Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe | Lawry's (2024)

FAQs

What does soaking chicken in buttermilk do? ›

The secret to making the perfect fried chicken is the use of buttermilk, as it helps tenderize each piece while leaving each bite juicy and crispy. After marinating, dredge your chicken pieces in the flour mixture and get to frying!

Refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.

What Does Buttermilk Do for Fried Chicken? Marinating your chicken in buttermilk not only adds tangy flavor, it helps tenderize the meat and the acidity ensures a crispy exterior.

Use egg whites, alcohol, and cornstarch for a crispy coating. These seemingly unrelated ingredients come together to make a super-crispy coating on the chicken full of ripples, nooks, and flakes — all the good things we love on fried chicken.

It's not necessary to rinse the chicken after marinating it in milk. Simply pat the chicken dry with paper towels before cooking it. This will help to ensure that the milk and any added flavors from the marinade are absorbed into the chicken during the cooking process.

Using salt in the brine to draw moisture into the chicken, buttermilk to tenderize and a heap of herbs for fresh flavor, this easy chicken marinade creates unbelievably delicious fried chicken.

Issue: Not allowing the breaded chicken to rest before frying can lead to the breading falling off. Solution: After breading, let the chicken rest on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. This allows the breading to set and adhere.

While brining chicken doesn't make it safe to eat in the same way adding acid to fish to make a ceviche might, much of what happens to the protein on a microscopic level looks awfully familiar. Sodium chloride-rich pickle brine unravels the alpha helix of the chicken protein in a process called denaturing.

No, but you should pat the chicken dry so that the seasonings adhere to the chicken. Can I use milk instead of buttermilk for fried chicken? Milk lacks the acid to tenderize the chicken. You can use milk to make buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk.

Instead of the traditional flour and egg breading, use buttermilk as the liquid to stop the breading from falling off during frying. Beaten eggs and buttermilk work just as well in helping the outer coating of flour or breadcrumbs adhere to the meat.

Is it better to use buttermilk or eggs for fried chicken? ›

Buttermilk: Acts as a tenderizer, giving the chicken its soft and juicy texture inside. Yogurt or a mixture of milk with a touch of lemon juice can replace buttermilk in a pinch. Eggs: Helps in binding the flour to the chicken, ensuring an even and consistent crust.

Place the breaded chicken on a cooling rack (or a platter) and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This cooling time will help the layers of breading ingredients solidify and adhere better after the chicken cooks. Once you start cooking the chicken, be patient and don't flip it over too early.

KFC deep fries its chicken for 15 minutes and then drains the oil off for another five minutes – 20 minutes in total. If you don't have a deep fryer, heat up plenty of oil in a large saucepan and do it that way.

Next, once the meat is marinated, remove it from the buttermilk and PAT IT DRY. You're going to use up a few paper towels (or kitchen towels if you're OK with that). BUT DO NOT RINSE THE MEAT. Just be very diligent and pat the meat dry with a towel.

Robby Melvin, Time Inc. Food Studios recipe developer, also shares my sentiments about buttermilk. He says, “Soaking chicken in buttermilk acts as a brine.” The buttermilk adheres to the chicken much better and allows for the breading to also have more sticking power.

Because buttermilk is only slightly acidic, it is capable of tenderizing chicken without toughening up the meat like stronger marinating acids do (lemon and vinegar, among others). The enzymes present in buttermilk also help in breaking down the protein in the chicken, resulting in tender, flavorful fried chicken.

Typically you use buttermilk for fried chicken. The milk acts as a tenderizer, so if you can let the chicken soak in the buttermilk overnight, the crumbs will adhere well to the chicken and it will come out tender on the inside and crispy on the outside.