Abstract: To achieve the high-value utilization of wheat shorts，the application of wheat shorts in coating flour was studied．Twenty categories of wheat shorts were chosen used to replace wheat flour for the production of coating flour preparation．The moisture，protein，crude fat，dietary fiber，ash，and protein composition content were measured，and chicken chunks were used as a model to analyze the quality indicators of coated and fried chicken．Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to identify the key indicators for evaluating the quality of coating flour，followed by cluster analysis (CA) to classify the samples of wheat shorts．The results showed that，compared to commercial coating flour，the coating flour made primarily from wheat shorts exhibited better water retention，which significantly improved hardness，elasticity，and chewiness of the fried chicken，and reduced the fat content of the chicken chunks．PCA revealed that the quality of coating flour reflected by fourteen indicators could be represented by six principal components (with a cumulative contribution rate of 84.09%)．According to the comprehensive evaluation function，the top three samples ranked were M，N，and K，which represent the samples that are suitable to be used in the production of the coating flour．CA classified the wheat shorts samples into six categories，with the number of samples in each category being 3，3，8，4，1，and 1．The three samples selected by PCA were distributed in adjacent categories，which featured moderate dietary fiber content，higher protein content，and higher batter yield．The findings showed a high consistency between PCA and CA results，suggesting that wheat shorts with moderate dietary fiber and higher protein content are particularly suitable for coating flour production．This study provides a reference for the comprehensive evaluation of multiple samples and indicators and offers valuable insights into the high-value utilization of wheat shorts in food applications.