MIAGuide
The Best Fried Chicken Sandwiches In Miami
photo credit: Emily Schindler
Personally, we’re always in the mood for a fried chicken sandwich. Wake us up at 3am with a blow horn (please don’t, by the way) and we’ll eat one. Wednesday at 11:36am? Why not. Trapped in an airport for a six-hour layover? We’ll eat three, even if they taste like plastic. Luckily, the ones on this guide taste very good.
THE SANDWICHES
Off Site is a bar and restaurant from two establishments we love: the now-closed Boxelder and Taquiza. Like Boxelder, Off Site is a small, chill space perfect for a beer and a conversation. Unlike Boxelder, they have a kitchen and are serving some of the best bar food you’ll find in Miami. Among that bar food is a phenomenal fried chicken sandwich. It’s the ideal size‚—big but not how-the-hell-am-I-going-to-eat-this big. The chicken is crunchy, juicy, and accompanied by just some shaved lettuce, pickles, and a toasted sesame seed bun. And it is officially our favorite fried chicken sandwich in Miami.
This is the kind of fried chicken sandwich that reminds us why we'll never get sick of fried chicken sandwiches. It's a boneless chicken thigh polished with hot honey sauce, pickles, lettuce, and mayo between the same sesame seed bun they use with the burger. It glistens in the sun and goes really well with the frozen drinks this Downtown spot also serves.
Coop is a vendor inside the Design District food hall Mia Market. They specialize in various forms of fried chicken, one of the best being their “Lil Hottie” sandwich. It comes with a fried chicken thigh slicked in a hot sauce we’d categorize as “medium.” There are also thick house pickles, coleslaw, and a soft potato bun. It’s just one of those sandwiches you can tell is going to be good just by looking at the menu. And (spoiler alert) it is.
Everything at this Little River brunch spot Rosie’s is exceptional. But especially the chicky sandwich. The juicy piece of chicken is fried in a way that produces all those wonderful, crunchy, jagged little pieces of breading. Then it’s coated in buffalo sauce and topped with B&B pickles and a little lemon aioli to balance the whole thing out. There’s also a side of crispy yucca chips.
This vendor inside The Citadel specializes in burgers but their fried chicken sandwich is absolutely worth a try. The “Carrier Pigeon” is made from ground chicken and formed into an aesthetically pleasing little round patty. The breading is thin but crispy and there’s a crunchy cabbage situation on top that we approve of.
We go to Sweet Liberty for the drinks. But after two of those, we tend to get a little hungry. If and when that happens, the fried chicken sandwich here is a great call. It’s incredibly crunchy and has a little bit of honey and hot sauce for a nice balance of sweet heat. It’ll be an excellent companion to whatever great cocktail you end up drinking here.
