Buttermilk Fried Chicken
A proper buttermilk brine wants overnight in the fridge, and tonight does not have an overnight in it. Thin chicken cutlets soak for a few minutes instead, and the crust still shatters exactly the way it should.
- Total time
- 19 min
- Serves
- 2
- Effort
- Medium
What you need
Written for 2 — nudge the counter and the numbers follow.
0 of 9 in the basket.
How you make it
Stir the salt into the buttermilk, add the chicken cutlets and leave them to soak while you set up everything else, about 5 minutes.
Mix the flour, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne and black pepper in a wide bowl, then spoon in 1 tbsp of the buttermilk and rub it through so the flour turns shaggy — those clumps become the crunchy bits.
Pour the oil into a deep heavy pan no more than one third full, never higher, and heat to 175C; if it ever starts smoking, slide it off the heat and let it cool before continuing.
Lift each cutlet from the buttermilk, press it firmly into the seasoned flour on both sides, and lower it gently away from you into the oil.
Fry two pieces at a time for 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and a probe in the thickest part reads 75C / 165F, then drain on a rack.
Salt the chicken the moment it leaves the oil and let the oil return to 175C before the second batch.
Read all that and thought “absolutely not”?
Completely fair. Buttermilk Fried Chicken is sitting in the American kitchen right now, it costs nothing, and it will never arrive.
Order it insteadMore from the American kitchen
Portions that need two hands and no apology.