Buttermilk Fried Chicken

I am going through a buttermilk kick right now. I found that it works well with fried chicken. Honestly, I haven’t had fried chicken since my pregnancy. Yeah, pretty crazy… but I was just craving it so badly the other day, so I made some! They turned out super juicy on the inside, yet crispy on the outside. So delicious! They are flavorful with the spices and the cayenne pepper gives it a good kick. Elsie loves this recipe and had 1 whole drumstick! Then I made more, and tried baking it. I prefer the deep fried method, but I will include both below. I feel that the deep fried version is more crispy and crunchy.

Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour

This recipe yields 3 drumsticks.

Ingredients –

3 tbp salt (this is used to prep the chicken)

3 drumsticks

2 eggs

1/3 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup flour (I used all-purpose flour here)

1/2 tsp oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, rosemary salt

1/8 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

8-10 cups oil (I used olive oil here. This measurement is for the deep fried method)

4-6 tbsp (this measurement is for the baked version, which I will include below)

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Before starting, let’s prep the chicken.

Run some cold water in a bowl, and put the chicken and 3 tbp of salt in(shown above). Scrub the meat for about 2-3 minutes. It’s like giving it a little bath and the salt is the “soap”. This will help take some impurities or excess fat out. The salt scrub also helps the chicken skin stay more crispy when it gets cooked later. Then pour out the water, run some fresh water in the bowl, and rinse the chicken. You want to rinse it at least 3 times, but don’t worry too much if there are some salt granules stuck in the chicken.

Cut the meat making slits. This will help soak in the flavors and cook the meat better.

In a bowl, mix the 2 eggs and 1/3 cup of buttermilk. Make sure the bowl is wide enough to dip the drumsticks.

In another container, combine the 3/4 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp rosemary salt, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp ginger powder. Mix it with a fork or whisk.

Now lay the flour, the wet mixture, and chicken plate in a line for easy assembling. Sprinkle a little flour on the drumstick. This will help the egg and buttermilk mixture stick.

Dip the whole drumstick into the wet mixture and coat it thoroughly.

Place the drumstick onto the flour mixture and coat all the surfaces well.

Deep Fried Version

In a medium/large pot, pour in 10 cups of oil and let it heat up until the oil is sizzling on medium to high heat(about 5-10 minutes).

Dunk the drumsticks in the pot of oil and cook for 15-16 minutes on medium -low heat, turning the drumsticks every 5 minutes. Then place them on a rack to cool for about 5-10 minutes to drain off the excess oil before eating.

Baked Version

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Put a sheet of foil on a pan, then place a rack on top and lay the drumsticks on the rack.

Let it bake for 15 minutes and take out the pan. If you have a spraying oil it would be best for this following part. In my case, I used a spoon and drizzled about a spoonful of oil on top. Flip the drumsticks and drizzle another spoonful on top. Then put it back in the oven. Repeat this 1 more time – take out the pan after 15 minutes, drizzle a little oil on top of each chicken, flip it, drizzle some more oil, place it back in the oven to cook for the last 15 minutes. The total time of baking will be 45 minutes.

Then take it out of the oven and let it cool 5-10 minutes.

We love eating this with a homemade avocado cucumber mint dip! Ketchup works well too. Which version did you try – baked or fried? Enjoy!!:)