Kroger and Home Chef have completely reinvented their Fried Chicken to be crispier, crunchier, and tastier than ever.
After surveying and testing* revealed Home Chef’s Fried Chicken & Tenders sold in Kroger Family Stores nationwide did not take the #1 spot in terms of crispiness and flavor, (compared to top-rated retail/QSR chicken), Kroger & Home Chef set out to provide customers with just that: the crunchiest, crispiest, most flavor-packed fried chicken on market.
Home Chef and Kroger’s team of culinary innovators made the following changes to achieve their goal:
· Double-breading every piece by hand, using innovative ingredients such as tapioca starch and potato starch to maximize breading hold and crunch
· Incorporating 10 spices in the breading (garlic, paprika, thyme, etc.) to perfectly season each bite
· Developing new paper-based packaging for Kroger’s signature Home Chef 8-Piece Fried Chicken with additional venting to maintain crispy texture
Now, the prepared Fried Chicken options at stores in the Kroger Family — from 8-piece meals, a la carte pieces, and tenders — are better than ever and on shelves now!
More on R&D: Kroger and Home Chef’s culinary teams engaged in a months-long redevelopment journey in partnership with leading innovators in the industry to improve the recipe and packaging for its Fried Chicken and Tenders. More than 50 candidate recipes were tested, and the result was a more flavorful product with long-lasting crispiness that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. In addition to testing in Kroger’s Culinary Center, the new and improved Fried Chicken recipe underwent multiple consumer panels to validate the new recipe and uncover additional areas for improvement. Once complete, the new fried chicken was also served in Kroger’s Kitchen 1883 restaurants in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, where it was the #1 seller each day it was on the menu.
