Does popeyes use peanut oil – Food is the fundamental necessity of life. While we hold countless debates on the properties of food, which food is the best and study the same, it all benefits humanity. If we talk about the stone age, we look for meat taken directly from hunted animals, and fruits that were plucked. As man discovered fire, he understood that the meat would taste a lot better if thrown into this smoky liquid, and dipped in ocean water.
Today, culinary chefs, bakers and food scientists exist that define the modern food that we eat. We have packets of food that we can store, and we have discovered a thousand ways to cook meat. If we talk about chicken, it is literally termed as a food and then as a bird.
Billions are reared and slaughtered everyday, and you can argue that it is wrong to do so, one simply cannot resist the taste. There are so many different types of fast food restaurant chains that have opened since the last 50 years, and almost all of them have fried chicken.
Fried chicken is the epitome of snacks, and no matter where you live, a plate of macaroni and chicken strips would fill your heart. So, what are the health benefits of the same? Is the oil used in places like Popeye or KFC worth the price? Let us discuss these questions in detail below.
Questions Related to the Oil Used by Popeyes to Fry Chicken
What Is the Recipe for Popeyes Fried Chicken?
You must be really hungry to search this, or you genuinely want to know what in the name of holy cheese do they put in their fried chicken. To be honest, I even wanted to learn about what they use, and how they make that chicken so juicy and delicious.
I searched for hours for the recipe to share here, and even asked my friends and colleagues for people that work at Popeyes. To know which oil they use, and what batter they make to fry those heavenly wings and sandwiches, let’s dive into the recipe itself. Note that this is a copy of the recipe and not the original recipe itself. I don’t like being chained in orange suits.
The first thing that you need is a good piece of chicken. It doesn’t matter where you got it from, whether it’s from a butcher or 7 elevens, you just need to pick the right piece. If you want to go for some part that has a bone, you can try to maximize the amount of meat covering the same. It is always better for you to keep the skin too, as it is not only healthy, but adds an extra crunch.
If you are looking for breasts and boneless pieces, pound them into half inch thickness, and make sure that the weight is spread evenly. Add Mustard Powder, Onion powder, Garlic Powder, Turmeric, Cayenne pepper, Paprika, Dried Dill, cumin, MSG, white pepper, kosher and celery salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add it as per your understanding of the measure of these spices, and mix it well.
Make sure that you coat the chicken well with these spices, mix this spice mix in buttermilk and dip the chicken overnight. If it doesn’t change color, it doesn’t have a taste. After you wake up fresh, mix Mayo with a little bit of parsley and finely chopped coriander.
You can even get hot sauce mixed with ketchup and garlic slices to create that smoky flavor. Remove the chicken and dip them in cornstarch that is mixed with the spices as well. Fry in palm oil at 375°F and you would be good to go.
Which Oil Is Used at Popeyes?
If you go to the official website, you would understand quite a lot of things from the company’s perspective. What I love about Popeyes is that they are genuine with their consumers. Every food industry and restaurant chains use additives, food coloring, preservatives and spices like MSG.
There is nothing debatable with this and everyone uses the same. Sometimes, we even use MSG at home to get the same taste as we find in Indo-Chinese restaurants. However, Popeye promises to remove all additives and preservatives from their menu completely by the end of this year.
They have also promised to stop using MSG while keeping the same flavor! Palm oil is the basic thing that is used for frying and they consider this to be of the purest form. Unlike any other food chain, you would get a RSPO certification from the company. This is because there was a Twitter post that made it public that the restaurant chain uses peanut oil.
Ofcourse peanut oil is one of the best oils that can be used for frying, but when we talk about America, there is a problem. Frying in peanut oil is good in many parts of the world, but studies show that almost 9% of the population is allergic to nuts.
That’s a lot of people considering the population. This is why you would find so many questions regarding this topic on the internet. But, the post has allegations and no proof on the matter.
What Are the Different Types of Oils That Other Chains Use?
Popeyes had a history of tweets that have been done against the restaurant chain, and it was mainly due to various allegations placed against the company. As far as other restaurant chains go, there are a lot of things that you need to understand. Chick-fil-A uses peanut oil and it is an established fact.
However, not many people care about the fast food franchise of having peanut oil, and personally I love the chicken strips from them. As for KFC, they have several rules and regulations that they have to follow, and it said that the Colonel has made them himself. These are strict standards that every outlet has to follow, and that is why they used purified and hydrogenated soybean oil.
They have citric acid added in the oil to retain the flavor, and an anti-foaming agent is added to reduce the froth. If you have fried chicken or have seen the process of frying, you would be glad about the anti-foaming part.
McDonald, the largest chain of fast food restaurants in the world, also has strict standards regarding its oil. The quality of oil used to fry chicken decides the flavor and that is why they use heavily blended and purified canola oil for those chicken strips.