one of each just to try. This looks like a seaweed soup with pork. Oh, actually it's beef. Oh, wow. It's the seaweed soup with beef. Look at the marbling on this beef. Holy cow, this looks like borderline Wagyu. Oh, that looks like really, really tender beef. There's actually a lot of beef in here too. Chicken consomme. Wow, that's delicious. That tastes very healthy. I feel like with all the coals that's going around, this will definitely help. You taste a bit of the earthiness from the ginseng too. It definitely did not skip on the ginseng in here. That's really light, yummy chicken broth. Okay, I'm really excited for this. This soup looks really good. Very light and beefy. And the beef, oh my gosh, this is so tender. This thing just completely fell apart. Absolutely melts in your mouth. That thing is so marbled and tender. I swear, I think that beef is softer than the seaweed. Wow. Again, very light, delicious tasting beefy soup with a slight brininess from the seaweed. You barely have to chew that beef. As soon as you put it in your mouth, you squish it and you push that beef to the roof of your mouth with your tongue. This disintegrates immediately. This is really good. Okay, the next thing that came to the table, this is called the black gold nugget. Basically a chicken nugget with seasonal truffle on top. And they did not skimp on the truffle. It's just a towering amount of truffle on this golden chicken nugget. That's for sure the priciest chicken nugget I've ever put in my mouth. It's also 100% overwhelmingly the best. Wow, how could that not be good? The chicken nuggets got the most perfect crunch on the outside. Ginger and juicy inside mixed with that earthy truffle flavor. That was such an explosive bite. That's definitely the best chicken nugget I've ever put in my mouth. Oh, that was absolutely crazy. Okay, the food is here. There's a lot going on. So there's two set of sauces. This one is a yogurt-based sauce. This is for the lunch special. And the lunch special kind of looks like what you see outside of New York, the famous New York street meat. Looks like some grilled chicken over rice, some lettuce. And this caddy of sauces is for the fried chicken, which is so beautiful. I got the original. Also, I got two of the glazes. One is the gochujang and one is the garlic. First thing you want to do though is try out the street meat. Look at this. This looks exactly like the street meat you would get outside already with white sauce on there. The chicken looks juicy and tender. Looks like some nice char on the outside. Fluffy rice right underneath. It's awesome. This is really, really good. If you want some heat, add some fresh jalapenos in here. But I haven't even added any sauces yet. The chicken is so flavorful. It's smoky and you can taste the fire. The rice and rice is savory. Holy mom, it tastes like the juice from the chicken has definitely leaked into the rice. Nice burst of heat from the jalapenos. And this has rich white sauce covering it, which tastes equally as good on the salad as it does on the chicken and rice. And then of course, this whole blend of sauces. So it's mainly different hot sauces you want to add to your chicken and rice. Okay, hot sauce is good. Not just heat, tons of flavor in the hot sauce as well. This is more of the white sauce. This is something you gotta have on street meat here. Oh, this one definitely has more of a kick. Way more of a kick. But overall, this dish, incredible. The chicken, 10 out of 10 tender. The flavor, absolute perfection. I think it goes great with the jalapeno. Wow, I'm very impressed right now. And the chicken, gotta get to that. This thing, look how beautiful it is. There's the original fried chicken, gochujang glaze and garlic glaze. So the original fried chicken, look at this. Okay, just by picking this up, this is way different than other Korean fried chickens I've had before. The outer skin, you can tell right away, a lot crispier and less oily than other Korean fried chickens I've had. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my. This is incredible. When you bite into the skin, you're gonna get the loudest crunch ever. The rice batter on the outside is airier, and I feel like it traps the juice a lot better as well. Look at that glistening juice inside the chicken. This little catty is full of sauces for the chicken. So try this. This is like your version of a green goddess sauce almost. Creamy, fragrant. This next one, honey mustard. Oh my god. Every time I'm biting into this, you can hear that crunch. That thing is absolutely unmistakable, how loud it is. Wow. Honey mustard, more mustardy than honey. This I really, really like. Next is a parmesan sauce. I love how one piece of chicken, I'm able to add so many different sauces on here. It's foundation is just so solid. No matter how the sauce is already, you're just getting a phenomenal bite of chicken. Whoa. This is incredible. Whoa, it's so cheesy and fragrant. Okay, this might be my favorite so far. Last one, gochujang barbecue. That's really good too. Spicy, smoky. Wow. I think my favorite is between the honey mustard and the parmesan. And also, there's so many little banchan dishes here too. So when the chicken gets a little rich, just take a bite of the banchan. This is I think like pickled celery. Sweet, a little soy saucy. Really refreshing, crunchy. Some kimchi. Oh, that's good. That's really good. It's way more sour than traditional kimchi, but I really like that with a nice punch of heat. There's also some salad, which is good. And check this out. They're mac and cheese with hot oil. Yeah, that's good too. That's so gooey and cheesy. Oh, it's got a nice kick as well. This place is so uniquely delicious. So going to the sauce chicken, These ones are the gochujang glazed chicken. Oh my god. Same incredible, uber crunchy skin with a sweet, spicy gochujang glaze. Look at that beautiful, glistening, juicy chicken on the inside. That's awesome. Sweet, not overly spicy at all. So much umami. Next one is soy garlic. Oh, that's a delayed heat right there. That gochujang heat is just starting to hit me. I love it. Each bite is just utter perfection. That crunch is so loud and consistent. I think I like the soy sauce garlic more than the gochujang. It's got so much incredible fragrance, smoky umami in this chicken. Man, it doesn't taste overly greasy, just extremely crispy. Wow, that skin is just so amazingly beautiful. This is one of the best Korean fried chicken experiences I've ever had. Always wanted to come and try this place. Yeah, very deserving of their Michelin status. If you want to try out extremely unique, delicious Korean fried chicken, this is the place. I mean, there's so much flavors going on, especially when you add the sauce. I love the lunch special. One of my favorite things to eat in New York City. This is such a beautiful take on street meat. And this is not done. There's more stuff coming up. All right, I'm gonna finish my chicken before it gets cold. All right, the next dish, check this out. This is a beautiful bowl of thin noodles with perilla sauce and celery on top. Oh, wow. It smells great. So this is more like a like a palate cleanser. I like it. Yeah, you're definitely tasting a lot of that perilla flavor. The noodles are nice and chewy. This is 100% a good palate cleanser. And for dessert, passion fruit froyo. Like really good passion fruit froyo. Whoa, tastes like pink berry. It's not like an ice cream. It's actually frozen yogurt. That's delicious. Perfect ending to this meal. I'm about to leave North Carolina going into Tennessee. And there's one place that's always been my guilty pleasure fried chicken. And I can only find it in the South. Bojingo's. I love this place. Like, it's like emotional just walking close to it. This is my favorite fried chicken chain in the world. It is just so good. Let me show you. You're gonna get a two piece breast dinner. You're in the South, you're drinking sweet tea. That's the unsweet tea. I'll put some sugar in it. This is my favorite chicken breast at Bojingo's. Massive, massive piece of breast. Amazingly crispy skin on the outside. And trust me, we might need a straw for this because this thing, it's gonna be juicy. Dirty rice, one of my favorite side items here. Gotta get some mashed potatoes. Their biscuits are amazing. And cool down with a little coleslaw. Look at the size of this thing. These breasts are bigger than mine. Let me break you off a piece right here. Look at this. This juice could fill a swimming pool. And I would gladly dive in. Every single time I take a bite of this, it just makes me want to move near one of these stores. Slightly spicy. I mean, it's not overly spicy, but each piece, they're like part of their secret recipe. It's just a little bit of heat and it is glorious. And I know I'm sitting here like in a chain chicken restaurant raving about the fried chicken, but it is that, that good. Mashed potatoes, not necessary, but something I really enjoy with my chicken. I really love their dirty rice. A little bit of meat, spices, herbs. This is Bojingo's in New York. Not nearly as good. There's something about the South, that's where this chain really belongs and where it really shines. Okay. Now, I'm ready to leave. Howling Race is the institution here in the Los Angeles area. This place has been around for almost a decade. And I've had it once before in my life. Today, I was fortunate enough to go into the kitchen to see how the chicken was made. And each piece is breaded, fried to golden perfection. Then it goes for a swim into what can only be described as a pool of lava. Comes out sprinkled with spices, more heat, some pickles and slaw goes on top, and then sandwiched between two perfectly toasted buns. I asked them to make me hurt a lot. So let's see if this sandwich can make me howl. So their heat level goes from country, to mild, to medium, to medium plus, to hot, ex-hot, howling, howling, plus, plus. This is hot. And I tell you right now, I feel like I lost a layer of my skin on my tongue. This sandwich definitely brings the pain. I feel like my tongue is on fire. It's a chili that I feel my body's starting to heat up. The slaw and pickles really gives you a refreshing relief from the heat. All the chilies, all the spice doesn't hide. Can't disguise how amazingly delicious this chicken sandwich is. Also, like I said, chicken is fried perfectly. This is a piece of breast meat, so juicy on the inside, outside, perfectly crispy. The amount of, and again, it's not just pure heat, it's tons of flavor in this as well. I'll admit, Nashville hot chicken, one of the only spicy foods, I think in my life, that I didn't finish, was my first time in Nashville. I tried a hot chicken at the max heat level. I think this for me, it's perfect. The pain burns at just the right amount, where your taste buds engaged, it's happy, it's dancing. And then with that delicious chicken, the pickle, the slaw, the flavor, this is a very enjoyable spice level. I love how giant the chicken is. I mean, this is a sandwich that you will not only enjoy, but this is going to 100% fill you up. Hey guys, Mike Chen here in New Orleans. One thing I have never had in New Orleans before, an all-you-can-eat Cajun buffet until today. So breakfast is going to be at Louisiana Purchase Kitchen. I actually never knew there were a bunch of Cajun buffets in New Orleans. So this one's only about $12 on weekdays, and I see all the classic Cajun Creole dishes on this buffet. Fried chicken, there's dirty rice, there's Cajun baked chicken, there's dressing, there's potatoes, there's mac and cheese, and of course, gumbo. That's not a bad gumbo. Really big chunks of sausages and chicken, nice and thick and rich. Got a good amount of heat in here too. Add a little bit of the hot sauce. Yeah, gumbo here is awesome. Also got some dirty rice. I think I'm just okay with the dirty rice. It's a bit too sweet for me. And some eggplant dressing. I didn't even know what eggplant dressing was before today, but this is amazing. And this dressing, you can taste a ton of garlic. You can definitely taste the eggplant. There's a lot of dewy sausage in here as well. This thing is smoky, a little sweet. That is great. I can't believe I never knew about this before. And look at this Cajun roasted chicken. Beautiful golden brown skin. Look at that wonderful char as well. This is a killer chicken. I love this buffet. This chicken is so smoky and juicy and tender. Do you see the chicken glistening? The skin is charred. You can taste all that delicious spice on there. Also, parts is a little crispy as well. This is unbelievable. Round two. Oh, I just thought that that wasn't dirty rice. It was pepper rice. My mistake. Round two, I got some chicken itofi. Got some fried cabbage. That looks amazing. Mac and cheese, fried chicken, and some mashed potatoes. I gotta go back and get some gravy later. Couldn't really fit it all on this plate. This is the itofi. First time I had this dish was the last time I was in New Orleans. This itofi is excellent. I forgot to grab rice for it, but oh my gosh. It's thick, rich, smoky, tons of heat, and this flavor is so deep. Chunks of chicken, nice and tender. This is actually really good over mashed potatoes. Wow. Oh, they are hitting it out of the park with every single thing I tried. I can't believe all the times I've been to New Orleans, I've never found this buffet before. It's blowing my mind right now. Look at this fried cabbage. Delicate white meat, lightly fried, really crispy on the outside, glistening juicy catfish on the inside. Oh, that catfish is so good. And the batter has a little bit of heat to it. I think they either added some pepper or a little bit of cayenne. Add a little bit of hot sauce to this. Oh, that's such a good catfish. There's some mac and cheese. That's a very al dente mac and cheese. Pasta, not soggy at all. Super chewy and springy. And look at this fried chicken. Beautifully glistening, very crunchy fried chicken. Oh my gosh. I hate fruity breads, I really do. Especially when it's a place you've been to many times, then you realize that you could have been eating this for many, many, many years before. This is one of the greatest fried chicken, not just on a buffet, ever. Wow. And I can eat as much of this as I want. It's so crispy on the outside. Inside, it's just bursting with juice. You need to employ the bite and slurp method with this chicken. The outside crunch will shatter your senses on the inside. Look at that glistening, juicy meat. And the greatest thing about this chicken is the seasoning of the batter is incredible. There's so much flavor, there's so much heat. This is a spicy, spicy fried chicken. You don't need any hot sauce here. This is absolutely perfect the way it is. Round three, some smothered cabbage. I found a bigger piece of chicken. They also have spinach artichoke dip. And then I finally got some of that pork. It's a roast pork gravy with slices of roast pork in there. Cabbage has bits of pork in here as well. Mmm. That cabbage is so good. Oh, that's seasoned so nicely. Spinach artichoke dip. I think that one's just okay. It's a bit sweet for me. That pork inside the gravy, that's as tender as can be. And it's so good. Unbelievable. And this buffet is not a chain. It kind of looks like a, like a Golden Corral. This is one of the most flavorful buffets I've ever been to. Again, $12 on weekdays. And each day, some of the dishes changes as well. Sometimes they have baked oysters. I wish I was able to taste that. Some days they have crab cakes. Whatever they serve, I know it's gonna be delicious. This is 100% a must-try in New Orleans. Not just New Orleans. This is one of the most worth it buffets I've ever encountered in the U.S. Maybe the most worth it. Because the food is actually amazing. This giant piece of fried chicken. Look at the size of this monster. Look at that beautiful crust. So hot and juicy. You definitely feel that heat after about five chews. I mean $12 is worth it to come just for the fried chicken alone. They brought out a brand new tray of Disney Plane Dressing. That's even better. I think this is my favorite dish on the buffet. For dessert, they have some lemon pie, which is awesome. Home pudding with rum sauce on top. Oh, this bread pudding is magical. Everything about this. The crumble on top. The warm, chewy bread. The rum sauce. It just ties everything together. This has been one of my favorite buffets I've ever been to. Just the pure price to flavor ratio. I mean, you could go to really expensive buffets and only like a few items. Looking at you, Wicked Spoon. This place, everything is good. It's good. It's authentic flavors. It's pretty much everything you want to eat in New Orleans all on one buffet. And again, it's delicious. This is definitely still a very local place that I don't think a lot of tourists come here, but what a deal this place is. Hello. So we got two different orders. We got a chicken tender order and we got a three piece order. Each order, you get two sides, a biscuit. Okay. This chicken looks crazy good. I just want to say, like it's my first time seeing it. Do you see the red glow radiating off this? The three piece, I got two legs and a breast. It's definitely much smaller breast than you get at like a Popeye's or a KFC. But oh my, is it ever crispy? Also, I got some chicken tenders. I know there's a freeway right behind me, but did you hear that crunch? Ultra crunchy skin, delicious, juicy meat. Wow. The skin is amazing. It's so light too and thin. I got to try their sauces. So I got the buffalo and the spicy mayo. That buffalo sauce is great. This is some must have fried chicken. It's so unique too. This is amazing. First of all, it's so much meat in here. It's not just like batter. You can hang glide with the skin. It's so light. Wow. I am in love with this place. I will be back time and time again for this place. Actually, you gotta, you gotta get both. These are the lightest, juiciest chicken tenders I think I've ever had in my life. They really knocked it way out of the park with this. I feel like whenever I bite into this chicken, sensual music should come on and the world just just like slows down. You know, like in those movies where a beautiful woman walks in and the hair flows and time slows and all that stuff in the old rom-coms. This thing deserves such an introduction. As good as this stuff is, I am really sad I didn't get a breast piece. That's my favorite. Like a big old juicy, you know what? I'm gonna go get another. I'm gonna go get a breast piece. Next chicken order, number two. The introduction of the breast. Enormous piece of glowing red chicken breast. All the chicken is fried fresh, so we waited an additional 30 minutes for this new batch of fried chicken. Now, I've never said this to any person before, but you're worth the wait. So much spices and pepper and herbs on this chicken. Even though I just had like four pieces already, my mouth is still watering as soon as I saw this. And the inside is just so much juice. Some of this buffalo sauce. I'm good now eating anything else today. I was so distracted I didn't even turn my microphone on. Usually I'm more clear-headed, but once I saw this, everything just went out of my head. But trust me guys, get this. Get the buffalo sauce. And typically I don't like buffalo sauce because usually it's just sour and spicy. It's really not much other flavors to it. But this thing not only brings the heat, you can also taste the Cajun spices. I'm not joking guys, this is just something magical that's going on here. There's a few reasons I love this place. One, it's called Mike's. Right away I felt a connection. Two, it's owned by this Vietnamese family. And three, it's by a laundromat. So if you spill anything on your shirt, just go wash it. No joke, we've been just on the hood of this car eating chicken for the past one hour and there's no place I'd rather be. Welcome to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Champy's. Of course Tennessee is famous for fried chicken. Champy's is one of the most famous fried chicken places of Tennessee right here in Chattanooga. I don't feel like I ever get sick of fried chicken. It's my third fried chicken meal of the day. What Champy's is known for is two things. Hot tamales and the chicken. Of course I got both. And this is a pretty fun atmosphere sitting right outside, breathing the fresh Tennessee air, waiting for my hot tamales and fried chicken. Can't do any of this without sipping on some sweet tea. It's overly sweet, just the way I like it down south. Tamales just arrived. These are some sauced up tamales for sure. Oh, burning hot tamales. Usually tamales you wouldn't find this at a fried chicken place. It's hot, it smells good, it's saucy. This is so incredibly yummy. They put chili straight into the filling. So you're not only getting the heat from the outside of the tamales, you're definitely getting it from right in the center. As soon as you put it in your mouth, you get a nice subtle sweet fragrant taste of the corn. The filling is beefy, it's meaty, it's got a huge huge kick to it. That's beautiful. So good. So good. I can't wait. This is insane. Do you guys, do you guys raise Godzilla chickens back there? Probably. Seriously. This might be the fried chicken meal I've been waiting for all day. I mean, I love what I had at Bojingo's, but look at this thing. Perfectly fried mountain of a chicken. Just the color on the outside is so incredibly beautiful. I mean, I saw the sunset driving to Tennessee, but I'm getting more emotional looking at this. You can see the little specks of seasoning and spices on the outside. I mean, this chicken is like, I can barely hold it. It is heavy. Good lord. I just want to marvel at it. Oh, even the potato salad is making me borderline emotional. All that chili and spices on top of the potatoes. This looks like a potato salad sundae. The meat on the inside is equally beautiful. You see all the juice oozing out from the middle. That's exactly what I'm looking for in my fried chicken. I'm so happy. Oh, that is so good. The monster chicken also came with a monster flavor. It's just great. Juicy, crunchy fried chicken. This batter is magical. I want to show some love to this potato salad as well. Oh, on top is some Cajun seasoning. Potato, creamy, perfect, refreshing side for the chicken. Everything I had here, not a single bad bite so far. Wash all that down. The way you're supposed to eat this chicken, I cut it open just to show you guys, but the way you're supposed to eat this chicken, pick it up, get all intimate and personal with this bird. I mean, this batter, this is just insane. I taste a lot of pepper. I see a lot of pepper. This is probably one of the peppery-er fried chickens I've had, but god, that works so well. I'm gonna put this down. I also got a dark meat. If the white meat is already that good, this is gonna be phenomenal. I really don't see how KFC can stay in business in this town. This is not expensive. Two monster, and I really do mean monster, chicken breast pieces in a wing. Two size, 10 bucks. Best thing I had all day. Even above my beloved Pajingos. Champis, name well deserved. I'm so excited to be here. This like, this looks exactly like I wanted to look. I mean, this is middle of farmland Tennessee and Gus's World Famous Chicken. I smell manure right now. It's probably not the best smell right before I want to go eat, but ain't no funky odor is gonna stop my appetite for this thing. Holy cow. I'm so excited. I got here about 10 minutes before they were closing. Oh my god, I've been wanting to come here for like 10 years, if I just missed it by 10 minutes. There's food regret, and then there's just like a food nightmare. This would be that. So I couldn't eat in here, so they give it to me to go. Um, doesn't smell the nicest, but at least the view is good. It's like country road, you know? All my fried chicken dreams have been up to this moment, and here it is. The World Famous Gus's Chicken. I've seen this in so many TV shows. Now it's just sitting, burning in my hand, and this is just hyping hot. I haven't eaten fried chicken for like two days straight, and this is just the most excited I've ever been. That is the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life. This might be one of the best things I've ever had in my life. No hype. Hyping hot chicken. Incredibly juicy. The skin, wonderfully crunchy. But the reason I'm saying this is the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life is the flavor. I never had anything like this. This thing is spicy. Naturally spicy. Spiced perfectly. I'm literally sitting in front of Gus's chicken shop in their parking lot. I'm munching on a chicken wing. Nowhere in the world I'd rather be right now. The breast meat, this might really be what the ticket to food heaven feels like in my hands. And you see the spices on the skin, and it's melting through the skin onto the meat itself right below this crunchy surface. If I'm craving fried chicken, this is where I'm coming to. I love, love great food endings. Last place on this fried chicken tour, best place on this fried chicken tour. Oh, I'm so happy. This is like the Forrest Gump, the usual suspect, the sixth sense ending of food. You should come here and check this place out, and you'll know exactly, exactly, what I'm feeling right now. And guys, thank you all so much for joining me on this southern fried chicken tour. I had a great time. All the places I went to, listed for you in my description box below. All right, I gotta get back to this. Until we eat again, see you later.