- 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or thighs
- oil for frying
- ***Marinade***
- 2 cups cultured buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp. hot paprika
- 1 Tbsp. salt
- ***Coating***
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. hot paprika
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
1. Thoroughly mix marinade ingredients in a zippered plastic bag, add chicken, and refrigerate 12 - 24 hours, turning occasionally to ensure coverage. (If you're in a hurry, you can skip the delay and simply dip the chicken in the marinade and then proceed to step 3.
2. Mix coating ingredients in a zippered plastic bag.
3. Remove chicken from marinade, shake off excess marinade, then dredge in coating.
4. Set chicken aside on a piece of foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
5. Heat 1/2-inch oil in a medium, straight-sided, lidded skillet over medium high heat.
6. Once oil is hot, re-dredge chicken in coating, shake off excess, and add to skillet (skin-side down).
7. Cook for four minutes or until a light golden brown.
8. Turn chicken over, reduce temperature to low, cover, and cook 15 - 20 minutes. (Ideally, cook until an instant-read thermometer registers 150F for breasts or 155F for thighs.)
9. Remove cover, increase heat to medium-high, and turn over again. Cook another 5 minutes until coating is crisp and mahogany brown.
10. Drain on a plate on paper towels.
Note1: Stick with either breasts or thighs that are the same size to assure equal cooking times.
Note 2: If doubling recipe, cook in two batches to avoid over-crowding or use a large to very large skillet.
Note 3: Although cast iron is widely lauded as the skillet of choice for pan-fried chicken, I find stainless steel or aluminum work better. Cast iron is slow to heat and slow to cool and you really want a quicker response when you turn the burner down and up.
