Chef John's Buttermilk Fried Chicken
I love the tangy tenderization that the buttermilk provides. After the buttermilk soak, dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour, and fry them in hot oil until crisp and cooked.
I love the tangy tenderization that the buttermilk provides. After the buttermilk soak, dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour, and fry them in hot oil until crisp and cooked.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
- 3 1/2 pound chicken cut into 8 pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
- for the seasoned flour:
- 2 1/2 quarts peanut oil for frying
- Carbohydrate 82.3226066219955 g
- Cholesterol 302.569992818744 mg
- Fat 601.06261561537 g
- Fiber 0.695156782082633 g
- Protein 78.1859182226555 g
- Saturated Fat 109.083847547685 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (1137g)
- Sodium 407.288587205545 mg
- Sugar 81.6274498399129 g
- Trans Fat 31.6228327197804 g
- Calories 5973 calories
Step-by-step
- Toss together chicken pieces, black pepper, salt, paprika, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, white pepper, and cayenne in a large bowl to coat.
- Stir in buttermilk until chicken is coated. Refrigerate for 6 hours.
- Combine flour, salt, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, white pepper, and onion powder in a large shallow dish.
- Remove chicken from the buttermilk and dredge each piece in the seasoned flour. Shake off any excess and transfer to a plate.
- Heat peanut oil in a large Dutch oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Add all the chicken to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
- Turn chicken pieces and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
- Remove chicken from the oil and transfer to a cooling rack set over a paper towel lined baking sheet. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Pan-seared chicken breasts develop a dry surface and a tight protein crust, whereas deep frying surrounds the poultry in rapidly boiling oil that cooks the meat through convective heat transfer. Submerging poultry in an acidic dairy medium breaks down tough muscle fibers before cooking begins. Buttermilk supplies lactic acid, which gently denatures proteins without making the meat chalky. This chemical tenderization prepares the flesh to retain internal moisture while the exterior undergoes dehydration in the fryer.
Achieving a shatteringly crisp coating requires managing moisture transfer at the boundary layer between the batter and the oil. Excess liquid on dredged pieces causes the flour coating to slough off during frying, leaving bare patches of skin. Shake every piece firmly after dredging to eliminate loose flour clumps. Peanut oil provides a high smoke point near 450 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing stable heat maintenance at 350 degrees Fahrenheit without rapid degradation or burning.
Maintaining oil temperature prevents greasy absorption. Dropping cold items into a vessel causes thermal shock, lowering the cooking temperature and forcing the crust to saturate with fat before moisture can escape as steam. Crowding the Dutch oven drops the oil temperature past the recovery threshold. Frying in smaller batches preserves the thermal equilibrium necessary for rapid dehydration of the starch granules.
Southern cooks historically relied on cast-iron skillets for pan-frying chicken before modern deep-frying vessels became standard home equipment. Cast iron holds thermal energy efficiently, smoothing out heat fluctuations when cold meat hits the fat. Modern heavy-bottomed Dutch ovens replicate this thermal stability by enclosing the oil in thick walls that radiate heat evenly across all sides of the poultry pieces.
