Fast foods like fried chicken, French fries, and burgers are go-to options for a quick snack when hungry. These are not only tasty but also easily available and inexpensive. That said, visiting a restaurant or roadside stall to buy these treats may be inconvenient sometimes. Luckily, it is possible to recreate fast food at home using simple ingredients. Homemade versions of fast food can be made anytime and customized as per one’s taste and preferences.
Fried chicken
Being one of the most popular and savored fast foods, southern fried chicken is something many people would love to recreate at home. Thankfully, the recipe is not too complicated. With only a few ingredients, one can make fried chicken, just like a copycat recipe of fast food chains.
The ingredients to gather include cut-up chicken breasts, thighs, wings, and legs—one can choose any portion of the meat as per their preference. Along with chicken, one would need buttermilk, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, peanut oil, hot sauce, salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Start by placing the cut chicken pieces in a large bowl and adding all the seasonings. Once done, toss the bowl to cover the chicken pieces with seasonings evenly.
- Add buttermilk and hot sauce to marinate the chicken. Cover the bowl using a plastic wrap and leave it in the refrigerator for a few hours.
- Mix flour with cornstarch, salt, and ground black pepper in a separate bowl. Use a whisk to mix everything properly.
- One by one, coat the marinated chicken pieces with the flour mixture and set them aside for a while.
- Pour peanut oil into a deep fryer and heat it to around 350°F.
- Start adding the coated chicken pieces into the fryer and fry them until they turn golden brown.
- After frying, remove the pieces and place them on paper towels to remove excess oil.
- Sprinkle flaked salt on the fried chicken and serve.
French fries
French fries are another popular homemade fast food recipe that is fairly easy to recreate. People usually complain that their homemade fries are not crispy outside and soft inside like those prepared by fast food chains. Well, there’s a little secret to achieving this consistency—double-frying the potato sticks!
This fast food copycat recipe requires a few ingredients that are easy to find, such as large Russet potatoes, vegetable oil, vegetable shortening, salt, white vinegar, corn syrup, and cold water.
- Start by peeling, rinsing, and slicing the potatoes.
- Pour some cold water into a bowl and mix corn syrup, white vinegar, and salt.
- Place the sliced-up potatoes in the cold water solution and ensure the pieces are fully submerged. Once done, store this bowl in the fridge for a few hours.
- Remove the potato slices, drain them, rinse them with cold water, and then dry them by patting.
- In a frying pan, preheat oil to 300°F. Fry the potatoes for around 5 minutes and remove them.
- Add the vegetable shortening to the oil, raise the heat to 400°F, and re-fry the potatoes until golden brown.
- After removing the fries, place them on paper towels to drain excess oil, season them with salt, and serve.
Chocolate frosty
People who want to ditch hot and savory snacks for something cold and sweet can make a chocolate frosty at home. Among the most popular sweet treats, chocolate frosty only needs four ingredients: whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, Cool Whip, and cocoa powder. Once the ingredients are ready, one can start preparing this DIY fast food recipe at home.
- Fill an ice cube tray with whole milk and store it in the freezer until the milk is frozen.
- Add the frozen milk, some liquid whole milk, condensed milk, Cool Whip, and cocoa powder (preferably unsweetened) in a blender.
- Blend the mixture until it becomes smooth and thick.
- Pour the mixture into a glass, and the perfect restaurant-like chocolate frosty is ready to serve.
Hash browns
People who love potato-based fast food recipes can try making hash browns. Making this fast food recipe at home will provide the same crispiness and taste. The ingredients include low-moisture Russet potatoes, potato flour, rice flour, cornstarch, oil, salt, butter, and onion powder.
- Peel and grate the potatoes before soaking them in cold water for at least 20 minutes. Make sure not to skip this step or reduce the soaking time. Soaking helps remove the excess starch from potatoes, making the final yield crispy.
- Remove the potatoes from the bowl and drain excess water from them.
- In a skillet, heat some butter. Cook the potatoes in the butter for 12 to 15 minutes, transfer them to a bowl, and let them cool.
- Add the rice flour, potato flour, cornstarch, salt, oil, and onion powder to the potatoes. Mix the ingredients until a dough forms.
- Scoop some of the dough, and on a flat surface, shape the scoops like hash browns using palms.
- In a frying pan, heat some oil. Add the hash browns to the oil and fry on both sides until golden.
- Remove the hash browns, let them cool, drain the excess oil, and serve.
