Recipe Name

About this Recipe

Ok, I know what you're thinking.... These are totally chicken nuggets!

And that's true, you're right. But also bigger pieces take longer and we don't have that kind of patience in our house. I think Eric might revolt if I tried to make him wait more than a few minutes for the first piece of crunchy deliciousness.

If you really don't believe me, go ahead and do it with your favorite cut of chicken, though thighs are highly recommended. They'll need to fry 4-5 minutes longer, and I highly recommend using an instant read thermometer in that case to ensure doneness: don't pull 'em out before 165!

Method

To Prepare:
Slice chicken breast into approximately 3/4" by 1 1/2-2" pieces.
In large bowl, mix together buttermilk, hot sauce, spice and salt. The mixture should be pinkish red.
Add chicken breast pieces to marinade and mix until all pieces are uniformly mixed and none are stick up above the buttermilk.

Refrigerate for 12-24 hours.

To Fry:
Remove chicken from fridge. The buttermilk will keep it cold, but it will start to come up to temperature to help it not shrink up as much.

Add vegetable oil to dutch oven or other large pan. I like to use the dutch oven because the cast iron holds the heat well, so the oil doesn't seem to lose as much temperature when you add in a new batch of chicken. Start with the oil at ~6-7 on your burner, and turn it down to 4-5 to maintain heat. If you know your burner tends to run hotter or colder, adjust accordingly.

While oil is heating (target temperature: 375°), prepare your flour mixture, and staging and cooling/draining areas.

For the flour mixture, add flour and all spices to paper bag (yes, I'm serious), fold over the top of the bag about halfway down, and shake to combine. Get familiar with this, you're going to be doing it a lot.

For the staging area, take a cooling rack and place it either directly on top of your counter, or on top of paper towel I often do paper towel just for less raw chicken cleanup, but either way works. This should be on the opposite side of your oven or stovetop from where the dutch oven is.

Do the same thing for the cooling/draining station, but place it on the counter next to the burner where your dutch oven is heating. This results in less oil splattering all over the counter! In this case I recommend either the paper towel or a baking sheet underneath, there's going to be a lot of oil drips.

Start to take the chicken out of the marinade, and 5-6 pieces at a time add them to the paper bag with the flour/spice mixture (I like to use tongs for this part). Making sure to place them in the flour so they're not touching. Then, fold down the top half of the bag again, and shake for ~15 seconds. Open the bag and check to ensure all chicken pieces are covered with flour. If not, shake for another 10 seconds. If so, remove the chicken pieces, shaking them lightly while still in the bag, and place on the cooling rack in your staging area. I like to use my fingers for this part, if you use tongs they can sometimes pull the breading off and you have to start over.

Repeat until all chicken has been breaded and oil is at 375°. If your oil takes longer, that's ok! The chicken can sit at this stage for 15-25 minutes. If your oil is too hot, that's also ok! Turn the burner off until the oil reaches the desired temperature, and then turn back on at ~4 or just under medium to maintain the temperature.

Once oil is 375°, add chicken in batches of 5-6 pieces. The oil should immediately bubble and make a frying/crackling sound when the chicken is added. To add the chicken to the oil put the spider strainer over the oil, place a couple pieces onto it, and slowly lower in. Pull the strainer out and repeat. You don't want to overcrowd the pan or a couple things could happen:
1. Your chicken could stick together and not get fully cooked or as crunchy
2. You could drop the temperature of the oil too much, which will result in much more oily and less crisp chicken.

Cook for 2-3 minutes and then, if the chicken is on the surface of the oil, flip it over. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown (see photo). Even a little darker is ok! If you have any instant read thermometer, check the largest piece from the first batch to ensure it's at least 165°.

Remove fried chicken pieces with spider strainer and place on cooling rack in your cooling/draining area.

Repeat until all chicken has been fried.

As it is finishing cooling, or at any point during this process when you have a couple minutes, make sauce by combining mayo, Buffalo sauce and Sriracha to taste. We like it very spicy in our house, but for less spicy add less of each.