Easy Fried Chicken

 I love fried chicken. So much so that my bank probably started thinking that I was an investor in local fried chicken restaurants. The reason fried chicken is everywhere is because its down right delicious, especially when it's done right. There are obviously tons of different ways to make fried chicken but I think this is one of the easiest ways because of the minimum amount of ingredients, steps and time required. I'll discuss some of the other ways to make fried because they're all valid and I've tried many of them. The first way is to brine your chicken pieces in a brine mixture overnight (salt, water, sugar and spices), then dredge in flour and fry. Another way is to marinate chicken pieces in buttermilk for a few hours to overnight, dredge in flour and then fry. Dipping chicken pieces in a batter and then frying is yet another way. And, you could also just season the chicken without flour or batter and shallow fry.

Anyways, as you can see there are many ways to make fried chicken and I'm certain that's not an extensive list that I just mentioned. However, there are a few inconveniences in the methods I just listed. 1. both, brining and marinating in buttermilk take a long time and when you're desperate for fried chicken, waiting is not acceptable! Even though I brine my turkey at Thanksgiving time and brine any chicken I roast, I usually don't have the patience to do it for fried chicken. 2. The batter method just doesn't do it for me, because it has too much liquid and thus it takes a while to get the 'crust' on the chicken to get it crispy like I like it. and, 3. The method of just seasoning the chicken and frying it, doesn't do it for me either because there's simply not enough crispy fried chicken skin!! (Are you starting to see a theme here? I NEED good crispy chicken skin!!)

So, this is the easiest way to make fabulous fried chicken. No waiting overnight, no 'tempura' style fried chicken and it's certainly not bland. Let's cut to the chase; here's the recipe. If you try this and have made fried chicken in other manners, then I'd love to hear your opinion on whether you liked this recipe and what improvements, if any, you'd make!

EASY FRIED CHICKEN:

Ingredients:

-1 cup all purpose flour

-3 Tbs Lawry's Seasoning Salt

-3 Tbs Cavendar's Greek Seasoning

-2 eggs beaten

-2 tsp milk

-6 to 8 chicken pieces (skin on)

-Oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a large ziplock bag, add flour, Lawry's seasoning and Cavendars. AND TASTE IT!! I know it sounds weird to taste your flour, but seriously, just take a pinch and put it in your mouth and taste it. I promise it won't kill you. Just think of all the raw cookie dough you've ever eaten. You'll be fine. If the flour mixture tastes like flour to you, then add more seasonings. If it's waaaay too salty/seasoned for you, then add more flour.  It needs to be to YOUR liking unless you're bringing some over to me for dinner. But do remember, it should be a tad more seasoned than you'd like since you need to compensate for the chicken.

2. Add oil to a frying or cast iron pan and heat on medium high heat until you see small ripples in the oil.

3. In a medium dish, add eggs and milk and beat together. In another medium dish, take out approx 6 Tbs of the flour/seasoning mixture. Line up the chicken, egg mixture and flour in this order with the chicken being the furthest from the frying pan, like in the picture below:

4. Now time to start getting the chicken ready. Add the chicken to the egg mixture and make sure it's well coated. After it is well coated with egg, dredge in the flour making sure to tap off any excess flour. Then add the chicken pieces to the oil in small batches and turn the heat to medium low. Each side should take anywhere from 8-10 minutes per side. If you think the coating is burning or getting too dark too fast, remove the pan from the heat and turn the heat down lower. Then put the pan back on the heat and allow to cook until golden brown and the chicken registers at 175 degrees (the chicken will continue to cook even after removed from pan).

5. Remove cooked chicken and either drain on a cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath to catch the oil, OR you can put it on a paper towel lined plate (though this way could keep it greasy and make it soggy if left there for a while) Serve with mashed potatoes, creamed spinach (recipes forthcoming) or a host of other yummy sides. Or just eat it while you stand over the counter top. Not that I did that. :/