Spicy Fried Chicken
Add Some Zing to 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 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

Prep time: 30 min

Cook time: 40 min

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk plus an additional six tablespoons
2 Tbls table salt
4 Tbls hot pepper sauce (such as Texas Pete)
8 pieces of chicken with skin on (breasts, thighs, legs etc..)
3 cups flour, all-purpose
2 tsp baking powder
1 Tbls cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder
4 - 5 cups vegetable shortening

Preparation:

Mix together the 2 cups of buttermilk, salt, and hot pepper sauce in a large bowl. (make sure salt dissolves)
Put chicken pieces in the bowl.
Cover bowl with foil or plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. (Don't let chicken stay in mixture more than one hour or it will be too salty.)
Mix together the baking powder, flour, cayenne pepper and chili powder in large bowl.
Add remaining 6 tablespoons buttermilk; mix together with your hands until it resembles wet sand.
Place chicken pieces in flour mixture and coat all sides, gently pressing flour mixture onto chicken. Shake off excess flour 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 gets to 375 degrees.
Place coated chicken, skin-side down, in oil and fry until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
Check oil temperature, it should be down to 300 degrees before flipping the pieces over and cooking the other side. Adjust heat if necessary.
Turn chicken pieces over and continue to fry until they are golden brown on second side, 6 to 8 minutes longer.
Use tongs to transfer chicken to plate lined with paper towels
Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes to drain on paper towels.
Serve or place in oven set at 200 degrees if you are cooking chicken in two batches.