Is there any meal more American than fried chicken? Not if you grew up in the South, as I did. Over the 4th of July holiday, I realized it had been way too long since I’d cooked any homemade fried chicken (a must have meal component for every such fun, family-centered, celebration of my childhood).
There are lots of reasons for the my delinquency in this area: there are lots of fried chicken franchises around that have really good fried chicken, they do all the work for you, and they’re affordable, so generally speaking, when we want fried chicken, I run to the store and buy it.
As with any homemade item, however, when you make it yourself you’re able to maintain better control over the quality of the food being prepared. You can also better control portion sizes and side dish offerings – all hugely important factors for anyone, like myself, who cares about what and how much I – and my family – consume.
My recipe for homemade fried chicken, which I’ve shared with you below, allows you to enjoy two pieces of crispy, fried-to-golden-perfection chicken, and a cup of steamed broccoli for just 465 calories.
What better reason for making homemade fried chicken a must have meal component for as many of your future family dinners as it has been to mine in the past?
Ingredients:
1 whole cut up fryer (appx 2 lbs chicken pieces)
4 eggs
1/3 cup water
1/3 to 1 cup Tabasco (or Louisiana Hot sauce)
2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 cups All Purpose flour
1 tbls baking powder
Cooking oil
(Ingredients pictured below:)
DIRECTIONS
- For seasoning mix: In a small bowl, mix 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/4 tsp black pepper and 1/4 garlic powder. Set aside.
- Wet dredging mixture: In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the water.
- Add hot sauce and whisk together well. Set aside.
- Dry dredging mixture: In a another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
- Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel.
- Cut breast pieces in half across ribs.
It should all look similar to the picture below when you have everything assembled to season, dredge, and fry. (Note: I use separate thongs to dip in the wet and dry dredges so that all the mess gets on the tongs – instead of my fingers.)
Fill a skillet to no more than half full of cooking oil and heat the oil to where it’s almost smoking hot (350°F on a kitchen thermometer is perfect), then sprinkle all the chicken generously on both side with the seasoning mix (i.e. Item # 1 above), and dredge first in the wet dredging mixture (i.e. Items #2 and #3 above), then in the dry dredging mixture (i.e. Item# 4 above), then drop carefully into the the hot oil – giving each piece room to cook without touching any other pieces (similar to the below picture).
Fry chicken until brown and crisp and drain on paper towels. Dark meat will take about 14 minutes, white meat about 10 minutes, and smaller pieces will cook faster than larger ones. (You can check for doneness by piercing to the bone in the thickest part with a fork. When the juices run clear, it’s done.) The chicken should look similar (on both sides) to that shown in the picture below.
Two pieces of chicken plus a cup of steamed broccoli (as shown in the featured blog picture ) is just 465 calories.
Enjoy!
Ooooh! This looks yummy…definitely a pin now bake later, hubs will be watering just at the thought of such a dish 🙂
I love how well presented this post is, with clear instruction too, Thank you for sharing, #MidLifeLuv
Thanks Kimmie. I hope both you and you hubby enjoy it whenever you have a chance to try it for yourselves. 🙂
I want to steal your huge iron skillet! My recipe is very similar to yours, which looks yummy! I brine mine the night before (if I have thought ahead…) and i add corn starch (just a little) to the flour.. I find it adds crunch! Thanks so much – such inspiration!
My mother used to make amazing fried chicken like this. My kids though preferred it from our local grocery store…go figure. Thanks for sharing via #MidLifeBloggers
The thing about cast iron skillets – they last a lifetime. I’ve already had mine for over 30 years. Yikes! Thanks for the tip on adding a little cornstarch to the flour. I generally use peanut oil for frying, which has a higher smoking point and allows you to achieve maximum crunch, however, for people with nut allergies the corn starch idea might be just the ticket. Thanks for the tip, I will definitely give it a try!
There are a lot of good fried chicken places out there, there’s no question about it, and it’s definitely easier to just pick it up ready to eat that way. The one good thing about doing it yourself, at least on occasion, is so that when the ‘zombie apocalypse’ happens – that all the kids talk about – and all the stores that sell fried chicken are GONE – you’ll still know how to make it.:-)
Definitely saving this recipe for my husband’s bd dinner. He just loves fried chicken, and it will be a nice surprise for him. Yum, yum!! Just stopping by for a visit from the #MidLifeLuv linky party.
I hope your husband loves it as much as mine does, Renee! Thanks for stopping by! #MidLifeLuv