--- title: This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe description: The long-hidden recipe behind KFC’s world-famous chicken spice blend may have been accidentally revealed to a Chicago news reporter. canonical: https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-25T23:25:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:44:20.215Z og:title: This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe og:description: Colonel Sanders’ nephew may have accidentally shown the recipe to a reporter og:url: https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1a3a43293a62973/6988a3bd97cdffbcc66ad95b/kfc-secret-recipe.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Well Cooked Poultry Safe Despite Bird Flu Fears og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe twitter:description: Colonel Sanders’ nephew may have accidentally shown the recipe to a reporter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1a3a43293a62973/6988a3bd97cdffbcc66ad95b/kfc-secret-recipe.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5942ee19-7028-4088-a83c-7e9c17ff331b&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: KFC's Secret Recipe May Have Been Revealed [Watch (HLS stream): KFC's Secret Recipe May Have Been Revealed](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/c3e61FMf.m3u8) (0:43)  _Published 2016-08-26. KFC’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices has always been a long held secret, but the Colonel’s nephew may have just given it away._  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Aug 25, 2016 11:25 PM UTC  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Aug 25, 2016 11:25 PM UTC One of America’s most closely guarded culinary secrets [might not be such a secret anymore](http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/ct-kfc-recipe-revealed-20160818-story.html). The long-hidden recipe behind [KFC’s world-famous chicken](http://time.com/4461631/kfc-introduces-sunscreen-that-smells-like-fried-chicken-to-keep-you-from-turning-extra-crispy/) spice blend may have been accidentally revealed to a Chicago news reporter by Colonel Sanders’ nephew. The Chicago _Tribune_ said Joe Ledington, 67, of Kentucky showed one of its reporters a handwritten recipe that revealed the 11 ingredients, and measurements, used to make the company’s popular spice blend. “That is the original 11 herbs and spices that were supposed to be so secretive,” Ledington told the _Tribune_. The recipe was part of a scrapbook that belonged to Ledington’s late aunt, who was Sanders’ second wife. It called for a mix of thyme, basic, paprika — and most importantly, according to Ledington, white pepper. “I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody (in the 1950s) knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it,” he said. > [](https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/status/766714950458994688) Ledington later backtracked his statement, telling the _Tribune_ he never showed the recipe to a reporter. KFC told the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/dining/is-this-the-top-secret-kfc-recipe.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&%5Fr=1) that the recipe was not the real deal. “Many people have made these claims over the years and no one has been accurate — this one isn’t either,” KFC said in a statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/"},"headline":"This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe","datePublished":"2016-08-25T23:25:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T06:44:20.215Z","description":"Colonel Sanders’ nephew may have accidentally shown the recipe to a reporter","url":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/","keywords":["Newsfeed","food and drink"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1a3a43293a62973/6988a3bd97cdffbcc66ad95b/kfc-secret-recipe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1a3a43293a62973/6988a3bd97cdffbcc66ad95b/kfc-secret-recipe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Well Cooked Poultry Safe Despite Bird Flu Fears","caption":"An employee serves a portion of Kentucky Fried Chicken and chips at the international chain's local franchise February 17, 2006 in Tel Aviv, Israel.","creditText":"David Silverman—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/","name":"This May Be KFC’s Top-Secret Recipe"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"KFC's Secret Recipe May Have Been Revealed","description":"KFC’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices has always been a long held secret, but the Colonel’s nephew may have just given it away.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/c3e61FMf/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-08-26T08:56:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/c3e61FMf.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/","duration":"PT43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4467002/kfc-recipe-secret-revealed/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```