Southern Fried Chicken (Look out Kfc!) (Paula Deen)

Sharlene~W's Note:

Thanks Paula Deen (FoodTV) for the best fried chicken I have ever made! It has a nice, savory flavor and a coating that has just the right amount of crispiness. It was a good thing I had an extra cut-up chicken in the refrigerator because my family was begging for it again the next day. Although it calls for what seems like a lot of hot pepper sauce, it isn't any spicier than Jack-In-the Box's Spicy Crispy Chicken--you can take it!! FYI I made this using 10 pounds of wings--enough of the hot sauce/egg mixture to cover, but you will need to double flour mixture if you want to do this much. I'm not saying it tastes like KFC--only that you won't be doing business with them anymore.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 2 lbs cut-up chicken

Sauce mixture

• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup hot sauce (I use Louisiana Hot Sauce, Tabasco might be hotter)

Seasoning blend

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Dredging mixture

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat peanut oil in a large deep pot to 350°F (do not fill more than half full--you don't want a hot-oil spill-over accident!).
2. For sauce mixture: in a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs with the water.
3. Add hot sauce and whisk together well.
4. Pour this mixture into a large plastic zip-top bag.
5. For seasoning mixture: In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.
6. For dredging mixture: In a another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
7. Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel.
8. Cut breast pieces in half across ribs.
9. Sprinkle chicken generously on both sides with seasoning blend.
10. Drop a few chicken pieces of chicken into bag of sauce mixture and squish around to coat thoroughly.
11. One piece at a time, roll chicken in flour mixture and drop into hot oil.
12. Don't crowd chicken pieces--I cook about half the chicken at a time.
13. Fry chicken until brown and crisp.
14. Drain on paper toweling.
15. Dark meat will take about 14 minutes, white meat about 10 minutes.
16. Remember smaller pieces cook faster than the larger ones.
17. You can check for doneness by piercing to the bone in the thickest part with a fork.
18. If the juices run clear, it is done.

Reviews

[Momma Vickie]

Made this tonight and the skin came out soooo crunchy! I did it just as written except I put 1 1/2 tsp of garlic. We love garlic so I didn't figure it would hurt! :) My hubby fried them in the deep fryer outside, and I battered them before he had time to heat up the oil so we double breaded it...lol...it came out so good. I just wish the meat had a little bit more flavor. Other than that it was awesome! Thanks for sharing it! :)

[MissHeather]

Yummy!

[LonghornMama]

Wowza! This was the best fried chicken I've ever made or eaten. The family loved it. Not at all spicy, just perfectly seasoned. Just the right amount of ingredients for 8 thighs and 10 drumsticks. Used a deep fryer at 375 degrees, cooked drumsticks 13 minutes and thighs 18 minutes. Thanks for sharing the recipe!