Southern Shallow-Fried Chicken

Welcome back to Day 249 of quarantine with me, The Deglutenizer! So I was super-busy with work during February, and didn’t get to produce any edited content for my annual Frybruary event. In recent months, though, I have been preparing fried foods live on twitch, including my updated method for making fried chicken. I’ve eliminated corn meal from my dredge, and I now shallow-fry my chicken pieces in a wide cast iron skillet.

Why shallow-fry over deep-fry? For starters, I don’t have to buy oil as often. Also, my favorite piece is the thigh, which is the perfect shape for shallow frying. And shallow frying is like built-in seasoning for my cast iron.

If you’re just learning to shallow-fry, I’ve got some tips built into my post today. If you’re learning other things as part of your continuing education, or want to get certified in a new field to work from home, I’ve just been affiliated with International Open Academy! Check out my affiliate link to get access to all kinds of courses for just $19! I get a percentage commission based on my monthly sales, so click the link to check out all the course offerings! I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Now remember, frying is more of a state of being than a true “recipe.” You have to listen to your food to tell you when it’s done. You have to season from the heart, and when you think you’ve added enough, add just a little bit more. It’s an art more than a science. So once more with feeling, here’s my technique for shallow frying chicken.

Ingredients:

8-ish chicken pieces

Marinade-
Several dashes hot sauce
Minced garlic to taste
Salt (lots)
Fresh-ground pepper (a decent amount)
Buttermilk to cover

Dredge-
½ c. brown rice flour
½ c. gluten-free all-purpose flour
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Cayenne powder
Salt
Fresh-ground pepper

Special equipment-
12-inch cast iron pan
13-inch splatter screen
Oil for frying (peanut, canola, vegetable, soybean, or safflower)

Directions:

Trim any excess skin off chicken pieces if it would float in the oil too much. Place chicken pieces into large bowl.
Add hot sauce, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to bowl. Top with buttermilk to cover the chicken.
Mix buttermilk, chicken, and seasonings to combine. Combining by hand is better, but a rubber spatula or other stirring device could be used. Place bowl in refrigerator at least four hours, although overnight would be ideal.
To fry: Fill pan with oil about 1 inch full. Set stovetop to medium-high heat (6.5/10). Remove chicken from refrigerator. Strain excess marinade out so chicken is just coated with seasoned buttermilk.
In a pie plate or other wide bowl, combine flours and seasonings to make a seasoned flour dredge.
Using the wet-hand, dry-hand method, coat the chicken in the seasoned flour. With your “wet hand,” remove the chicken from its bowl and drop it into the seasoned flour. With your “dry hand,” coat the chicken in flour and flip it to coat each side. Still using your dry hand, set each piece of dredged chicken onto a rack over a baking sheet.
When one batch is ready to fry, carefully place each piece skin-side down into the hot oil. When all pieces have been arranged in the oil, cover the pan with the splatter guard. Side one will fry 10-13 minutes, depending on the exact oil temperature and size of chicken pieces.
When pieces easily release from the bottom of the pan, flip them over to cook on the other side. Side two will fry in 8-10 minutes. Drumsticks may require time on a “third side” where the coating hasn’t gotten crispy. Use the splatter guard to prevent oil popping all over the stove.
When the first batch has been flipped, dredge the second batch of chicken. Repeat this procedure for each batch of chicken prepared.
Remove fried chicken to a clean rack over a clean pan. Always add a dash more salt to foods as soon as they’re pulled out of the hot oil.
Allow chicken to rest and cool before consuming. Enjoy as the star of the meal, or as a co-star to a dish as iconic as chicken and waffles!

So that’s it! That’s how I make my fried chicken now, and I love it so much I make it 1-2 times a month (sometimes more if I’m creating content). Frying is a process that takes a little practice to get fluent, but being able to make one of my favorite things definitely motivated me to get good. I hope you’ll also be inspired to master this technique and try frying in your own kitchen.

If you want some official training in gluten-free cooking, I would like to point you to International Open Academy. I’m only self-taught, so their course in gluten-free cooking may cover more information than I can in my blog content. Get a discount by shopping for their course with my affiliate link!

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Southern Shallow-Fried Chicken

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Jamie

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