Spicy Fried Chicken
Turn Up the Heat on Your Chicken
Spicy Fried Chicken is one of my favorite recipes. I love a great tasting crunch with some heat to it. This recipe takes a bit more prep time but it's worth it.
The trick to getting crunchy fried chicken without all the grease is to have your oil at the right temperature before adding the chicken. Your oil should be at 375 degrees at first. The temperature should drop to 300 degrees before turning and cooking the other side. Use a Candy/Deep Fry Thermometer to check the oil.
Soaking the pieces of chicken in buttermilk, hot sauce and salt for an hour helps keep the chicken moist and adds a rich flavor. Try not to soak the chicken for more than an hour or it will taste salty.
Depending on the size of the pieces you are using, there might not be enough room in your frying pan for all of the chicken at once. If that's the case you can cook in two batches, keeping the first batch in the oven set to 200 degrees.
Spicy Fried Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk plus 6 additional tablespoons
2 tablespoons table salt
4 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Texas Pete)
8 pieces of chicken with skin on (breasts, thighs, legs etc..)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
4 - 5 cups vegetable shortening or peanut oil
Preparation:
Mix together 2 cups buttermilk, salt, and hot pepper sauce in large bowl. (make sure salt dissolves)
Add chicken pieces to bowl.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (Don't let chicken soak longer than one hour or it will become too salty.)
Mix together the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and chili powder together in large bowl.
Add remaining 6 tablespoons buttermilk; with your fingers rub flour and buttermilk together until it is evenly mixed into flour and it resembles coarse wet sand.
Working two at a time, drop chicken pieces into flour mixture and turn to coat, gently pressing flour mixture onto chicken. Shake excess flour from each piece of chicken and transfer to a plate.
Pour oil into a large frying pan, the oil should be 3/4 to 1 inch high.
Heat oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 375 degrees.
Place coated chicken pieces, skin-side down, in oil and fry until deep golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
Check oil temperature, it should be down to 300 degrees before cooking the other side. Adjust burner if necessary.
Turn chicken pieces over and continue to fry until chicken pieces are deep golden brown on second side, 6 to 8 minutes longer.
Using tongs, transfer chicken to plate lined with paper towels
Let stand for 5 minutes to drain.
Serve or place in oven set at 200 degrees if you are cooking chicken in two batches.
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