Old fashioned, buttermilk marinated, flour coated, crispy, tender fried chicken recipe.
Recently at dinner my father instructed me, “tell your website readers that your dad says this is a good one.” Done, dad. This chicken is good—perfectly tender, well flavored, crunchy—just what one wants in fried chicken.
Buttermilk the Key to Perfect Fried Chicken
The secret? Buttermilk!
Buttermilk is lightly acidic. Soaking the chicken overnight in buttermilk helps tenderize it, and the chicken stays tender when you fry it.
Many recipes call for frying chicken in a cast iron frying pan. Sometimes we use one of our trusty cast iron pans, and sometimes a hard anodized aluminum pan.
Cast iron tends to be quite heavy. It retains heat so well that if you have a problem and have to lower the heat rapidly, you won’t be able to do it.
Anodized aluminum can also take the heat without warping, but will be more responsive for heating and cooling. (I’ve started a kitchen fire with peanut oil in a cast iron skillet—not fun—if it ever happens to you, remove the pan from the heat element, and cover it quickly with a lid.)
Cool tool for testing oil temp
Here’s a tip on checking oil temperature. I have this perfectly justifiable fear of hot oil. So to measure it without getting too close to it, I use an infrared thermometer like this one. Just point the thermometer at the hot surface of the oil, pull the trigger, and you’ll get a fairly accurate readout of the oil temp.
Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Marinating time: 8 hours
- Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients
- 3 pounds of chicken parts (thighs, drumsticks, wings, breasts), skin-on, bone-in
- 2 cups buttermilk (can also use plain yogurt thinned with a little milk)
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1/4 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, tarragon) or a teaspoon each of the dried herbs.
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper
- 2 cups canola oil, rice bran oil, or peanut oil
Method
1 Marinate chicken in buttermilk mixture: Mix the buttermilk, sliced onion, herbs, paprika, and cayenne in a large bowl. Put the chicken pieces in the buttermilk mixture and coat completely. Marinate overnight (at least 8 hours).
2 Drain chicken, prepare bag with flour and seasonings: Place chicken pieces in a colander and let drain of excess buttermilk mixture. In a large paper or plastic (sturdy) bag, mix flour with garlic salt, onion salt, cayenne, salt and pepper.
3 Heat oil in thick-bottomed pan: Heat 2 cups of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet (cast iron, stainless steel, or anodized aluminum—something that can take the heat) on medium high heat until a pinch of flour starts to sizzle when dropped in the hot oil (but not so hot that the pan is smoking), about 350°F. Remember when working with hot oil, always have a pan lid close by.
4 Coat chicken pieces with flour: Place chicken pieces in bag with flour mixture and shake until thoroughly coated.
5 Fry the chicken: Working in batches, add the chicken pieces to the hot oil in the pan and fry on one side for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown, and then use tongs to turn the pieces over and fry for another 10-12 minutes, again until golden brown.
Be careful to keep the oil hot enough to fry the chicken, but not so high as it burns the chicken.
6 Remove to rack to drain of excess oil: Use tongs to remove chicken from pan. Place on a rack over a cookie sheet or broiling pan for the excess oil to drain. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
