Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Chicken, chicken, chicken... What could be better? Fried chicken! I love love love chicken, it will always be my favourite meat because I think it is truely the most versatile of all meat.

I could eat it all day, day after day. Chicken schnitzel, french onion chicken pasta, tuscan chicken and of course, classic roast chicken.

For today's recipe I take my inspiration from Donna Hay's 'Back to basics' cook book. The recipe is fairly simple and straightforward which is perfect, however I did change the recipe up a little.

For the chicken to marinate, I added 6 chicken thighs to my bowl and seasoned with salt and pepper. With my tongs I made sure that each piece of chicken is coated then I add paprika and garlic powder and repeat the process of making sure everything is coasted generously. Once that's all done then add in the buttermilk and again, make sure every piece of chicken is nicely soaked.

Once that's done cover the bowl and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate. The longer you can leave it the better it will be. Because buttermilk is only slightly acidic, it can tenderise the chicken without the meat becoming too tough. So the longer you leave it the juicer, tender and more flavourful does the meat become.

Now we wait....

Once I was ready to get down cooking, I pulled out my chicken and let it sit. In a pot I heated up my oil and let it get to frying temperature. I do regret using olive oil because I think that was too strong for the chicken but it worked all the same.

To my flour I added a good helping of salt, but not too much as the buttermilk was also seasoned, paprika and garlic powder. That's it.

Next I added my chicken fillet pieces to the flour. Because they had been sitting in the buttermilk mixture for so long they were very moist and soaked through, so all I just held up the chicken and let enough of the mixture drain off. Once in the flour I really pushed the flour into the chicken.

Then I added my chicken to the oil and let that fry for 3 minutes per side. Once each piece was done I placed that onto some paper towel to drain any excess oil... Which was a lot.

There you go, simple and easy buttermilk fried chicken that, in my humble opinion, tastes the same or even better than KFC. Take that Colonel Sanders!

Crispy Buttermilk Chicken!

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Recipe

6 Chicken Thigh Fillets

600ml Buttermilk

2 Cups Plain flour

2TBS Paprika

2TBS Garlic Powder

2TBS Salt

1TBS Pepper

Oil for frying

1. Add chicken thighs to bowl and season with half the salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder and repeat the process so everything is coasted generously.

2. Add in the buttermilk and coat.

3. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate.

4. In a pot heat up oil and let it get to frying temperature.

5. Add flour and the rest of the fry ingredients.

6. Next I add chicken fillet pieces to the flour and coat.

7. Fry chicken in oil 3 minutes each side until cooked the drain.

Bon Appétit