Pan Fried Chicken
I crave fried chicken ALL the time. When I make it at home, my go-to is oven-fried chicken because it makes less mess and feels just a little healthier, plus, my husband really loves it and it makes the house smell damn fine.
This is pan-fried chicken, similar to how they do it at the Lucky Wishbone. I finish it in the oven, so the crust does not burn before the chicken cooks through, and it spends less time in the oven.
Ingredients
Scale
6 chicken thighs (or whichever pieces you prefer)
2–3 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
fresh ground pepper
2 tsp smoked paprika
canola oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, soak the raw chicken in the buttermilk, covered in the refrigerator. I like to do this overnight, but at least 2 hours will do just fine too.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Set a wire rack over a pan. Pull each piece of chicken out of the buttermilk bath and pat them dry. As you dry each piece, place them on the wire rack.
- In another large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and smoked paprika.
- Dredge each piece of chicken through the flour mixture and place back on the wire rack. Let them sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Dip each piece of chicken into the buttermilk again, letting it drip off as you pull it out of the bowl (you might need to add more buttermilk).
- Dredge each piece of chicken through the flour again, setting them back onto the wire rack.
- In a deep cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, heat 1″ depth of canola oil until it is 350 degrees F.
- Add the chicken, skin side down, to the pan (without crowding; you might need to do this in batches).
- Let cook for 9 minutes, or until browned.
- Using tongs, turn the chicken over and cook another 2 minutes.
- Remove to the wire rack and let chicken rest for 5 minutes.
- Finish the chicken in the oven (375 degrees F) until it is cooked through (internal temperature should be 163 degrees F), approximately 15 minutes
Notes
- This is easily scalable so if you want to do more chicken to feed a crowd, adjust the flour mixture accordingly.
- I have also successfully used olive oil instead of canola.
- If your pan has higher sides, it helps keep the splatter in check!
- Don’t let the oil go below 325 degrees F or you risk greasy chicken. Don’t let the oil go above 375 degrees F to keep the crust from burning.