How Can I Tell If Fried Chicken Is Cooked All Of The Way Through?

Our answer

Nigella's Fried Chicken Sandwich (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a solo treat with a small skinless, boneless chicken thigh that is marinated then dredged with a spicy coating and fried. The chicken is cooked in a deep-sided pan with about 3 1/2 cm/ 1 1/4 inches of oil. This should be enough to cook the chicken without completely submerging it and you need to turn the chicken over halfway through the cooking time.

The chicken has a total of 6-8 minutes of cooking time, which should be enough to cook it through, as the chicken thigh fillet should not be particularly thick and Nigella suggests taking the marinated chicken out of the fridge in advance of cooking, to make sure that it loses some of its fridge chill. If you are not sure, then let the chicken rest for a minute or two and then you can insert the pointed tip of a small, sharp knife into the thickest part of the chicken and the juices coming out should run clear. Or use a digital (instant-read) thermometer to check the internal temperature of the chicken at the thickest point; it should read at least 75c (165F). If the juices have any traces of blood, or the internal temperature is too low, then you could cook the chicken for a further minute on each side, but be careful as any juices coming out of the chicken could cause the oil to spit slightly. If you have a particularly thick chicken thigh fillet then before marinating the chicken you could put the chicken between two pieces of baking parchment (parchment paper) and beat it slightly with a meat mallet, rolling pin or heavy-based saucepan, to make it slightly thinner.