Southern Fried Chicken recipe– One bite of this chicken’s crunchy, spicy outer layer followed by the tender, juicy meat inside, and you’ll understand why this is a true-blue Southern classic. Infused with spices for intense flavor and soaked in buttermilk tender juiciness, this is the perfect addition to your collection of chicken recipes!
Honestly, this is one of those recipes that is just plain irresistible. I never have leftovers, and everyone always goes back for seconds. Give this fried chicken a try, and you’ll understand what all the fuss is about. 😋
Besides being pure temptation, this Southern-fried chick recipe is super affordable. Marinate simple chicken cuts in buttermilk, then coat them with seasoned flour, and voila! You’ve got a dish that tastes like a million bucks (but only costs a few dollars 🤑).
The Secret to Perfect Southern Fried Chicken
I think there are a few secrets, personally. Here’s my take on a perfectly Southern fried chicken recipe:
- Don’t skip the buttermilk,
- Be generous with the seasonings and, most importantly,
- Use good frying techniques
Don’t worry because I’ll cover all those points in more detail in this recipe so you can make fried chicken that will rival your grandma’s.
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken – You can use any cut of chicken you like, but make it bone-in. I prefer buying one whole chicken and cutting it into 10 pieces for this recipe. It doesn’t take long to cut up the chicken, and it’s cheaper too! 🙌
- Coating – Flour is the base of the crunchy outer coating for our fried chicken. Regular ol’ all-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe. Cornstarch and baking powder increase the crispiness. Yum!
- Seasonings – To get a flavorful outer crust, you’ll need paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and some dried herbs. Go all out with the spices because it really makes a difference.
- Buttermilk is one of the secrets to getting that lusciously juicy chicken meat inside that crispy shell. Store-bought or homemade buttermilk works, but don’t leave out this vital ingredient.
How to Make Southern Fried Chicken
Prepare the Chicken
- Season – Start by placing the chicken in a large bowl. Then, season it with salt, followed by crushed garlic, hot sauce, and Creole seasoning. (Photos 1-2)
- Marinate – Pour the buttermilk over the seasoned chicken and then transfer the chicken in its seasoned marinade to a gallon-sized zipper-lock freezer bag. Refrigerate it for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. (Photos 3-5)
- Make the Coating – Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, herbs, and white pepper in a large bowl. (Photo 6)
- Dredge – Remove the marinated chicken from the buttermilk. Then, dredge each piece in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess flour. You can use a ziplock bag for this process. (Photo 7)
- Double-dip the chicken in the remaining buttermilk, adding fresh buttermilk as needed, and dredge it again in the spiced flour mixture, shaking off the excess. Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes while heating the oil. That helps the coating to stay on better. (Photo 8-10)
Fry the Chicken
- Heat Oil in a deep fryer or a cast iron skillet to 375℉/190℃. Remember that the temperature will drop once you add chicken.
- Add Chicken – Use tongs to place the chicken carefully and slowly in the hot oil. Work in batches, and don’t overcrowd your skillet.
- Fry the chicken until it’s golden brown, turning once every 10-20 minutes – depending on the size of the pieces. The chicken is done when it’s no longer pink inside and the juices run clear when pierced. You can do a test by stabbing it with a fork.
- Drain the chicken on a paper-towel-lined plate and then transfer them to a wire rack.
- Repeat with remaining chicken pieces; let them cool for at least 10 minutes before serving your mouthwatering Southern fried chicken.
Recipe Variations
- Swap out your all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour for a gluten-free version of this recipe. I have yet to try it, so you may want to experiment with different flours until you get that classic, flavorsome crunch.
- Use chicken breast tenderloins instead of a whole chicken to make fried chicken tenders instead of regular bone-in chicken. The kids love these. 👧
- Air Fried Chicken. Feel free to avoid deep frying your chicken. Spray the coated chicken with canola oil, crank up your air fryer to 400℉ (205℃), and fry away.
Tips and Tricks
- When frying, ensure your oil is at the right preheated temperature. If it’s too hot, the outside of your chicken will burn before the inside cooks. And if it’s too cold, the chicken skin will get soggy and greasy.
- Don’t use extra virgin olive oil to fry chicken because it has a low smoke temperature and will result in bitter-tasting chicken. Neutral-tasting oils with a high smoke point, like canola, vegetable, or, preferably, peanut oil, are a much better choice.
- Don’t let anything fried sit on a paper towel too long, as it’ll start to steam and make it soggy. Instead, drain your chicken using a wire rack over a baking sheet. That way, they’ll cool crisp and won’t taste greasy. 👌
Make-Ahead Instructions
As with most fried foods, this recipe is best served fresh from the frying pan. I don’t personally recommend making it ahead of time. If you do, though, follow my reheating instructions below to get the crispiness back when you serve it.
Serving and Storage Instructions
Serve Southern fried chicken as soon as it’s had a chance to cool. Be sure to pair it with plenty of Southern sides.
Store leftover fried chicken in airtight containers in the fridge for 3-5 days. To reheat your fried chicken, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while preheating your oven to 400℉/205℃. Then place the chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and bake it for 15-20 minutes until it’s heated through. That’s the best way to get your crunch back.
What Goes With Southern Fried Chicken
Um, just all of my favorite sides! 😆 For a classic Southern dinner, serve this chicken with collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and homemade butter biscuits.
Make sure you have some Southern drinks and desserts on hand, too. Sweet iced tea is a must. Finish off your meal with a healthy portion of apple cobbler or sweet potato pie, and don’t forget to scoop a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. 🤤
Wine pairing: Did you know that champagne is perfect with fried chicken? Go figure!
More Classic Southern Recipes to Try
Conclusion
So get to fryin’! And don’t be intimidated because you are now equipped with everything you need to make the perfect Southern fried chicken. Already a fried chicken champ? I’d love to see your best tips in the comment section below!
Watch How to Make It
\[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”ZoqhisJ9″ upload-date=”Tue Aug 07 2018 11:39:31 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)” name=”Southern Fried Chicken” description=”Southern Fried Chicken – classic Southern chicken recipe that is crunchy and crusty on the outside and juicy and flavorful on the inside; infused with spices and seasonings and soaked in buttermilk to amp its flavor. A great addition to your chicken recipe collection!”]
This blog post was originally published in September 2017 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Southern Fried Chicken
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Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, cut into 10 pieces
- 1½-2 teaspoons salt, adjust to preference
- ½ -1 tablespoon hot sauce
- 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2-3 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 4 cups buttermilk (for both marinating and coating)
Chicken Coating
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon onion powder
- 1-1½ tablespoon dried herbs (thyme, oregano, parsley, etc.)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
Instructions
Prepping the Chicken and Coating
- Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Then season it with salt, crushed garlic, hot sauce, and Creole seasoning.
- Pour some of the buttermilk over the marinated chicken, transfer the chicken to a gallon-sized zipper-lock freezer bag, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight).
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, herbs, cayenne pepper, white pepper, and salt in a large bowl.
- Remove the marinated chicken from the buttermilk. Then dredge it in the flour mixture, shaking off any excess flour. You could use a Ziploc bag for this process, too.
- Double dip the chicken in the remaining buttermilk (add fresh buttermilk as needed), followed by the flour mixture – shake off any excess flour. Let the chicken rest for 10-15 minutes while preparing the oil. That will help the coating to stay on better.
Frying the Chicken
- Heat oil in a deep fryer or cast iron skillet to 375℉/190℃. The temperature will drop once you add chicken.
- Slowly and carefully place the chicken in the hot oil using a tong. Work in batches, and don't overcrowd the skillet.
- Fry the chicken until golden brown, turning once every 10-15 minutes – depending on the size of the pieces. Chicken is done when it is no longer pink inside and its juices run clear, or your instant-read thermometer reads 165℉/75℃. You may do a test by piercing the chicken with a fork.
- Drain the chicken on paper towels and then transfer them to a wire rack.
- Repeat with remaining chicken pieces. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Tips & Notes:
- After you coat the chicken with the flour mixture and dip your chicken in buttermilk, let it rest first before frying it. That will allow your chicken to form a crust and warm to room temperature, which will help it cook evenly.
- When frying, ensure your oil is at the right preheated temperature. If it’s too hot, the outside of your chicken will get burned; if it’s cold, the chicken will get soggy and greasy.
- Don’t ever use extra virgin olive oil on fried chicken because it’ll result in bitter-tasting meat. Go for a neutral-tasting oil like canola, vegetable, or, preferably, peanut oil.
- Don’t overcrowd your pan with chicken because it will lower the oil’s temperature and slow the cooking time (soggy chicken isn’t good). Do it in small batches instead.
- A cast-iron pan is a must for a perfectly cooked fried chicken because it holds the temperature better and heats evenly, resulting in perfectly cooked chicken.
- Rather than deep frying or submerging your chicken entirely into the pan or deep fryer, only ¾ of the chicken should be covered in hot oil. The weight of the chicken will cause it to sit just almost above the oil’s surface, creating a crispy crust without burning.
- Don’t let anything fried sit on a paper towel too long because it’ll start to steam. Then your chicken might get soggy and stick to the paper towel. Instead, drain your chicken using a wire rack over a baking sheet, and they’ll cool crispy and dry all at once easily.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Beth Wilson says
SORRY! I meant to say Baking POWDER. Totally my fault. Why is baking POWDER used? Thanks!
Beth
ImmaculateBites says
Baking powder reacts with the skin, and slightly crisp the skin by drawing out moisture .
Mark says
Imma Do you have a page I can follow? This recipe looks so delicious I am making it for dinner tonight. I dont have time to marinade as it is already 4:30pm. But I will be prepared to do so next time.
Thanks, Mark
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Mark, do you mean Instagram ? And how did your fried chicken turn out ?
David Chase says
So 10 to 20 minutes per side. What’s the average total cookie time please.
ImmaculateBites says
Cooking time total should be about 10-12 minutes or even more depending on the size of chicken.
Richard says
What an amazing recipe. The fried chicken was so delicious and flavorful. I loved the spices. It reminded me of my Georgia-raised Mom’s cooking. The only issue I encountered was keeping the chicken batter from crossing from golden brown to burnt brown with the oil temp at 375 degrees F. I used a high-end meat thermometer to measure the oil temp in my cast iron skillet and had it dialed in at the recipe’s recommended temp. However, it started to get really dark, dark brown and hardened after no more than 5 minutes. I dumped out the oil, and started fresh, lowering the temp on the gas burner to medium low, and keeping the temp around 325-330. The chicken remained golden brown, and was able to thoroughly cook for 20 minutes. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
EezzyJ says
Hey Richard 375 is never a good temp to fry chicken ever!!it’s always best to fry chicken at between 325-350ish…..unless what happened was you were frying a tester chicken to see how it would fry…my suggestion is to pre heat to 350 and when you start adding chicken pieces your temp should drop but stay between 325-350…hope this helps
E.John says
Its never a good idea to fried chicken at 375….pre heat at the highest 350…when you start the frying process the oil temp unusually drops to to between 325-335 …you don’t want you temp going above 350 or lower than 325 while frying.
Sabtina says
Is this chicken spicy?
ImmaculateBites says
Not really.
Antoinette Quinty says
I loves southern fried chicken and I am going to try this recipe and I would love to get the chicken alfredo recipe too
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Here is the chicken Alfredo recipe https://www.africanbites.com/chicken-alfredo/. Do let me know how it works out for you.
Lori D. says
We just made this tonight and it was incredible – THANK YOU!
I can’t believe the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten was made in my own kitchen! Seriously, so happy to have found your recipe!!
imma africanbites says
You should see my happy dance now. 😀 Thank you for taking the time to let me know, Lori. I appreciate it.
Lori Laursen says
What oil do you recommend?
ImmaculateBites says
I used vegetable oil.
Larissa says
I am making this tonight. I’ve had my chicken marinating for 24 hours now. Only problem I’m having, is I can’t find my thermometer to make sure the oil is proper temp.. any secrets or suggestions on how to achieve the proper temp without the thermometer?
imma africanbites says
Hi, Larissa. There are couple ways to check proper oil temp without using a thermometer. you can read it more HERE >>> https://www.thespruceeats.com/cooking-oil-heat-2356059
Sophia says
This recipe is fantastic! Tried it for the first time last night, very much a success, thanks!
imma africanbites says
Glad it turned out well for you, Sophia! Thanks for stopping by.
Johnita says
Question about this:
1- 1 1/2 tablespoon dried herbs Thyme, Oregano, Parsley
1/2 tablespoon each herb or
1 1/2 each herb?
imma africanbites says
That 1-1 1/2 tbsp is a combination of those dried herbs.
Deana says
Could I use sage in this recipe?
ImmaculateBites says
You sure can.
Jysika Hill says
Hi, quick question. Is the buttermilk you used to dip before frying the same buttermilk you marinated with? Or should we make a fresh batch?
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Jysika, it’s the same. You may add more, if desired
Name says
chicken
Barbara says
I’m going to make this to take camping. How can I store it overnight so it will stay crispy
ImmaculateBites says
Fried chicken looses it’s crispness the next day. You will have to bake it in order to gain it back .Cover a baking sheet with foil and arrange chicken on it. Then place another sheet of foil on top to insulate the chicken. Bake for 20- 25 minutes. Do not overtake. Hope this helps
CHARLES says
Hi,
Thanks for posting this Fried Chicken recipe.
I plan to make this tonight. I will check back for your other recipe.
I can tell you cook with Love.
Best Wishes,
Charles
imma africanbites says
Hope it turned out great for you, Charles! And yes, I do cook with all the LOVE! 😉 Enjoy!
Alicia says
Thanks for the recipe! My kids and hubby loved it. We live in Ecuador so made my own buttermilk and substituted cilantro for parsley.
imma africanbites says
Yaaay! Glad your family loved it. Hope to visit Ecuador someday!