The Best Fried Chicken In North Carolina: List

CHARLOTTE, NC — Here in the South, few foods stir up the emotions quite like fried chicken. Arguing about who serves up the best yard bird can get pretty heated based on your own personal preferences — much less when you factor in hot chicken, chicken wings and all the other permutations on the classic dish we've come up with over the years.

Nevertheless, a new list attempts to highlight some of the best fried chicken in North Carolina, and other states throughout the South.

For the list, Garden & Gun — a magazine that covers sporting culture, food, music, art and travel in the American South — rounded up more than 70 experts, including chefs, food and travel writers and the magazine's own contributors.

Read Garden & Gun's full Fried Chicken Bucket List here.

The list ranged from chains like Popeyes and Publix to famous Southern staples like Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville and Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken in Memphis.

"Southerners eat fried chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is why so many of us are self-professed experts," the article reads.

In North Carolina, tried and true classic spots made the list, such as Parker’s and Price’s Chicken Coop, along with James Beard Award nominee Buxton Hall.

Many are in the Raleigh-metro region, but there are spots on the list ranging all the way from Asheville to Wilmington. Check out the Garden & Gun list for comments from an expert about each spot.

Here are North Carolina’s entries on the list:

• Beasley’s Chicken + Honey, Raleigh
• Bida Manda, Raleigh
• Booty’s Soul Food Restaurant, Wilmington
• Buxton Hall Barbecue, Asheville
• Carolina Master Fried Chicken, Elizabethtown
• Crook’s Corner, Chapel Hill
• Fuller’s Old Fashioned Bar-B-Q, Fayetteville
• Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, Durham
• Jack’s Seafood & Soul Food, Raleigh
• King Daddy’s Chicken and Waffles, Asheville
• Mama Dip’s Kitchen, Chapel Hill
• Newbridge Café, Asheville
• Parker’s, Greenville
• Price’s Chicken Coop, Charlotte
• Rhubarb, Asheville
• Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack, Asheville
• Soo Café, Raleigh
• Ted’s Famous Chicken, Pfafftown
• Time-Out Restaurant, Chapel Hill
• Whole Truth Lunchroom, Wilson

What do you think? Did your favorite chicken shack make the list? Did the magazine's experts leave out a great one that we should all know about? Let us know in the comments or on social media.

Photo: Natthawat.Cha/ Shutterstock

Patch Editor Doug Gross contributed