Best Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken Recipes

BLUE-RIBBON FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1. Place the buttermilk, 1/4 tsp. black pepper,salt, and cayenne pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Add chicken,seal and shake to coat. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, if possible.
• 2. Place the flour,paprika, mustard,garlic,salt,and remaining pepper in a seperate bag,Add one piece of chicken to the bag,close and shake to coat. Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with thne remainig chicken pieces.
• 3. Preheat oven to 250 F.. heat the vegetable oil in a deep medium skillet to 350 For until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 30 seconds. Add4 chicken pieces to the skillet and reduce heat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
• 4. Turn the chicken and cook, uncovered until the juices run clear when chicken is pieced with a knife, about 10 minutes longer. Drain the chicken on paper towels. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat the steps for frying and draining for the remaining chicken pieces. Serve hot.

LISA'S ORIGINAL HERBED FRIED CHICKEN MIX--UPDATED!

Steps:

• 1. Mix together in Ziploc bag. I separate into portions so that I don't get the whole batch all messy! I store the unused portion in the freezer for the next time around. This will probably be enough for you to fry up multiple batches, and it's great to keep a bag on hand for last minute cravings for chicken!
• 2. The way I do my fried chicken is this...I either buy boneless thighs and breasts (chicken tenders are also great) and chunk them up into chicken strips; or I cut up, skin, and bone a whole chicken and cut into strips and bite-side pieces. (the leftover carcass is awfully good to make chicken stock!) Keeping the chicken boneless makes it fry faster and is a lot more kid-friendly, but there's nothing wrong at all with doing it bone-in, the good old-fashioned way either! I've done it that way too! If you're like me, you generally look for what's the better bargain at the time. There IS no bad fried chicken...some's just better than others!
• 3. If you're interested in how I actually marinate my chicken prior to frying, I soak my cut-up chicken pieces several hours or overnight (refrigerated) in a mixture of about 4 cups buttermilk, ½ cup apple cider vinegar and about ½ large bottle Frank's Red Hot (you can half this...when I fry, it's usually for a crowd, and the marinade goes a long way). Don't be fooled by the hot pepper sauce...this chicken is not "Cajun spicy" as you might imagine...just very flavorful instead of hot. When ready to fry, I add a couple beaten eggs to the buttermilk & chicken with about a cup of the coating flour mix, and stir it with my hands. It should be about the consistency of pancake batter.
• 4. Lift chicken out of buttermilk marinade, drain off excess and dredge in a plate of the coating to thoroughly coat. (If you'll gradually add dry coating to the dredging plate, you won't waste your whole bag of coating by getting it wet and clumpy) Fry the way you normally prefer to fry your own--deep fried at 350 degrees, or low and slow in a cast iron skillet. When it's tender on the inside and deep, golden brown on the outside, you're there. There is no wrong way to do this...marinated or just washed and rolled in the dry mix. Before the buttermilk kick we got on, I just washed and cut up the chicken and left to soak in a light brine mixture...but if you do this, don't add too much salt or your chicken will be too salty. The kosher salt is good to get excess blood out of the chicken (I hate that white gunk that forms on chicken when it's not bled well), but the chicken does absorb some of the saltiness. Just be aware of that, and adjust accordingly! Some folks also prefer to do an egg dip instead. I've done that and it's good too. Fix this the way YOU like it!
• 5. Drain fried chicken on paper towels and serve. It's good hot, it's good cold-- and maybe, just maybe, you'll have a few pieces leftover for a midnight icebox raid!

NORTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Add oil, to a depth of 2 inches in a Dutch oven and heat over medium high heat, about 375 degrees F.
• In a small bowl, combine paprika, cayenne, basil, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder; set aside.
• Beat egg whites in another bowl.
• In a third bowl, combine flour, matzo, and baking powder.
• Dip a piece of chicken in egg whites, then press into the matzo mixture so crumbs adhere; shake off any excess.
• Transfer chicken to a rack set over a baking sheet.
• Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
• Fry chicken until crispy and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes; drain on paper toweling then season with salt, pepper, and the reserved seasoning mixture.

GRANDMA'S UNBREADED FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1. Cook bacon in skillet or heat cooking oil. Oil will spit when you drop water in it when hot enough. (My Grandma only used bacon fat, that was her frying oil of choice, It does add to the flavor of the chicken.)
• 2. Salt and pepper your chicken to taste. When your oil is hot enough, carefully place the chicken in the pan bottom side down.
• 3. Cover and simmer on medium-ish heat for 15 min.
• 4. Using TONGS turn chicken. Recover and continue to cook for 15 min more.
• 5. Check the meat if the meat has started to pull away from the leg bone raise the heat a little and cook uncovered, rearrange the meat according to the heat in your pan. If meat is not pulling away continue to cook covered on medium-ish heat. After you uncover and raise the heat, turn every 10ish minutes, cooking till meat is cooked thru and the skin is golden brown and crispy. Remove from pan and keep warm.
• 6. Make your gravy using the pan drippings.
• 7. Serve warm or cold. This makes the best cold picnic chicken.

CRISPY SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• 1. In large plastic container, dissolve 2 tablespoons salt in about 2 cups water. Remove skin from chicken pieces (optional) and place in container. Add more water if necessary to cover chicken. Place lid on container and place in refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• 2. Pour milk into a bowl. Add egg and beat with fork till fairly smooth and set aside. In another bowl add flour, seasonings and soup base. Mix well with fork. Dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, then dip in milk and egg mixture. Roll in flour mixture.
• 3. In a large deep iron skillet add oil to about 1" deep. Heat oil to about 375 degrees and add chicken pieces. You must do this in batches of about two pieces of chicken at a time, so as not to overcrowd your pan. Cook chicken about 7 to 8 minutes per side or until juices run clear. Transfer chicken pieces to serving platter. You may also use a deep fryer set at about 350 degrees. Add only a couple of pieces at a time and cook for about 15 minutes or until juices run clear.
• 4. ALTERNATE METHOD: Heat oven to about 400 degrees. In cast iron skillet, brown chicken pieces in hot oil. Transfer chicken pieces to a broiler pan coated well with cooking spray and bake for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove from oven and transfer to serving platter.
• 5. Chicken soup base is a moist powder. It's available in the soup/bullion aisle in most grocery stores and it is relatively inexpensive.

BROOKLYN BOWL FRIED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with oil to a depth of about 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until a deep-fat thermometer reads 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites in a large, shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, combine the matzo meal and flour. Keeping the dark meat and the white separate, dip each chicken piece in egg white and let excess drip back into the bowl. Then roll each chicken piece in the matzo mix, and tap off excess.
• Carefully lower the chicken thighs and drumsticks into the oil. After 3 minutes, carefully add the breast pieces. (Keep the oil at 375 by adjusting heat as necessary.) Fry until dark gold, about 10 minutes more. Transfer the fried chicken to a paper-towel-lined plate. Sprinkle immediately with salt and pepper, then coat the pieces with the Cajun seasoning. Serve the chicken with honey, for dipping.