BEST EVER Southern Fried Chicken Recipe + Video (2024)

My southern fried chicken recipe has spicy buttermilk brine, seasoned flour and cornstarch for maximum crunch! Make this family favorite meal for the best crunchy, flavorful and juicy skillet fried chicken.

Fried chicken is a classic southern recipe and there are as many recipes and versions for it as there are stars in the sky.

Some people make it with buttermilk, while others don’t brine the poultry at all. The flavor can vary from spicy to sweet, and texture can be simple or big and crispy. It’s all about what you define as true comfort food!

Southern Fried Chicken Recipe

Ingredient and Equipment Notes

Best Oil for Frying

Vegetable oil is the one and it’s the cheapest. Typically a variety of plant based oils are combined and it’s a neutral flavor. Plus it has a high smoking point of 440° – 450°F. Second choice would be a vegetable shortening or lard and next peanut oil. Don’t use expensive olive oil, that’s wasteful and leaves a bitter taste.

Choosing the Frying Pan

Good old fashioned skillet fried chicken is almost always cooked in some sort of cast iron pan; whether it’s an actual skillet or Dutch oven doesn’t really matter. Because of its heavy weight and ability to retain heat, I think cast iron is the best choice for making skillet fried chicken.

A deep Dutch oven or stock pot cuts down on splash and cleanup, or you can use a portable deep fryer. I own a T-Fal brand, and it’s a beauty! The best part is that it has a filtration system that cleans the cooled oil after use into a storage container.

See Also

Why You Should Tenderize Meat with Baking Soda | Arm & HammerTenderise beef for stir fries (Velveting Beef)How to Make a Homemade Meat TenderizerVelveting Chicken: Why It's Important & How To Do It | Umamicart

Video: Skillet Fried Chicken

To see the making of this recipe from start to finish, watch the video located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Instructions

1. Brine: Start with a buttermilk brine, it’s what keeps the chicken moist and tender. Minimum 8 hours, 12 hours tops. Second choice would be a salt water brine (1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon of water). I add Tabasco hot sauce to the brine, but that’s optional.

2. Dredging/Coating: I always use a well seasoned flour. I use regular AP flour, but add rice flour or cornstarch for that extra crunch and plenty of seasonings like paprika and celery salt.

Don’t just dredge it in the flour and fry it right away. Let the poultry marinate in the buttermilk brine overnight, 8-12 hours preferably, or 4 hours minimum. It allows the flour coating to get hydrated from the chicken and adhere to develop a better outer crust.

3. Frying: Fry the chicken at a continuous 320°F, 10-12 minutes for the dark meat (smaller pieces) and 12-14 minutes for the larger sized pieces (whole half breast pieces). This way the outside doesn’t burn in the time it takes to cook the chicken completely.

If you don’t hear a sizzle as you gently lower that chicken in, stop and wait for that right temperature.

Southern Fried Chicken Recipe Tips

1. Bring poultry to room temperature. Allow your chicken to come to room temperature before dropping it into the hot oil. Cold chicken directly from the refrigerator will drastically reduce the oil temp and it won’t be hot enough to crisp up the chicken.

2. Preheat the oil. Get the oil temperature up to 350°-375°F before adding chicken. The temperature will drop when chicken goes in. Fry and keep it at a continuous 320-325°F.

3. Don’t overcrowd the frying pan. Remember, you want to fry the chicken, not steam it.

4. Use the correct amount of oil. If using a large Dutch oven, only fill 1/4 full with oil. If you’re using a deep skillet, add enough oil to fill it half way. You don’t want to drown or fully submerge the chicken; 3/4 of the depth of piece should be covered with oil.

5. Use a cooking thermometer to determine doneness. Your southern fried chicken is finished cooking when a cooking thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of each piece reaches 163°F. As it rests after coming out of the oil, it will continue to cook to the food-safe temperature of 165°F.

6. Rest and drain on a metal rack. Do not leave the fried chicken on paper towels to drain, place the pieces on a wire rack set over paper towels. This way, the coating won’t become soggy, causing a loss of that crunch you worked hard to achieve.

Talk about crunchtastic!

What to serve with fried chicken?

• Bacon Mac and Cheese Casserole
  I load it with crispy bacon, cheddar, mozzarella and cream cheeses. The perfect cheesy pasta dish. Topped with crunchy Panko breadcrumbs and baked to a bubbly, golden brown it’s an undeniable indulgence.
• Classic Potato Salad
  To me the classic potato salad needs to have the right balance of sweet and savory, creamy, tender yet firm potatoes, and not an overload of mayonnaise. Let me show you How to Make the Classic Potato Salad. This is your new go to version.
• Mexican Watermelon Salad
  Talk about refreshing! This Mexican Watermelon Salad is a spin on my Mexican Grilled Corn, and with only four ingredients, it’s made in minutes! It’s the perfect fruit salad to bring for any Summertime picnic, potluck or your weekend barbecue!
• Root Beer Baked Beans
  Slow cooked, tender, sweet and savory, that sums up these Root Beer Baked beans. I use two different beans, root beer and lots of pantry staples with bacon for an out of this world, perfect side dish.

This post, originally published on Kevin is Cooking Aug. 30, 2013, was last updated with new content on Sept. 15, 2021.