Fried Chicken!

Fried Chicken! It's one of Tawny's FAVORITE meals. In the colder months, I like to make Sunday dinner in the middle of the afternoon and this is often requested.

It's just pure comfort food!



I don't have any specific measurements for this.

So sorry if this is a little vague.

Fried Chicken
Chicken ~ I use boneless, skinless breasts
Flour
Seasoned Salt
Pepper
Buttermilk
Hot Sauce
Oil for frying

Whisk together buttermilk & hot sauce. I add enough to make the buttermilk kinda pink.

Put the chicken into the buttermilk mixture and refrigerate an hour or two to overnight.


I like to put it in a FoodSaver container and vacuum seal it.


Now season the flour with seasoned salt and pepper.

I just scoop some flour into a pie plate and sprinkle the salt and pepper over it and combine it with a fork.


Then it's time to dip the chicken into the flour mixture.

Let the excess buttermilk drip off, then dredge the chicken in the seasoned flour.


Repeat until you have coated all of the chicken.


Now, beginning with the first piece, re-dip it in the buttermilk.


And then the flour again.


Now that they've all been double dipped....
(This is a double dipping approved zone)


It's time to get your frying area ready.

I like to lay brown paper bags over a wire rack to drain the chicken after frying.


In a heavy pan, heat the oil to 350F degrees.

If the oil isn't hot enough when you start, you'll end up with greasy soggy chicken and you don't want that!

I like to use my big cast iron skillet.

And really, what keeps up the seasoning on your cast iron better than frying stuff?

When the oil reaches 350F, you can start carefully adding chicken.



Not too much... don't crowd the pan...


And watch your oil temperature...


It will drop when you add the chicken. You want it to come back up to 350F, but not much hotter, or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked.

I turn the chicken pieces over when the bottom side is golden brown.

After 10 or 15 minutes, they should be done. You can check the internal temp with a thermometer. It should reach 165F... but I pull them at 160F, because they'll keep cooking when you pull them out of the oil. Also if you use this method for testing for doneness, be very careful, because the juices from the chicken could run into the oil and make it spatter... and it's NO fun to be spattered with hot oil!

Drain on a rack.


And keep frying.


This one looks like Africa!


If you're worried about the chicken staying hot, you can loosely put a foil tent on it, or pop it into a 200F oven while you finish frying the rest of the chicken.





I usually serve this with mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, creamy macaroni and cheese, corn, collard greens and buttermilk biscuits!


Wow! Even though I'm feeling pretty under the weather today, now I want some fried chicken wicked bad!!

And Auntie Evelyn (that's pronounced "Ahntee"... not "antee" for all of you non-New England people), you could totally make this for just you! Just make a couple of pieces. I know cold fried chicken the next day is very popular in my house! So make an extra one!

Enjoy!