Unlike other countries, Indonesian fried chicken usually uses turmeric and garlic as its main ingredients rather than flour.

[4] The spice mixture may vary among regions, but it usually consists of a combination of ground shallot, garlic, Indian bay leaves, turmeric, lemongrass, tamarind juice, candlenut, galangal, salt, and sugar.

Most often prior to deep frying, ayam goreng is already half-cooked with yellowish colour tinted of turmeric.

Some variants such as Javanese ayam goreng kremes might add the deep fried spiced flour as crispy granules.

Ayam goreng is usually served with steamed rice, sambal terasi (chili with shrimp paste) or sambal kecap (sliced chilli and shallot in sweet soy sauce) as a dipping sauce or condiment and slices of cucumber and tomato for garnish.