Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich Copycat

This Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich copycat is cooked in an Air fryer to make it healthier, but there are oven and skillet instructions too!

Ingredients in Wendy's chicken sandwich

It's so easy to make this restaurant copycat! Here's what you need on hand:

• chicken cutlets
• buttermilk
• Tabasco or hot pepper sauce, such as Frank's red hot
• breadcrumbs
• crushed cornflakes
• paprika, cayenne pepper and salt & pepper
• hamburger buns
• leaf lettuce
• tomatoes
• mayo

How to make this sandwich

There are three ways to cook this chicken sandwich (air fryer, skillet or oven), but the prep of the ingredients is the same regardless of the cooking method.

My fave way is to use the air fryer as it gets you super close to the real deal without having to deep fry the chicken.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Preheat the Air fryer, then soak chicken in buttermilk and tabasco hot sauce for 5 min.
2. Mix breadcrumbs, crushed cornflakes, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt & pepper together in a Ziploc bag or large bowl.
3. Remove chicken from buttermilk, then add chicken to breadcrumb mixture and toss well to coat. Remove covered chicken pieces from bag, drench in buttermilk mixture one more time, then add back to bag and toss to coat.
4. Add chicken to Airfryer once it's done preheating, adding chicken pieces in a single layer and spraying with cooking spray.
5. Cook for 10 minutes.
6. Serve on toasted burger buns with lettuce, tomato and mayo – enjoy!

Ingredient substitutions

• Chicken cutlets – Cutlets are boneless chicken breasts that are sliced in half or pounded with a meat mallet to make them very thin. If you would like to use dark meat, you can make cutlets from boneless chicken thighs.
• Cornflakes – You can use panko breadcrumbs or some other sort of crunchy cereal such as rice cereal to sub in for the cornflakes
• Breadcrumbs – You can use cornmeal in place of breadcrumbs
• Buttermilk – If you don't have buttermilk on hand, mix 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar together

If you don't have an air fryer, you can still make this recipe pretty easily in a skillet on the stove top, or on a sheet pan in your oven.

Regardless of which cooking method you use, you'll want to follow the instructions in the recipe card for making the marinade mixture and for coating the chicken pieces.

The only difference in the instructions will be for the actual cooking of the chicken.

Cooking the chicken in a skillet

1. Start by adding 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to a hot skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the chicken pieces in a single layer. Fry for 5 minutes, then flip the patties over and cook for another 5 minutes.

Cooking the chicken in the oven

1. Preheat your oven to 450 F. While you're waiting, coat the chicken cutlets with the breading mixture and place them onto a greased baking sheet.
2. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping the patties over after 5 minutes if desired. (This will allow both sides to become crispy)

More topping ideas

There are plenty of ways to customize a chicken sandwich! Here are a few toppings that I think are delicious with chicken:

• cheese
• bacon
• avocado slices
• meatless chili (yes, it's messy, but SO good!)
• pickled jalapeno slices
• guacamole
• pico de gallo
• barbecue sauce
• Ranch salad dressing

Calories in my sandwich vs Wendy's

According to the restaurant's website, there are 500 calories in the spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.

When you make the sandwiches yourself, you have more control over the ingredients. As a result, you can cut the calories as much as you'd like.

Using the ingredient shown in the recipe card below, my version of the chicken sandwich has 405 calories.

Storing and reheating

These sandwiches are outrageously good, so unless you intentionally make a large batch, it’s doubtful that you’ll have leftovers.
But, if you do, either transfer the patties to an airtight container or zip top plastic storage bag. Refrigerate them and reheat or freeze them within 5 days.

The best way to reheat breaded chicken patties like these is on a baking sheet in the oven. Set your oven for 350 F. and it should take 15-20 minutes or so to warm through.

Or, if you have an air fryer, you can reheat them quickly there, but the chicken may lose some of its juiciness.

Technically, you can also reheat the leftovers in a microwave. But honestly, the microwave tends to give chicken a rubbery texture.

Freezing the chicken

The cooked chicken patties freeze beautifully, so feel free to make a double batch for some easy meal prepping!

Just be sure to allow the patties to cool before you transfer them to freezer storage bags. Also, to keep the patties from sticking together, it helps to place a layer of wax paper or parchment between them.

Once frozen, the chicken may be kept in the freezer and will keep well for up to 4 months.

More restaurant copycat recipes

• Applebee's Quesadilla Burger
• Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt (Panera Bread Copycat)
• Wendy's Taco Salad

Meal prep tools for this recipe

• Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing the leftover chicken
• I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen
• Get a meat thermometer to make sure your chicken is cooked through