Homemade Fried Chicken – The ultimate crunch is here

If there is one thing we all love about food, is that we love a bit of crunch. However, we don’t just love crunch, we want the crunch to be around something soft or juicy. This Homemade Fried Chicken recipe is tender on the inside while being packed full of flavour and loads of crunch on the outside. It’s the perfect meal for the whole family with your choice of sides that will make everybody at the table as happy as clams.

The buttermilk dredge is the ultimate way to get the most out of the crispiness. Cayenne pepper with garlic adds loads of flavour and some heat to this delicious party. When dredging your chicken, use different hands for each which will make sure you don’t get wet ingredients in the wrong bowl. If you really want to party, have a double dip station ready. Don’t overcrowd the oil with chicken pieces but you can get away with adding a bunch of pieces at once. Fry till golden, let cool for a moment and enjoy.

The ultimate example of tender chicken and deliciously loud and spicy crunch, Homemade Fried Chicken is the only way to do it.

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Homemade Fried Chicken Recipe

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Recipe by Carla Zinkfontein Course: MainCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

Ingredients

• 2 whole Free-range, organic chickens

• Vegetable oil of choice, for frying the chicken

• 6 cups All-purpose flour

• 5 tbsp Salt

• 4 tbsp Ground black pepper

• 2 tbsp Garlic powder

• 1 tbsp Onion powder

• 2 tsp Cayenne pepper

• 2 cups Buttermilk

Method

• Cut the whole chickens into 4 breasts, 4 thighs, 4 legs and 4 wings and set aside.
• Preheat your oil, in either a heavy pan on the stove or a deep-fryer, to 325℉/163 °C.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne pepper until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
• Pour the buttermilk into another bowl large enough for the chicken to be immersed in the buttermilk.
• Prepare your dredging station. Place your chicken in a bowl. Next to that, your bowl of buttermilk, and next to that, your dry mixture.
• Take your breasts, lightly dust them with your flour mixture, then dip them in the buttermilk until they are coated, and then place them in the flour mixture.
• Take the breasts that are in the flour mixture and aggressively push the flour mixture into the wet chicken. Make sure that the chicken in very thoroughly coated, or you will not achieve the crust and crunch you are looking for. Gently place the breasts in your hot oil.
• Next, repeat the dredging steps with your other pieces of chicken in this order: thigh, leg then wing.
• Depending on the size of the pot of oil, add chicken pieces in batches. You don’t want to overcrowd the pot of oil. Each batch will take about 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, take a probe thermometer and check the temperature of a breast. If it reads 180℉, all of your chicken is done. (Keep in mind that it will continue to cook after it has been removed from the fryer.)
• Remove the chicken from the oil and let it drain for 5 minutes. Let cool for an additional 10 minutes.

Notes

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