Forget takeout! This fried chicken recipe will help you make your fried chicken crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside every time.
Fried chicken makes some think of Sunday dinners long ago but we can still make fried chicken for our own families. Fried chicken gets some bad press because of the fact that it is usually fried in lard. But you can use the cooking oil of your choice and if you research lards and other cooking oils you will find they each have something good about them, depending on which review you read.
Back to the fried chicken recipe some people are not comfortable with frying because you can burn the chicken if the heat is too high and you do get a lot of pops and splashes from the grease. Just take your time in frying and don’t fry the chicken on high heat.
Before getting started please remember to keep your hands and work areas clean after each handling of the raw chicken. You might also want to bring out the cast iron skillet for these recipes.
How to Make Fried Chicken
1 chicken, cut up
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Cooking Oil- Mix the flour, salt and pepper together.
- Add the cut up chicken to the flour mixture and coat.
- Tap off the excess flour on the chicken.
- Put cooking oil in the frying pan.
- When oil is hot put the chicken in. Be very careful at this step. The oil may splash and pop.
- Cook on one side until brown.
- Turn to brown the other side.
- Cover the chicken with a lid and turn the heat down and fry the chicken slowly.
- Turn it often.
- Fry in this manner of turning the chicken until the chicken is cooked tender and juices run clear, about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Remove and lay the chicken on paper towels to remove excess cooking oil.
- Serve.
Extra Tips for How to Fry Chicken
- Use a large bowl or plate to put your flour coating mixture in so you will have lots of room to work.
- A brown paper bag or large zipper plastic bag can also be used to put the flour coating in and then add your chicken pieces and hold or seal the bag shut and shake to coat the raw chicken. Remove the chicken and throw the bag away. This makes clean up easier.
- Cast iron skillets or an electric frying pan are good to use for frying the chicken.
- Add hot sauce to the flour mixture for an extra kick.
- Cooking oil temperature should be about 375 degrees. Drop a small drop of water to the oil and when it splashes and sizzles it is time to add the chicken.
- You will need enough oil to nearly cover the chicken while frying.
Southern fried chicken is an art and takes practice to get it just right.
