The Top Fried Chicken Spot in Every State

Restaurant owners Nolan West and Matt Tomita started their business as a ghost kitchen, selling only the two items listed in their name. They have since transitioned to a brick-and-mortar location. Their crispy fried chicken is coated with their signature sweet and salty "Yum" Korean chicken sauce, with a variety of dipping sauces available on the side.

The menu also includes chicken and smoked "Texas-inspired" brisket packs, as well as eclectic dishes like kalbi "carne asada" nachos and garlic paniolo butter shrimp.

"Chimaek" is a combination word derived from the Korean terms for chicken and beer, a classic combination. In the common Korean style, the fried chicken here has a sharply crisp crust. The menu is straightforward, offering dark or white meat chicken pieces, wings, or fried tofu with a selection of sauces, with the recommended one being yangnyum or yangnyeom, a traditional sweet, spicy, and garlicky sauce. Sides include rice or coleslaw, and a small selection of tap and bottled beers.

When Gil's opened in 1962, a fried chicken dinner – featuring pieces fried in a secret-recipe breading – cost $1.10 and included two sides. These days, the same meal is $15.25 ($16.75 for all white meat), yet it still accounts for about a third of all orders. The menu also offers chicken tenders, grilled chicken, chicken parmesan, chicken with catfish or walleye, chicken with spaghetti, three types of chicken salad, and a variety of other dishes.

This 55-year-old institution is in a 19th-century building that was once a general store in a small town midway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and has been praised by the IndyStar as "serving perhaps the Midwest's best fried chicken." Recently honored as one of the James Beard Foundation's America's Classics, Wagner's fries its chicken in cast-iron skillets with pork fat.

The menu is simple, offering only a few appetizers and chicken dinners, which come with unlimited mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and green beans.

Bubba offers a more upscale experience than many fried chicken places, specializing in Southern-accented "chef-driven comfort food" paired with craft cocktails, wines, and microbrews. Their organic brined chicken is fried to order and can be served hot, honey hot, or with country gravy. Each meal comes with read-and-butter pickles, garlic-buttermilk mashed potatoes, and two additional sides. The menu also includes chicken and dumplings, chicken and waffles, and Cajun chicken and sausage gumbo.

"Our famous home-style chicken" is the specialty here. The menu offers two-, three-, and four-piece assortments praised by one Yelp reviewer as "finger-licking must-have fried chicken." Chicken dinners come with potatoes, salad, bread, and coffee or tea. KansasTravel describes Chicken House as a place where diners chat across the dining room, most men wear hats, and napkin dispensers are on the tables.

Housed in the former manor of a horse farm famous for its prize-winning steeds, Merrick Inn has a diverse menu, featuring Maryland items like crab cakes, Green Goddess salad, and pecan-crusted pork tenderloin. They are especially known for their Southern fried chicken, hand-breaded "with love," and served with a choice of two sides. Every Wednesday is Fried Chicken Night, offering a specially priced dinner of two chicken pieces, mashed potatoes with pan gravy, and two additional sides.

Recognized as one of America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation, this renowned Southern restaurant, established in 1957, is famous for its classic fried chicken and chicken sandwich. The small menu also offers tenders, chicken salad, and baked chicken. (Willie Mae's is temporarily closed due to a fire that gutted the place, but is expected to reopen sometime in 2024 – and the fried chicken is worth the wait. For those who can't wait, there's an offshoot in Venice, Louisiana called Willie Mae's.)

Crispy Gài offers a unique take on fried chicken. Chicken thighs and drumsticks are brined, fried extra crispy, and scattered with fried shallots in the style of the city of Hat Yai in southern Thailand. Hat Yai wings are also offered, along with Gaeng Pèt wings (coated in red curry) and Sichuan wings (with mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns). The menu includes a variety of sauces and a selection of other Thai dishes.

This family-friendly spot serves pizzas (though none with chicken, there is a version with slow-roasted duck and duck cracklings) and a small but diverse menu of Southern-inspired dishes. Highlights include the outstanding Maryland fried chicken, which is crisp and golden brown, topped with herb-flavored gravy, and served with roasted garlic mashed potatoes and braised greens or a sautéed vegetable.

Originally founded by Louisiana native Hattie Gray as the Chicken Shack in downtown Saratoga Springs in 1938, the local institution now bears her name. The place has a dedicated following, with two additional locations in town (including a seasonal spot at the famous Saratoga Springs racetrack), and plans for an Albany branch soon. "Hattie's Famous Fried Chicken," featuring breast, wing, thigh, and leg, with two sides, available "Nashville hot" upon request is the star attraction.

The menu also offers regular or hot chicken sandwiches and "Good 'n Evil Chicken Wings," described as a perfect balance of sweet & hot flavors. You can also get fried chicken baked into biscuit-crust mac and cheese.

Rocky's pays tribute to "Nashville style" hot chicken and Southern soul food, according to its website. They serve a range of chicken combinations in eight levels of heat, from mild to extra hot. Also on the menu are wings, chicken and waffles, grilled and rotisserie chicken, and chicken pot pie. There is a second location in Arden, just south of Asheville, and another one in Greenville, South Carolina.

"We are a group of creatives who love food, adult beverages, and throwing parties," declares the founders of this lively restaurant located in a converted tow-truck station. Specializing in chicken tenders and boneless chicken breasts fried exclusively in a gluten-free coating, the menu offers a variety of sauces. One is the Hot as Cluck breast, which features a habanero hot sauce, that is labeled "Spicy – Not meant for Scandinavians."

Barberton proudly calls itself the "Chicken Capital of the World," in honor of its four chicken-focused restaurants originally opened by Serbian immigrants. Together, these restaurants serve nearly eight tons of fresh chicken each week. The menu is entirely dedicated to chicken in various forms and sides, with the essential one being "hot sauce," which is rice served in a spicy gravy.

According to the White House menu, "In the 1950s, 4 pieces of Legendary Barberton Chicon, Original Hot Sauce (rice), vinaigrette Cole Slaw and Fresh Cut French Fries put White House Chicken on the map!" The restaurant has now expanded with additional locations in Green and Wadsworth, Ohio.

This simple restaurant offers chicken dinners, boxes, family packs, boneless chunks, sides, drinks, and desserts in a cozy, family-owned place with window service that has been frying chicken for over 3 decades. The mac and cheese gets great reviews as the best side dish on the menu.

For the folks who love traditional Southern fried chicken and others who prefer sweet and/or spicy Korean chicken, FOMO Chicken has both groups covered. The converted food truck has a concise menu that includes boneless chicken options with mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and corn, alongside spicy or sweet garlic Korean versions with rice and pickled radish. The menu also features chicken strips, chicken sandwiches, and wings prepared in any of the three styles.

Todd and Laura Lyons opened their restaurant in 2017 with a vision of bringing professional chef skills and techniques to comfort food classics like fried chicken. They use antibiotic- and hormone-free birds humanely raised by Coleman Natural Foods in Delaware, used for their fried chicken pieces, wings, and tenders. Offerings also include regular and Nashville hot chicken sandwiches, and sides like pimento cheese dip and Nashville tater tots with ranch dressing.

Inspired by the food they had while visiting their son at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Nick and Tracy Rabar decided to bring those same flavors to the Northeast. The menu has pimento cheese, fried green tomatoes, and hushpuppies, among other things. Their excellent fried chicken is available as pieces, wings, or tenders, with coatings that include traditional, spicy, Nashville hot, honey Cholula, or garlic parmesan.

Founded in 1979, Bernie's is among many fried chicken places nationwide that describe their chicken as "broasted." This cooking method involves frying in oil within a pressure cooker, keeping the meat moist without making the exterior greasy. There are burgers and (non-chicken) sandwiches on the menu, but the spotlight falls on the fried chicken dinners in assorted sizes, that come with fries, cole slaw, and a roll.

Owned by Jayme and Matt Mothershead, this unique restaurant specializes in fried chicken and Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. The menu on the wall behind the counter doesn't offer much more than chicken by the piece or in baskets with fries, cheesesteaks, and a few sides, including country-style potato salad.

Both the chicken and the cheesesteak are made with Matt's family recipes. The Mothersheads like to keep it simple, and they also own Mama's Ladas, which serves almost nothing but enchiladas.

Napoleon "Na" Vanderbilt and his wife, Maggie, began selling fried chicken out of a tavern's back door in Mason, Tennessee, northeast of Memphis, in 1953. They opened a restaurant in the community 20 years later. Na's son, Vernon "Gus" Bonner, took the place over and renamed it for himself. In 2001, with Gus's blessing, a longtime customer opened this Memphis offshoot, now one of two in the city.

The original Mason establishment is still operational, but there are now 40 locations nationwide, from New Orleans to Chicago to L.A. Chicken plates come with baked beans, slaw, and white bread.

With two locations in Dallas, Street's is located on the site of the beloved Black-eyed Pea, co-founded by Gene Street. Their fried chicken is cooked to order and the menu notes a 20-30 minute wait time. Other offerings include fried chicken sandwiches, crispy tenders, and chicken "lollipops" (smoked and fried drumsticks). They also feature chicken roasted with herbes de Provence or marinated in spicy Portuguese peri peri sauce.

Julius Thompson, a former pharmacy technician who transitioned to culinary school, initially opened an Italian-themed food truck with his wife. In 2019, they launched this brick-and-mortar restaurant, to pay tribute to traditional cooking, which he describes as "Soul Food" or "Southern" cuisine. The menu includes appetizers, main dishes, and sides based on that theme. T

Thompson serves wings, either blackened or blackened and fried, along with classic fried chicken (drumstick and boneless thigh, breaded with herbs and spices and served with maple hot sauce) and chicken-fried chicken – a pounded and breaded boneless chicken breast with gravy. All entrées come with two sides and cornbread.

Chef-owner Weston Nicoll brags that he can "fry the hell out of a chicken." The results are available as a quarter, half, or whole bird, served with deviled eggs and pickles on the side. There's also the signature sandwich, "The Coquette (The Stoltzfus)," that features fried chicken with two sauces: a horseradish-spiked mayo and a mayo-ketchup blend with fermented Korean chile paste.

Proprietor Calvin Cummings bought this iconic Charlottesville restaurant in 2004, though it's been around for over 50 years. "Chicken fried and baked" is available in meals with sides, family packs, boxes, and by the piece. Offerings also include a variety of chicken sandwiches, as well as fried shrimp, clams, and fish.

How about fried chicken with a tropical twist? Ma'Ono serves Hawaiian-style, with Kewpie mayo and described as "Crispy Juicy Aloha." Ma'Ono locations are kiosks inside other establishments, including the iconic Admiral Benbow Room dive bar in West Seattle and Rachel's Ginger Beer outposts in University Village, South Lake Union, and Capitol Hill.

Key menu items include fried chicken drumsticks or fingers and fried chicken breast on pulled BBQ kalua chicken on a Hawaiian bun. Gluten-free versions are available with 24 hours' notice.

At this modest counter-service restaurant, expect a 15-minute wait for your freshly made chicken. Available in two-, four-, and six-piece boxes with various piece combinations, each one is made to order. For larger appetites or gatherings, there are also eight-, 12-, and 20-piece buckets. Chicken tenders and chicken and waffles are also on the menu, along with eight different fried chicken sandwiches.

Natasha Banks and her family run this Southern food haven, and though it was originally intended to be named "Cozy Corner," the name was already taken, so they adjusted the spelling. They offer traditional fried, as well as BBQ fried chicken, smoked BBQ chicken, wings, gizzards, and chicken and waffles.

The menu also features various other meats, including frogs' legs and catfish. Chicken is also part of four multi-protein platters, such as the King's Platter which includes ribs, pork, sausage, two sides, and cornbread.

Graeme and Christine Mara Swain, originally from Omaha, moved to Jackson and opened Gather in 2014, offering "chic-mountain ambiance and modern eclectic cuisine." The menu is diverse featuring house-made bao buns with braised pork belly and house-made pasta with elk bolognese. A standout dish is their fried chicken, brined in buttermilk and served with pepper honey and three-cheese mornay sauce. It's accompanied by cavatappi noodles, hot sauce, and Fresno chiles.