Perfect Fried Chicken
Learn these 10 tips for how to make the best fried chicken. You'll never have soggy, greasy, burnt, or undercooked chicken again. Your fried chicken will be perfect every time!
Servings: 6 servings
Equipment
- 10 inch or 12 inch frying pan (don't use non-stick)
- Deep frying thermometer, optional
- Splatter screen, optional
- Cooked food thermometer, optional
Ingredients
Brine Ingredients
- 2 cups Buttermilk
- 2 cups Water
- 1 tbsp Salt
Fried Chicken Ingredients
- 1 whole Chicken, cut up into 10 pieces Cut breast pieces in half for a total of 10 pieces of chicken.
- 3 cups All-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp Sweet paprika
- 1 tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Cayenne powder
- 3 cups Solid fat or oil Make sure that you have 3/4" of melted fat or oil in your frying pan. This usually means that the melted fat or oil should fill at least 1/3 of the frying pan.
Instructions
Instructions for Brining Chicken
- Mix buttermilk, water, and salt together. Stir well to make sure that the salt is completely dissolved.
- Place cut-up chicken into a baking dish, bowl, or plastic bag.
- Pour brine over chicken.
- If using a baking dish or bowl, cover with plastic wrap. If using a plastic bag, seal well and place in a bowl in the event the bag leaks.
- Put the chicken into the refrigerator and allow it to brine for a little as 4 hours or for up to 12 hours.
- Remove the brined chicken from the refrigerator and then take each piece out of the brine and dry well. Transfer the dried chicken to a platter, and set the platter aside.
- Allow the chicken to come up to room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before frying. You want the chicken to come up to room temperature so that it cooks evenly.
Instructions for Frying Chicken
- Add flour, cornstarch, salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk well to fully incorporate the mixture.
- Thoroughly dredge each piece of dried chicken in the flour mixture. Tap off any excess flour mixture and transfer chicken to a wire rack or a plate. Continue until all the chicken has been dredged and set aside. (See video.)
- Discard any remaining flour mixture since the raw chicken has contaminated it.
- Place the fat or oil into a frying pan on medium-low to medium heat. You want the fat or oil to be approximately 350°F.
- Once the fat or oil comes up to temperature, fry three to four pieces of chicken at a time, starting with the skin side down. DO NOT overcrowd the pan.
- When you place the chicken pieces into the frying pan, the temperature of the oil will begin to drop to 300°F-325°F. This the perfect temperature range to cook fried chicken. Do not raise the heat.
- Wings can take approximately 3-4 minutes per side to cook. Legs can take approximately 5 minutes per side to cook. And breasts and thighs can take approximately 7 minutes per side to cook.
- After the appropriate cooking time, turn over each piece of chicken over in the frying pan. Allow the chicken to finish cooking until the skin is a crispy golden brown and the chicken is cooked through so that when sliced into, the juices run clear.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a clean wire rack or plate to cool slightly before serving. DO NOT place the chicken on a paper towel. This will create steam and cause the skin to become soggy.
Video
Notes
Find this recipe and video at https://marysnest.com/get-10-tips-to-make-the-best-fried-chicken/
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