Hi guys! I’ve been quite busy around here and haven’t been able to post as much as I like but I’m back today with an easy, “better for you”, organic fried chicken recipe. Cody loves fried chicken but I absolutely hate all the fast food fried chicken places around here. For one, the chicken is definitely not organic and you know how I feel about organic meat! And two, the ingredients and even the oil they use to fry is probably not that great for you either. I’ve been on the hunt for a place that serves organic fried chicken and i’ve had ZERO luck, so instead I thought, why not make it myself?
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching The Pioneer Woman early Saturday morning and guess what she was making??? Yes, FRIED CHICKEN! So I adapted her recipe to my liking and served it with my favorite way to have fried chicken .. alongside some yummy buttermilk waffles. Mmmmm if that’s not making your mouth water I don’t know what’s wrong with you!
Minus the frying, everything about this is pretty easy and if you don’t have time to make your favorite homemade waffles, you can always use the frozen kind.
Organic Fried Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:
16 organic chicken drumsticks (I used drumsticks for fast and even cooking time)
4 1/2 cups organic buttermilk (Organic Valley)
5 cups organic flour
3 tbsp Flavor God everything seasoning or Costco’s organic everything seasoning)
1 tbsp himalayan pink salt
2 tsp organic paprika
4 tsp fresh organic thyme
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp organic cayenne pepper
1/4 cup organic milk (2% works the best)
Organic canola oil or Avocado oil for frying
Directions:
Rinse chicken thoroughly and add to a large container. Add 4 cups of buttermilk and 1 tsp paprika and cover. Let sit overnight or at least 8 hours before cooking. Take chicken out of the fridge for about 30 min prior to cooking so it takes the chill off and provides more even cooking.
While waiting for the chicken to come to room temperature, preheat oven to 350 degrees. The chicken will continue to cook in the oven for another 7-10 minutes after frying. Mix breading ingredients in a shallow dish (flour, everything seasoning, salt, pepper, thyme, paprika, & cayenne). Mix the 1/2 cup of buttermilk and milk in a small bowl and pour slowly into flour mixture. While pouring use a fork to mix until there are small lumps in the breading mixture. This will give the chicken a crunchier outside.
Using a cast iron skillet, fill 3/4 way with oil for frying. Let heat to about medium high or 365 degrees.
One by one take the chicken out of the buttermilk and coat with breading. Make sure the chicken is fully coated or it will not be crispy enough. Working in small batches of 3-5 pieces depending on pan size, cook until golden brown (total cooking: 10 minutes). For even cooking I placed a baking sheet on top of the pan to cover and flipped chicken over midway. After you are done frying each batch, take the chicken out and place on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. Sprinkle each batch of chicken with a little more pink salt right when the chicken comes out of the fryer so it will stick to it. When the baking sheet is filled, place it in the oven for about 7-10 minutes until fully cooked. Sometimes just to make sure the chicken is cooked thoroughly I will cut into a larger part and look for ONLY clear juices running out.
Chicken is done!
I usually make a bunch of my favorite homemade waffles (recipe soon) and freeze them for future use but any frozen waffles will do, just make sure you get the ones with the best ingredients in them!
Some store bought ones that I like:
Mini organic blueberry waffles
To serve:
Place waffle down on a plate and add a few dabs of grass fed butter, make sure it’s room temperature for easy melting. Add fried chicken on top of waffles and drizzle warm PURE MAPLE SYRUP (non of that fake stuff) all over the top!
ENJOY!
Cool post! I will definitely get my girlfriend to try this recipe. Thank you!!