Southern Style Whole Fried Chicken
Published on
July 11, 2020
(Updated February 28th, 2022)
in
•
Mains
A crispy and delicious recipe for a southern style whole fried chicken, without giblets, cut into pieces.
It gets its name from its influence from southern US. First the whole chicken is cut up into 12 pieces. For an article on how to cut up a whole chicken in to 11 pieces, see here. Note: The backbone can be cut in half into two pieces for an additional piece of chicken and a total of 12 pieces.
The backbone might seem to not have much much meat on it but I find it can be nibbled on along with the other pieces of chicken too.
Put the chicken in a jumbo sized double zip lock bag with butter milk and salt in it and leave it in the fridge for two hours to overnight.
This butter milk mixture is used as a brine for the chicken to aid in moistening and tenderizing it and to give the chicken more sticking power when ready to be dredged in the seasoned flour before frying.
Dredge two to three pieces of chicken at a time in the seasoned flour in the zip lock bag by closing the bag and shaking it each time, transferring the chicken to a tray as you go.
Deep fry the chicken in two batches in a large frypan with oil for about 15 minutes each batch or until golden brown, rotating the chicken in the oil every three to four minutes.
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Description
A recipe for southern style whole fried chicken.
- 600ml buttermilk
- 1.5 tbsp salt
- 1 whole chicken (without giblets)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup potato starch
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 tbsp basil
- 5 cups vegetable oil
- Cut the whole chicken into 12 pieces. See here for a guide on cutting a whole chicken into 11 pieces, then cut the backbone in half. Using a jumbo size double zip lock bag, add buttermilk and 1 tbsp salt and all the pieces of the chicken, close the bag and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
- Take the chicken pieces out of the fridge and leave to rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, using a second bag, prepare the seasoned flour that will coat the chicken, by adding flour, potato starch, onion powder, garlic powder, remaining salt, paprika, oregano, thyme and basil to the bag.
- Heat the oil in a large frypan on medium heat. Meanwhile, remove three pieces of chicken at a time from the buttermilk mixture bag and place in the seasoned flour bag. Close and shake the bag for each batch to cover all the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour, transferring the dredged pieces to a tray as you go.
- Fry the chicken in the hot oil by adding half of the chicken to the frypan and cook for 15 minutes, rotating three to four times. Repeat for the remaining other half of cut pieces, placing the cooked chicken on paper towels as you go. Let chicken sit for five minutes before serving, then serve.
Notes
Allow an additional two hours to overnight for the chicken to be marinated in the fridge in the buttermilk and salt mixture.
To use less oil, frying can be done in batches of three times, instead of two, with four pieces of chicken fried at a time in a small frypan and using three cups of vegetable oil instead of five. If doing this, add an additional 15 minutes cooking time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 2301