Remember those Cheddar and Bacon BBQ Meatballs that I made the other day? Well, I had leftover pork rinds from crushing them up – so I decided that I would make some fried chicken with it.
Surprisingly (well, I had my suspicions anyway) it turned out really awesome! It’s a great breading for fried chicken, it holds together and sticks, and tastes fantastic.
My one quip about this, is to make sure that you don’t use a food processor to crush up the pork rinds. I used a rolling pin to crush them up inside a Ziploc bag, and this left some larger pieces. It really added to the texture of the crust, so I highly suggest you do the manual work here.
On the side, I made cauliflower mashed potatoes. Delicious!
The Preparation
- 1/2 cup pork rinds, BBQ flavor, crushed
- 12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced in half
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
The Execution
1. Crush up your pork rinds in a Ziploc bag. I highly suggest doing this manually, as having some larger crumbs will add to the texture. I used BBQ flavored pork rinds, but you can use regular if that’s all you have on hand.
2. In a bowl, put your pork rind crumbs, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, and pepper.
3. In another bowl, crack an egg and scramble it well.
4. Mix the pork rind ingredients up to make sure it will coat the chicken evenly.
5. Dip your chicken into the egg mixture, then dip it into the pork rind crumb mixture. We’re doing a double dip to ensure there will be a nice crust. Dip it in the egg mixture again, and again into the pork rinds.
6. In a pan, put your olive oil and coconut oil. Turn to medium high heat and let it get hot.
7. Once the oil is hot, place your chicken inside. DON’T TOUCH IT! Let it sit here a while, almost until you smell burning. We want to make sure the crust gets nice and crisp.
8. Once you smell that burning, flip it over and do the same to the other side. Once you smell burning again, you can flip it over a second time.
9. Turn your heat down to the lowest setting, and let your chicken cook for about 6-7 minutes per side (depending on thickness of the chicken breast).
10. Let your chicken cook until it’s just about done. I like to keep my chicken nice and moist inside, JUST over the pink side in the center – but this is completely up to your own preferences.
11. Serve this up with some broccoli, spinach, or cauliflower.
12. I dipped this into some ranch with hot sauce. It was absolutely fantastic!
Keep in mind, if you want to lower the calories, you can always use less chicken, and less oil!
This makes a total of 2 servings of Low-Carb Crispy Fried Chicken. Each serving comes out to be 586 calories, 33g fats, 1.3g net carbs, and 66.7g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1/2 cup pork rinds | 91 | 5.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.7 |
| 12 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast | 561 | 12.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105.5 |
| 1/3 cup parmesan cheese | 142 | 9.4 | 1.4 | 0 | 1.4 | 12.7 |
| 1 teaspoon black pepper | 5 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| 1 large egg | 79 | 5.2 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 6.9 |
| 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil | 179 | 20.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 tablespoon coconut oil | 122 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1179 | 66.5 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 134 |
| Per Serving (/2) | 590 | 33.2 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 67 |

Low-Carb Crispy Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- ½ cup pork rinds BBQ flavor, crushed
- 12 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast sliced in half
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Crush up the pork rinds in a Ziploc bag. Use BBQ-flavored pork rinds for a great punch of flavor.
- In a bowl, mix the crushed pork rinds, parmesan, and pepper together well.
- In a separate bowl, crack the egg and whisk well. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg mixture and then the pork rind crumb mixture. Do this twice for each piece to get a nice crust.
- Heat up the olive oil and coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, place the chicken in the pan. Let it sit a while without touching, almost until burning, to ensure the crust gets nice and crisp.
- Once the crust is browned, flip over and cook on the other side. Once browned, flip the chicken back over.
- Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and let the chicken cook for about 6–7 minutes per side (depending on thickness of the chicken breast).
- Serve and enjoy!


















Thanks! Recently started low carb again and I have been missing the “crunch” of fried chicken and I think this recipe just may be the cure! Cannot wait to try it =)
No prob! As long as your oil is nice and hot when you get it in the pan, it will give you the crunch you’re looking for 🙂
I just made this and it turned out great. I used the spicy pork rinds, which I think was a good idea. Mmmm.
Haili, glad to hear! I normally use BBQ ones myself, they add a bit more seasoning I think 🙂
This is awesome & highly affordable ,Thanks so much !
No problem Candy, they turn out like real fried chicken – one of my go-to’s for sure
Today is my 2nd day on Keto. This was the first of your recipes that I tried, and I have to say it was phenomenal. We added a bit of rosemary and oregano (my wife doesn’t like pork rinds and wanted to “drown them out” and it was just wonderful. Definitely gonna be using your site as a source for Keto recipes in the future.
Woo! Glad to hear Nathan. I think once you cook the pork rinds some and that chicken juice and oil soaks in a little, you can’t taste them. I’ll see you around, then!
Another keto success! The idea to use the crushed pork rinds is just genius. I fried mine up in lard.
Sounds delicious Jenny! I just fried up some bacon bombs I’ll be posting in the coming days – were delicious 😀
Hi, this recipe looks so delicious but any non pork suggestions for the crumbs? It would be really appreciated.
Sofi,
Sure, you could use almond flour or flax seed meal (or a mixture of the two). Season beforehand with different spices.
Loved it! I added some personal additions… I used lard with bacon grease instead of oil. I cut the chiicken into 1″ thick strips that all had skin on, then wrapped in bacon. Also, I added 1/2 teaspoon red pepper for a little kick. The crust, bacon, and most of the skin was crisp just the way I wanted it.
That sounds amazing – I will have to try it as well!
Oh Sir, you are a genius! Had some chicken, but in Arizona today it was too hot to bake in the oven, and frying without the crunch had no appeal. This was awesome. Thank you.
Really glad to hear you liked it!
Do you measure the pork rinds before or after crushing? Thanks!
I measured these after crushing, but I try to use weighted measurements in the newer recipes.
I st https://uploads.disquscdn.c… arted eating the Keto way just last week. I had a recommendation of this site and now I know why! Just made this this evening & my husband said the skin was absolutely delicious! I couldn’t agree more! The skin was perfect & the chicken was juicy! I did fry on the stovetop on both sides as directes then put in oven for 10 min at 360 to finish cooking. I did make a side of cauliflower mashed “potatoes”. This was a hit! Definitely will make again! And I agree with your comment about not really ‘tasting’ the pork rinds. I was slightly worried when smashing them (fragrant!) but when eating, there was no pork smell or flavor. Just nice crunch! Thank you!
Your food looks amazing! Good job!
Oh my!!! Made this tonight and it was delicious. Added a little thyme and paprika for spices and used coconut oil and bacon grease for the oil. The hubby and I LOVE it. Will definitely be making this again.
I made this and it was OMG. I used grapeseed oil instead of coconut and added garlic powder. This will be a staple in the house from now on.
Delicious!! I never thought pork rinds could taste so good. Was perfect with some steamed broccoli and buffalo ranch dipping sauce.
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Yum!
Will these turn out okay if I omit the olive oil? I prefer to avoid cooking with olive oil, since it isn’t a very stable fat.
Yes, you could use any other type of oil you’d like.
I used my airfryer…amazing results! AND no oil at all.
I’m going to try this but with lobster meat, and eventually chicken but need something yummy to do with my lobsters tonight!