Chicken Po’Boy

If a trip to the Big Easy isn’t in your immediate future, you can still bring some of New Orleans’ traditional flavors to your own kitchen by making a chicken po’boy. This hearty sandwich features cornmeal-crusted buttermilk fried chicken with traditional toppings like lettuce, tomato and pickles, all tucked inside a French bread roll. Instead of regular mayonnaise, this po’boy recipe gets a generous slick of homemade remoulade sauce, a creamy, tangy mayonnaise-based condiment famously served with all sorts of New Orleans dishes, like chilled shrimp, crab cakes and fritters.

Chicken po’boys are filling enough to make for your family for dinner, but they’re also perfect for casual weekend meals. Make them with other New Orleans recipes to celebrate Mardi Gras, or serve them for Super Bowl parties, backyard barbecues and other fun gatherings.

What is a po’boy?

The po’boy is as linked to New Orleans as gumbo and the French Quarter are. The sandwich most likely evolved from the oyster loaf, a fried oyster sandwich that’s been served around the city since the 1800s. While fried seafood is still a popular po’boy filling, you’ll find them stuffed with everything from roast beef to burgers and fried chicken.

It was in the late 1920s that the sandwich most likely got the po’boy moniker thanks to Benjamin and Clovis Martin, who served leftover pot roast and gravy sandwiches to striking streetcar conductors at their Martin Brothers’ Coffee Stand and Restaurant. Legend has it that whenever the restaurant workers saw a tired union member walk in, they’d alert the kitchen by yelling, “Here comes another poor boy!” The sandwich grew in popularity in New Orleans, taking on the name of “poor boy,” which eventually just became “po’boy.”

Today, you’ll find fried catfish po’boys, fried shrimp po’boys, and po’boys filled with boudin, the mildly spicy sausage of New Orleans. When you order a po’boy “all dressed”, the sandwich comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise.

Chicken Po’Boy Ingredients

• French sandwich rolls: Traditional po’boys come on long French bread rolls, which are crusty on the outside and soft as a cloud on the inside. Ask for them at your bakery, or use our mini French loaves recipe to make your own.
• Chicken breast: Slice boneless, skinless chicken breasts into cubes. Once battered and fried, you can pile a whole lot of them into the French bread rolls.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk adds a slightly tangy flavor to the chicken and makes it extra juicy. Don’t have any on hand? Make buttermilk quickly by adding vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk.
• Hot sauce: Louisiana-style hot sauce adds kick to the buttermilk soak for the chicken. Tabasco is a classic, but you can also use Frank’s RedHot or any other brand.
• Flour: All-purpose flour is fine to use in the dry mixture used to coat the chicken pieces. Flour helps the coating cling to the meat as it fries.
• Cornmeal: Mix cornmeal with the flour for the dry coating. Yellow or white cornmeal creates an extra-crispy breading on the chicken, resulting in a deep golden brown color.
• Spices: For the chicken breading, use a zesty, spicy blend of paprika, cayenne pepper, salt and garlic powder. A little paprika also goes into the remoulade.
• Remoulade: This tangy cream sauce is made with mayonnaise, dill pickle relish, lemon juice, Louisiana-style hot sauce, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and paprika.
• Toppings: When you ask for a po’boy “all dressed” in New Orleans, you get crisp iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and dill pickle slices. Plum tomatoes have more flesh and fewer seeds than larger tomato varieties, but you can use any you prefer. (Psst: Shredding iceberg lettuce is easy when you use a box grater.)
• Oil for frying: The best oil for frying chicken should have a high smoke point. Peanut and soybean oils are two good options.

Directions

Step 1: Make the remoulade

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, pickle relish, lemon juice, hot sauce, minced garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and paprika. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the sauce until you’re ready to build the sandwiches.

Step 2: Coat the chicken

In a shallow bowl, mix the buttermilk and hot sauce. In a separate shallow bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne.

Coat the chicken with the buttermilk mixture, then dip it in the flour mixture to coat both sides. Shake off the excess.

Step 3: Fry the chicken

In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat the oil to 375°F. Fry the chicken pieces in batches until they’re golden brown, three to four minutes. Drain them on paper towels.

Editor’s Tip: The key to frying in batches is making sure the oil returns to temperature between batches. Don’t overcrowd the pan.

Step 4: Make the sandwiches

Spread remoulade sauce on both halves of the split-open French sandwich rolls. Fill each one with shredded lettuce, dill pickles, sliced tomatoes and fried chicken. Serve the po’boys immediately.

Chicken Po’Boy Variations

• Make a half-and-half po’boy: Just like in New Orleans! Fill your po’boys with half fried chicken and half fried shrimp, fried oysters or spicy sausage such as boudin or andouille.
• Toast the rolls: If you love a toasted sandwich, lightly toast the split French rolls in a toaster oven or regular oven before assembling the sandwiches.
• Add coleslaw: Instead of lettuce and tomato, fill the po’boys with creamy, tangy coleslaw. A zesty coleslaw with red bell pepper and sweet onion would pair well with the fried chicken.
• Make it with mayo: Instead of remoulade, spread the French rolls with plain mayonnaise.

How to Store Chicken Po’Boy

Store the components of the chicken po’boy recipe separately to protect their quality and flavor. Store remoulade in a covered dish in the refrigerator. Let the fried chicken pieces cool, then transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate them. The French bread rolls can be stored at room temperature, sealed inside a zip-top bag. Place sliced tomatoes and shredded lettuce in separate sealed containers and refrigerate them.

How long do chicken po’boys last?

You should really dig into a po’boy sandwich as soon as it’s made, but you can still enjoy it up to a day later if it’s tightly wrapped and stored in the fridge. Any longer and the bread and vegetables will become soggy. To build sandwiches later, store all the po’boy ingredients separately in the fridge. Fried chicken will last up to four days, and the remoulade and toppings will last up to a week.

Chicken Po’Boy Tips

What’s the best bread for a po’boy sandwich?

The traditional bread for a po’boy sandwich is a French bread sandwich roll. These rolls are 7 to 9 inches long, and have a chewy crust and pillowy soft interior. If you can’t find rolls like these at your store, you can make po’boys on small baguettes or on sandwich-sized slices of French loaf bread. You can use sandwich bread or hoagie rolls, but they won’t have the chewy crust of French bread.

What can you serve with chicken po’boys?

Pair the chicken po’boys with one of our coleslaw recipes, like classic creamy coleslaw or tangy red cabbage slaw. French fries are a great side, including baked shoestring fries or these contest-winning Cajun fries. Some New Orleans eateries even tuck french fries right into their sandwiches!