National Fried Chicken Day Celebrations!

Once I found out that yesterday was National Fried Chicken Day, I let out a little squeal of joy! I knew we had to celebrate with some fried chicken of our own. We put our salad dinner plans aside and went to the store to pick up supplies. Trust me, you WANT to cook this. Tonight. It's amazing.

I adapted my recipe from Paula Deen's classic fried chicken recipe. I think it's safe to assume that anything Paula makes will be decadent and delicious, so I only made a few adjustments to make the recipe my own. To start, I mixed salt, pepper, fresh thyme (Paula doesn't use thyme, but I love how it pairs with chicken so I added it), and minced garlic in a small bowl. Next, I created a saucy, eggy marinade with eggs, hot sauce, and water which I first whisked up in a bowl and then put in a large ziplock baggie. Lastly, I combined flour, salt, pepper, and breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Paula adds baking soda to her flour mixture but I didn't have any. This is what my station looked like.

We got such a good deal on the chicken! It was a manager's special of four huge bone-in breasts for $2.50. $2.50!!! We only used two of the pieces since they were so large and saved the other two for a dinner later this week. I rinsed and patted those babies dry and got them prepped for seasoning.

I rubbed my herb and spice mixture all over the chicken and under the skin. Then I placed both breasts in the large ziplock baggie with the hot sauce and egg mixture.

I decided to stray from the recipe again here to let that sit in the baggie for about 15 minutes to soak up some of that delicious flavor. If you have more time, you could let it marinate for longer in the fridge. I was just super eager to get frying so I sped it up a little. 

Next, I completely dredged each piece in the flour mixture, making sure to get every nook and cranny covered before dropping it into a cast iron pan that had been heating up with vegetable oil to a very hot (but not scorching) temperature. I decided to shallow fry instead of deep fry because it's just a little healthier.

It immediately started to smell sooo good in the kitchen. I let the pieces shallow fry on each side for about 5 minutes, then I transferred them to a baking sheet topped with a cooling rack and placed them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until their internal temperature read 160 Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer.

We served this up with some fresh corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. I was pretty proud of myself with how the chicken turned out. It was so delicious! Very crunchy, crispy, and flavorful on the outside while still juicy and succulent on the inside. The flavor from the hot sauce is so light but you can tell it's there. I'm already craving another helping...

Take that, KFC.

Ingredients

2 large pieces of any chicken part you like

For the sauce mixture

3 eggs

1 cup hot sauce (I used Sriracha, though not traditional but still delicious)

1/3 cup water

For the seasoning blend

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

For the dredging

2 cups flour

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat with about an inch of vegetable oil.

1. For sauce mixture: in a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs with the water.
2. Add hot sauce and whisk together well.
3. Pour this mixture into a large plastic zip-top bag.
4. For seasoning mixture: In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, garlic and thyme.
5. For dredging mixture: In a another large bowl, mix flour, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
6. Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel.
7. Rub chicken generously on both sides with seasoning blend.
8. Drop chicken into bag of sauce mixture and coat thoroughly. Let sit for 15 minutes or up to a few hours in the fridge.
9. One piece at a time, roll chicken in flour mixture very thoroughly and drop into hot oil.
10. Fry chicken until brown and crisp. (About 5 minutes per side, depending on how large your pieces are and how hot your pan is.)
11. While your chicken is frying, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
12. Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and place browned chicken on the cooling rack. I also like to place foil underneath the rack to catch any drippings and make cleanup easier later.
13. Bake your chicken to finish cooking through, about 20 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to ensure your chicken is done.
14. Grab a napkin and enjoy!

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