Bacon aside, there are few things I love more than fried chicken. What can possibly be more soul satisfying than a moist, flavorful piece of chicken encased in a thick, crunchy crust? Not much, I say.
Yet despite my affinity for fried chicken, the crispy skinned allure of Colonel Sander's Original Recipe overruns my better judgement a few times a year. Every time I step foot into a KFC to sate my hankering, I feel a twinge of hypocrisy, and yet I'm at the mercy of the fast food fryer. Well today, I said enough is enough, and I set out to come up with the best buttermilk fried chicken recipe. A fried chicken that the Colonel himself would swoon over, with a thick, crunchy, aromatic crust, and a tender juicy interior that's infused with flavor, right down to the bone.
I know, this is a bold statement. Some may even call them "fightin' words", but I wouldn't say it if I didn't think I could back it up. If you've been following along for any length of time, you know I have a history of making audacious claims when it comes to poultry.
To make my ultimate fried chicken, I've employed a few tricks that I've learned over the years. The first is to brine the chicken. This is a must for any roast chicken, and it works equally well in fried applications. The fundamentals of brining are simple: you're soaking the chicken in a salt and sugar solution that flavors the meat, much like a marinade would, while increasing the chicken's moisture content. For my fried chicken, I decided to user buttermilk instead of water, and I stuffed it full of aromatics such as onion juice, garlic, celery seed and rosemary. After a night soaking in the buttermilk brine, the chicken is literally bursting with flavor from the inside out.
Satisfied that I'd given the chicken the love and flavor that it needed, I moved on to the skin. In fried chicken circles, there's much debate over how to get a nice crunchy crust. I've found the double dredge gets a nice thick crinkled crust that stays crunchy long after the chicken has turned cold (not that there would ever be chicken left on the plate long enough to go cold). Since the brine is quite salty, I avoided adding any salt to the flour, but that didn't stop me from cramming in more flavor with spices like onion powder, paprika and more celery seed.
The last secret to making the best fried chicken is to let the coated chicken air dry for about an hour before frying it. This does two things. The first is that it gets the chicken up to room temperature, which helps it cook evenly once it's in the oil. The second benefit is that some of the surface moisture evaporates, making the chicken crisp up nicely as it's fried.
I won't lie to you, this is a rather involved recipe that takes some time, but it's not impossible to make on a work night if you put the chicken in the brine the night before. I like serving this with fluffy biscuits and plenty of honey to drizzle on both the biscuits and chicken.
Recipe
Best Buttermilk Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cloves garlic (finely grated)
- ½ small onion (finely grated)
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 4 whole chicken legs
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Litre vegetable oil (for frying)
Instructions
- Put the 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, ½ teaspoon black peppercorns, and 1 bay leaf in a spice grinder and grind. Add the spices, ½ small onion and 2 cloves garlic into a gallon sized freezer bag with the 2 cups buttermilk, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Seal the bag and shake to combine. Add the 4 whole chicken legs and seal the bag, pushing out as much air as possible, so the chicken is submerged in the buttermilk. Refrigerate overnight.
- In a gallon sized freezer bag, combine the 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon ground celery seed and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper and shake to combine. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk brine and use paper towels to dry off the chicken and remove any extra bits of spices. Add the dried chicken pieces into the freezer bag with the flour one at a time and toss to coat. Shake any excess flour off as you transfer the chicken to a wire rack.
- Strain the buttermilk brine through a sieve to remove the spices. Dip the chicken in the buttermilk mixture, then put each piece back in the bag with the flour and apply a second thicker coating of flour. Place the chicken on the rack and let it air dry for at least 1 hour.
- In a large heavy bottomed pot, add the 1 Litre vegetable oil. The oil should be at least 2" deep. Heat over medium high heat until it reaches 340 degrees F. Carefully add the chicken to the hot oil. The temperature will fall a bit, and you want to keep the oil right around 320 degrees F for the duration of they frying, so adjust the heat source as needed. The chicken will take about 12-15 minutes to cook through and should be golden brown on the outside. You can use a meat thermometer to check and see if the chicken is cooked on the inside, but take the chicken out of the oil once before checking, or the juices coming out of the chicken will make the oil splatter.
- As the chicken is done, remove them from the oil and drain on a paper towel lined wire rack. Let the fried chicken rest for a few minutes and serve.
Nutrition Facts
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Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Aaliyah says
My name is Aaliyah ,im 13 and Last Sunday I cooked Your Buttermilk Fried Chicken It was A hit!!!! Im cooking it again this sunday with a spike in the sides Thanks So much!!!!
Steve Brown says
Thanks for the speedy reply Marc. I sensed that covering the oil would not be a good idea. So tonight's the night! I will let you know how it turns out
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Steve, glad to hear you've discovered the kitchen:-) When you deep fry something the idea is that the oil is much hotter(160-190C) than the boiling point of water (100C), so when you add an ingredient that contains water to the oil, it not only cooks the ingredient, but it drives off all the surface moisture on the food, thus making the exterior crispy/crunchy. If you covered the pot with a lid, you'd trap all that water vapor, which would then fall back into the oil, causing it to bubble violently, possibly causing the oil to over flow and catch on fire. In short, never cover the pot with a lid when deep frying.
Steve Brown says
Hi Marc, I have had this recipe saved for months now, and I have been looking forward to trying it for as long. The chicken is in my fridge lapping up the marinate now. I am a newbie in the the kitchen I am experimenting quite a lot. My question is do I cover the the chicken while it is cooking in the oil?
cassandra says
you writing is too light to read comfortably.
malvinder kaur says
nice i myself like to brine/marinade meats for flavor !
Marc Matsumoto says
356 in a deep fryer should be fine. If it looks like it's browning too quickly, you can turn down the heat.
shorty says
will i get the same results if i cook the chicken in a deep fryer at 356 for the 12-15 min? thats as close to 350 as i can get on my deep fryer. I think the fryer might have a temp close to 320..should i do the 320 in the deep fryer instead?
KenC says
I tried this recipe this last Sat. and I say this is the best recipe I have come across so people I say this is a must have.
Marc Matsumoto says
I can't think of any good shortcuts that can be made that wouldn't effect the dish, but I'll see if I can come with a faster weeknight version like I did with my Spaghetti and Meat Sauce a few weeks ago: https://norecipes.com/blog/spaghetti-meat-sauce-recipe/
Allie says
Is there a faster way to do this for weeknights?
Marc Matsumoto says
Sorry if the recipe was confusing, but you used the strained buttermilk for the second dredge.
Mike says
When you double dredge with this recipe, should you use egg or use the buttermilk? first time trying this.
SteveK says
Made this for my family and they gobbled it down like they hadn't eaten in a month. Didn't have any rosemary so I chopped up some fresh basil added. It was great.
Marc Matsumoto says
It should work, but you'll need to experiment with times to figure out what works best. I'd probably fry until it gets to a light brown color, then bake until it's a full golden brown.
SB says
Wondering if this would work with boneless chicken pieces and a partial frying and then on to finish off the baking in the oven?
Andrew Leung says
This is great! I have tried other fried chicken recipes (i.e. pan frying, pan + oven cooking, different spices for the coating, brining then marinating in buttermilk, etc.) and combined parts of them into my own recipe. After making Alton Brown's Good Eats turkey last Thansgiving, I knew there was something missing in my fried chicken recipe that can make it better... I felt using a brine should make a HUGE difference. All the recipes I've seen only use buttermilk to marinate but this was the first one I found to put aromatics into the buttermilk, making it a hybrid buttermilk-brine. Very smart!
I tried out this recipe last night, using this buttermilk-brine base with my recipe. This improved my fried chicken immensely! The buttermilk-brine brought more flavors IN-to the chicken than just the outer part of the chicken. My wife & I loved it! I will definitely keep experimenting from here to improve my recipe... err, my new 'no recipe'. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Andrew Leung says
This is great! I have tried other fried chicken recipes (i.e. pan frying, pan + oven cooking, different spices for the coating, brining then marinating in buttermilk, etc.) and combined parts of them into my own recipe. After making Alton Brown's Good Eats turkey last Thansgiving, I knew there was something missing in my fried chicken recipe that can make it better... I felt using a brine should make a HUGE difference. All the recipes I've seen only use buttermilk to marinate but this was the first one I found to put aromatics into the buttermilk, making it a hybrid buttermilk-brine. Very smart!
I tried out this recipe last night, using this buttermilk-brine base with my recipe. This improved my fried chicken immensely! The buttermilk-brine brought more flavors IN-to the chicken than just the outer part of the chicken. My wife & I loved it! I will definitely keep experimenting from here to improve my recipe... err, my new 'no recipe'. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Denver Realtor says
Yumyum, that looks incredible!
Denver Realtor says
Yumyum, that looks incredible!
Wattleyc46 says
lower the heat
Dyksinski says
I brined my chicken last night in a simple salt solution, wish I had read this first. I will try the flouring and cooking technique though -- sounds yummy
Skott Chiu says
this is a good recipe just by reading it. rome was not built in a day and so good fried chicken cannot be made in few hours. my questions is does kfc use msg?
Caribbeanessence says
What oil r u using. Try using peanut or rice bran oil that have high burning temperatures
Cindy_hill says
that sounds awsome so have the chicken soaking in buttermilk and will try your recipe tonight...thanks
abcd says
I have to agree with this unfortunately...
Specwar2006 says
oh please. Don't be so dramatic about the sugar. It serves a purpose, and if you were any kind of cook/chef, you would know that this is a VERY small amount compared to the overall size of the batch.
Shutterbunny says
Why not?
Shutterbunny says
Sugar ? Disgusting !! Sheesh, can't people eat anything without sugar anymore
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks! There's a couple possibilites. The first is that the size of the chicken legs you're using are bigger than the ones I had. If this is the case, you may need to either separate the drumstick from the thigh and fry them separately, or reduce the temperature of the oil. The other possibility is that your chicken may not have been room temperature. Although I don't explicitly state it, the hour the chicken is air drying should be at room temperature. If the chicken is straight out of the fridge, it's cold, so it takes longer to heat up and cook through. I hope that helps.
Jalbarron says
I love your recipe but my chicken keeps getting to dark on the outside.. how do I get it to be golden and still cook all through?
Marc Matsumoto says
It's not ideal, but 8 hours is better than 7 hours.
Moosierintoo says
Is it okay if I marinate it for only 8 hours?
Ham_sambitory74 says
hello gud pm. Can you give me a recipe for quick fried chicken for a restaurant
Ham_sambitory74 says
hello gud pm. Can you give me a recipe for quick fried chicken for a restaurant
Cs934 says
My husband loves fried chicken...but he has not found many restaurants for fried chicken that he likes. He originally liked KFC, but when they went to no trans fat...it wasn't as good. so I tried this buttermilk recipe and it really wasn't very good. I have to agree with him. I'm not a fan of fried chicken...but this was bad!
It was a lot of work too.
Cocoanutsmile says
This turned out absolutely amazing. I friend in coconut oil and butter. This did not lack any juice at all!!!!! Try doing chicken breast with no skin or bone in these oils, and you will see what I mean. It's so much flavor!
Congrats by the way with your food column with PBS. Can't wait to try ur pho ga.
Marc Matsumoto says
Chicken breast is tricky because it's so low in fat. One minute can mean the diference between a juicy breast and a piece of cardboard. Since it's chicken, you don't want to undercook it, but try taking a piece of chicken out a little early and cutting into it. The juice should be clear. If it is cloudy or pink, it's not done.
Cocoanutsmile says
Hi Mark, I'm marinating skinless chicken breasts now. After reading the comments I see that I may end up with dryyyyyy fried chicken. Do you have any tips to possibly avoid this tragedy? Yes, tragedy! Simply reading the recipe made me smack my lips so I don't want to be disappointed.
I was also going to fry in vegetable oil mixed with coconut oil for added fat content.
Diamondbrown says
Making this tonight and I'm so nervous. Hope it turns out just as delicious even though I didnt use some of the same seasonings! I hope my chance to impress doesn't back fire.
Mirramjr says
Truly the best fried chicken I have ever made. Didn't have the patience to let it dry for a whole hour and still came out awesome. Been doing the buttermilk bath overnight (sometimes two nights) for a long time which ensures the chicken turns out moist and delicious but the double dredging totally made the difference in crispy deliciousness. Thanks man!!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Because I used whole chicken legs, the chicken takes longer to cook that
when they're separated, if you fry at 370, it will probably burn before the
meat around the joint is cooked. You could try maintaining a slightly higher
temperature and turn it down if it starts getting too dark too quickly. The
other option of course is to use the thigh and drumstick separately. I'm
curious to hear how it turns out!
humanechef says
Hey good afternoon looks great I am about to make these and have a question. Usually I fry my chicken breasts between 360-370, do you truly recommend a low 320 for the deep-fry? I am sure it would still work however I want to make sure this is not a typo, I thought the higher temperature is what ensures quality results. . Please let me know if frying between 360-370 would be problematic. Looking forward to this sounds delicious man 🙂
Maria2002 says
awesome work marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Sorry to hear it didn't work out. Did you use paper towels to dry the brine off the chicken before coating with flour? If there's too much moisture on the outside of the chicken when you flour it it could make it soggy. Also it's important the the chicken be fried at a high temperature so the steam escaping from the chicken prevents the oil from soaking into the crust. If you don't have one, I recommend getting a candy thermometer so you can measure the temperature of the oil before adding the chicken.
Tha14u2007 says
i just made this and i dont know what went wrong but my chicken was not crispy at alll !!!!
Marilia says
Fried chicken: Secret..use a small 3lb chicken cut up. Big chick take too long to cook through. If you use PIECES be sure they are small.
shake in a paper bag. Don't know why but no southern cook worth her biscuits would not ever "flour" her chix this way. Plastic makes chicken "gummy". Keep it simple. use hard crisco...hi heat point and consistent burn point.
do not crowd chix in pan. easily kept warm and crisp in a 200* oven when done. ALWAYS drain on BROWN PAPER BAGS.
Johnson34 says
sooooo good! so much flavor
DCJallday says
My wife made this chicken for me the other day for my birthday, It was without a doubt the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. GREAT RECIPE!!!!