One of Raleigh’s most popular restaurants is now nearly gluten free (and crispier)
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Beasley’s Chicken + Honey adopted a rice flour dredge to go gluten free.
- The change improved chicken’s crunch, prompting a full shift in preparation.
- Five of six fryers are now gluten free, with ongoing menu adjustments planned.
Crunch is the key when it comes to fried chicken.
But can you improve on fried chicken perfection?
Beasley’s Chicken +Honey, Ashley Christensen’s casual chicken joint and one of downtown Raleigh’s most popular restaurants, recently tweaked and tested its most famous menu item. The results were shocking even to the chefs.
Now, starting Thursday July 3, all the fried chicken (and most of the menu) is entirely gluten free.
What was meant to be a menu option for the gluten-free diners has upended how Beasley’s makes its signature item.
In testing a new rice flour dredge, chef Ashley Christensen and Beasley’s chef de cuisine Alex Fiacchi stumbled upon results they couldn’t ignore — the gluten-free chicken was better.
“We were so blown away,” Christensen said in a phone interview with The News & Observer. “It’s just got a little more crunch to it. When you take a bite, there’s a really clear crunchiness to it.”
On Monday, Beasley’s ran a one-day pop-up serving the new gluten-free chicken. Christensen said the results were enormous. The restaurant had a line out the door and an hour-plus wait. One diner said she had celiac disease and hadn’t eaten fried chicken in a decade.
“We got a ton of turnout, it was really kind of emotional,” Christensen said.
Perfecting fried chicken
Fried chicken at Beasley’s has always been a bit of a complex process.
First the chicken is brined for 24 hours, then dipped in buttermilk, dredged in flour, fried for the first time in a pressure cooker, held in a humid CVap oven to ensure juiciness and then fried for a second time in an open-air fryer.
The result is fried chicken Raleigh has obsessed over for more than a decade.
In going gluten free, Christensen says the only thing that will change is the flour, swapping out all purpose flour with rice flour.
“I’ve always been very happy with where (the fried chicken) ended up, it’s juicy all the way to the bone,” Christensen said. “Now with the rice flour, we discovered it held its crunch in the same way.”
A nearly gluten-free menu at Beasley’s
Now five of the six fryers in the Beasley’s kitchen will be gluten -free. Christensen said it’s easier to say what has gluten than what doesn’t.
For now, the fried saltines, the waffles, mac and cheese, biscuits and the gravy are still made with gluten. That list may shrink in the near future, as Christensen and Fiacchi are developing a gluten-free roux for their gravy. The pork shoulder meatloaf was already quietly updated with gluten-free panko.
“For me, it’s about making these dishes and not compromising the flavor and experience,” Christensen said.
Beasley’s Chicken + Honey is located at 237 S. Wilmington St., in Raleigh. For more details on the menu, visit ac-restaurants.com/beasleys.
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM with the headline "One of Raleigh’s most popular restaurants is now nearly gluten free (and crispier)."
