Copycat Big Mary Chicken Sandwich and Taters
Copycat Big Mary Chicken Sandwich and Taters. A great homemade copycat recipe for a well loved chicken sandwich from Mary Brown's Famous Chicken and Taters.
Originally published March 2015.
What's a Big Mary, you ask? For those of you outside Newfoundland and parts of Canada who don't know Mary Browns Famous Chicken and Taters, it is a much loved fried chicken franchise which started here in Newfoundland many years ago.
I've eaten fried chicken all over North America including many, many places in the southern US. So believe me, Mary Browns is still one of the very best I've ever tasted.
It is very juicy and tender with a thick, not too heavily seasoned, super crunchy crust.
One of their most famous offerings is their much-loved Big Mary; a boneless chicken breast with mayo and lettuce on a soft burger bun.
It's hard to replicate the delicate flavour of the herb and spice flour dredge used to make Mary Browns Chicken.
No inside info here.
I don't have any inside information on the secret formula, believe me. However, I thought I'd borrow a couple of flavour characteristics from my own Oven Fried Chicken recipe in this one.
Also, I used some elements from my extremely popular Double Crunch Chicken recipe, to try an attempt at a copycat recipe.
I think the result is as close as you are likely to come in a homemade version of one of Newfoundland's all time take-out favourites.
For those of you who've never tried Mary Browns, give the recipe a try. And for those of you transplanted Newfoundlanders, it'll be a little taste of home.
I think you'll enjoy this version very much indeed. This one's for you Teresa. 😉 Loves it, I do.
NOTE: I like to debone my own chicken breasts so that I can roast the bones and skins for stock later. Then, I freeze them until I have enough to cover a baking sheet then use the instructions in my post on making Chicken Stock here.
If you liked this recipe you may also want to try our Copycat KFC recipe. When using whole chicken pieces to make the fried chicken version of CopyCat Mary Brown's, I prepare it exactly the same way as I do the Copycat KFC.
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Copycat Big Mary Chicken Sandwich with Taters
Copycat Big Mary Chicken Sandwich and Taters - a great homemade copycat recipe for a well loved chicken sandwich from Mary Browns Famous Chicken and Taters.
Ingredients
- 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
- canola oil for frying
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoon water
- 3 lbs potatoes washed and cut into thick wedges
- ¼ cup milk
For the chicken dredge
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground sage
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Mix together:
- ½ cup plain mayo
- 2 teaspoon sriracha sauce, or another favourite hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon chipotle powder, or chili powder
Instructions
- Pound the chicken breasts out to an even thickness; about a half inch. Lightly season them with salt.
- Mix all of the ingredients in the flour dredge together well. I like to use a whisk in a round bottom bowl to make sure everything is evenly mixed. A food processor also will mix them up well.
- Make an egg wash by whisking together the eggs and water.
- One at a time dip the breast pieces in the flour and spice mixture, then dip quickly into the eggwash and then a final time into the flour and spice mix, pressing the mix firmly into the meat to get good contact.
- Heat a skillet on the stove with about a half inch of canola oil covering the bottom. You will want to carefully regulate the temperature here so that the chicken does not brown too quickly. The thinness of the breast meat practically guarantees that it will be fully cooked by the time the outside is browned. I find just below medium heat works well. I use a burner setting of about 4½ out of 10 on the dial and fry them gently for about 4 or 5 minutes per side until golden brown and crispy. (You can, of course, use a deep fryer for the chicken if you prefer. Keep the heat at 350 degrees until they are golden brown. About 8 -10 minutes)
- Drain on a wire rack for a couple of minutes before making the sandwiches. Use plain mayo or the spicy mayo on both the un-toasted top and bottom buns, adding just fresh lettuce to the sandwich and a pickle slice on top. A club sandwich version adding bacon and tomato is also excellent!
To make the taters.
- Toss the potato wedges in the¼ cup milk and drain the milk off.
- Toss the wedges in the remaining flour and spice mix and deep fry for about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and fully cooked. Alternatively, you can lightly oil a cookie sheet and place the taters on it, drizzling a little extra oil over the top.
- Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about a half hour. Turn them half way through the cooking time.
Notes
Nutritional information includes chicken fillet, spiced mayo and wedges.
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
4 chicken sandwichesAmount Per Serving Calories 893Total Fat 33gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 25gCholesterol 204mgSodium 773mgCarbohydrates 83gFiber 9gSugar 5gProtein 65g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Thank you Barry for the nice recipe.
Thank you Barry can't wait to try this
Thank you for this recipe, I was wonderring if you ever tried to make the breast in the oven, or not?
Enjoy!
If you follow the link in the post to the Double Crunch Chicken, the method is there for oven baking the chicken. Enjoy.
MARY BROWN HAS THE BEST LEGS IN TOWN.
When my husband and I were first married. He would say every so often that Mary Brown had the best legs in town.
I would respond. "That's nice".
This went on for several months, and one day my girlfriend asked me who Mary Brown was.
I didn't have a clue.
So I asked him, and comedian that he was started to laugh and deep belly laugh, I asked him again and he told me it was a chicken place...We had a great laugh together.
He told me he thought I was never going to rise to the question.
Good memories.
Have a Joyful Day :~D
Charlie
I think everyone of a certain age in Newfoundland remembers that slogan very well. 🙂
Made the chicken breasts tonight. I was short on ginger and onion powder but was still delicious. Will make again for sure.
Looking forward to making this. I love Big Marys.
Seriously the best chicken recipe ever. I've made tied as Big Mary but I've also used the recipe just for skinless boneless thighs and it is to die for. My family ask for this all the time. Thank you!
As a transplanted Labradorian in Saskatoon, I am dying for some Mary Browns! I will let you know how it turns out! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi! This looks absolutely delicious and I look forward to making it, I just have one question about the taters... At Mary Brown's they are very soft and I was wondering if that meant that the potatoes should be boiled before being coated and fried/baked?
I don't think they are par boiled first.
Made this tonight and it was amazing. The chicken was so tasty and moist. It made KFC seem like eating a plain, poached chicken breast. Greetings from England.
I made this recipe tonight, but modified it to be gluten free as I'm diagnosed celiac. It was absolutely delicious. I've posted a photo on your Facebook page.
Thank you, Barry, for giving me the opportunity to taste that again! I lived in st. Johns for a year and a half and Big Mary was one of my favorite meals. Back to my country (Brazil) I just miss this sandwich so much. I followed the recipe and loved the result! So yummy!!!
So glad it was such a success!
We FINALLY have a Big Mary's in BC! Since she opened, I've completely forgotten what KFWho? tastes like.
On another note about Mary's...it is the cleanest restaurant I've ever enjoyed, always, and the people that work there have the greatest attitudes I've found at a fast-food place. Thanks so much Newfoundland...for sharing a best kept secret with us! (Other than Barry. Of course.) 🙂
Agree on the cleanliness! I once was in one of their kitchens and it was immaculately clean. You could have eaten off the kitchen floor at that location.
made this today..oh my goodness was it good.thank you for sharing such an amazing easy recipe
Does the 1/4 cup of milk go in the egg wash
Check the taters section. It's used there.
This turned out great, thanks for the recipe