The Top Secret KFC Recipe For Fried Chicken Was Once Leaked
โ€” Updated on 12 September 2023

The Top Secret KFC Recipe For Fried Chicken Was Once Leaked

โ€” Updated on 12 September 2023
Garry Lu
WORDS BY
Garry Lu

The Colonelโ€™s 11 herbs and spices are a secret guarded more closely than the most confidential CIA briefings (weโ€™re talking armoured trucks, secure briefcases, and an actual vault). A couple who apparently found a copy found out the hard way when KFC threatened to sue. But just a few years ago, this crucial element of the KFC recipe was inadvertently revealed by none other than, Joe Ledington, Harland Sandersโ€™ own nephew.

Back in 2016, Mr Ledington was interviewed for an otherwise unremarkable travel article about the Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum.

โ€œLedington and I shake hands, and I tell him about the assignment that brought me to this part of southeast Kentucky,โ€ recounted Jay Jones of the Chicago Tribune.

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โ€œBefore I can even open my notebook, he draws my attention to the photo album overstuffed with pictures, newspaper clippings and various family documents.โ€

โ€œThe album, with its nondescript cover and clear cellophane sheets, looks like the kind I used to buy for a buck at Walgreens. Ledington turns the pages, occasionally stopping to point out certain pictures, like the one of him posing with his famous uncle and others taken at the opening of a KFC in some faraway land.โ€

Joe Ledington eventually piqued Jay Jonesโ€™ interest with his dear Aunt Claudiaโ€™s last will and testament. Though not because of the last will and testament itself. You see, on the back of this document was a handwritten note.

KFC Recipe - 11 Secrets Herbs & Spices Leaked

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โ€œAt the top of the page, in blue ink, it reads, 11 Spices โ€” Mix With 2 Cups White Fl. Thatโ€™s followed by an enumerated list of herbs and spices. Eleven herbs and spices. And the measurements for each,โ€ wrote Jay Jones.

Ledington would confirm this was indeed the original 11 herbs and spices โ€œwith convictionโ€ at the time, before โ€œ[dialling] back his certaintyโ€ and expressing reluctance to elaborate during a subsequent follow-up interview with the Chicago Tribuneโ€˜s editor.

During the damage control phase of this entire saga, a KFC spokesperson told The New York Times: โ€œMany people have made these claims over the years and no one has been accurate โ€” this one isnโ€™t either.โ€

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In defiance of this claim, the Chicago Tribune test kitchen even tried the recipe firsthand, comparing what they cooked to the modern product, which yielded even greater results than expected.

โ€œHow was it? Well, really good. In fact, tasters agreed the test kitchen fried chicken was even better than the Colonelโ€™s,โ€ wrote Joe Gray.

โ€œBut more important, did it taste like the Colonelโ€™s secret blend of herbs and spices? It came very close, yet something was still missing.โ€

After adding a dash of MSG to the blend, theyโ€™d effectively achieved an identical match.

Check out the 11 secret herbs and spices as outlined by the original KFC recipe below:

KFC Recipe: Original 11 Secret Herbs & Spices

โ€œ11 spices โ€“ mix with 2 cups of white flourโ€ฆโ€

  • 2/3 teaspoons of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoons of thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoons of basil
  • 1/3 teaspoons of oregano
  • 1 teaspoon of celery salt
  • 1 teaspoon of black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of dried mustard
  • 4 teaspoons of paprika
  • 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
  • 3 teaspoons of white pepper

*Add MSG for the modern recipe

โ€œThe big thing we did was mix it with flour and bag it up and sell it to restaurants,โ€ explained Joe Ledington.

โ€œActually, my job was cutting up chickens and bagging up chicken mix. Thatโ€™s what I did as a 10-11-12-year-old kid.โ€

โ€œThe main ingredient is white pepper. I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody [in the 1950s] knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it.โ€

Identical results not guaranteed (but a finger lickinโ€™ good time is).

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Garry Lu
WORDS by
After stretching his legs with companies such as The Motley Fool and the odd marketing agency, Garry joined Boss Hunting in 2019 as a fully-fledged Content Specialist. In 2021, he was promoted to News Editor. Garry proudly retains a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black bruises from Muay Thai, as well as a black belt in all things pop culture. Drop him a line at [email protected]

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