This crispy fried chicken recipe is a Southern classic!
Table of Contents
If you love fried chicken, be sure to try these Chick-Fil-A nuggets, these fried chicken cutlets with milk gravy, these Parmesan chicken bites, and this oven-fried chicken breast, too!
How to Fry Chicken | 1-Minute Video
It seriously doesn’t get any better than a crispy fried chicken recipe that you can turn to again and again. File this one away, because the simple ingredients and easy technique will make this dish a staple in your home, too. It’s juicy, flavorful, and finger-lickin’ good!
Wonderful flavor. My husband and I both loved it.
– Tricia
A Few Tips Before You Get Started
- You can use whole fryer chickens that you cut into pieces, or about 4 lbs. of bone-in skin-on chicken pieces. For instance, if you prefer just the chicken thigh, just the chicken breast, or only the drumsticks or wings, go with that!
- The buttermilk is an important ingredient in Southern fried chicken, since it keeps the chicken tender and juicy, and also adds flavor to the meat. Because buttermilk is only slightly acidic, it tenderizes the chicken without toughening up the meat (like a stronger acid such as lemon juice or vinegar might). The enzymes in buttermilk also help to break down the protein in the chicken, resulting in tender, flavorful fried chicken.
- Use either peanut oil, vegetable oil, or vegetable shortening to fry the chicken. I typically use peanut oil because it’s affordable, it has a high smoke point, and it will not flavor your meat. So long as you don’t smoke the oil or use it to fry fish, it’s fine to strain the oil, refrigerate it, and reuse it up to 3 times.
- Adding a stick of butter to the frying oil adds so much great flavor to the chicken. I use salted butter, but unsalted butter will work, too.
- Never cover your warm fried chicken with foil. This traps steam and moisture, which will make your chicken soggy. If you need to keep the chicken warm while you fry the remaining pieces in batches, place the pieces on a sheet pan in a 250 degree F oven.
Directions
This down-home skillet fried chicken is an easy and delicious way to satisfy that craving. You’ll find step-by-step instructions in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Soak the chicken in buttermilk for at least 8 hours.
- Combine the flour and seasoning in a large brown paper bag. This is the classic way to shake and coat fried chicken. If you don’t have a paper bag, you can use a sturdy plastic bag instead, or just dredge the meat in a large bowl.
- Remove the chicken from the buttermilk. Place one piece of chicken in the bag at a time. Shake to coat. Transfer the chicken to a wire rack. Allow all of the coated chicken to dry for at least 30 minutes (or up to 1 hour). This ensures that the flour adheres to the meat.
- Fry the chicken in a large cast iron skillet, Dutch oven, or deep fryer. You don’t need a thermometer to fry the chicken. Instead, when the oil is hot (but not smoking), add a drop of water to the pan — if it sizzles, the oil is hot enough. To maintain a fairly steady temperature, don’t overcrowd the pan. When using a thermometer, keep the oil at about 350°F.
- Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, then turn the pieces over, cover again, and cook for about 10 more minutes. If you’re using a meat thermometer, white meat will be best at 165°F, while dark meat can be cooked to 170-175°F for the best texture.
- Drain the chicken on a wire rack or paper towels. Season with salt and pepper while the chicken is still warm. The salt will adhere best to the warm chicken.
Serving Suggestions
While this crispy fried chicken recipe is a great dinner option, we normally serve it for lunch — especially picnics with cold sweet tea! Pair it with traditional coleslaw and corn sticks (shown here), this corn fritters recipe, or with creamy baked mac and cheese, jalapeno cheddar cornbread, southern cornbread, potato salad, lima beans and ham, Southern-style green beans, Southern collard greens, okra and tomatoes, or Bisquick waffles.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Allow plenty of time to soak the chicken in buttermilk. At least 8 hours (or overnight) is ideal; however, in a pinch you can shorten this time to a few hours.
- Fried chicken is best when it is fresh and the skin is still crispy. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days; however, the skin will not be as crispy when reheated.
- How to Reheat: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Meanwhile, place the chicken on a wire rack over a baking sheet and allow the chicken to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes (this ensures that it reheats evenly). Next, reheat the chicken (uncovered) until the skin feels hot and very crispy, about 15 minutes.
A simple recipe with delicious results!
– Marina
The part that did make the difference to me was letting the breaded chicken rest on a wire rack before frying.
I have not done that in the past, and the breading came out too soggy. Thanks for the tip!
More Fried Chicken Recipes to Try
Homemade Chicken Nuggets
35 minutes mins
Fried Chicken Tenders Recipe
35 minutes mins
Crispy Fried Chicken Sandwich
8 hours hrs 35 minutes mins
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Crispy Fried Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large chicken (4 pounds), cut into pieces (or 3-4 lbs. of your favorite bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces)
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
- 2 cups peanut oil, vegetable oil, or vegetable shortening
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
Instructions
- Place chicken in a bowl with the buttermilk. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- Place the flour, salt and cayenne in a large brown paper bag and gently shake to combine (if you don’t have a paper bag, you can use a large, sturdy plastic bag).
- Remove chicken from the buttermilk. Add one piece of the damp chicken to the paper bag. Hold the bag closed and shake it so that the chicken is thoroughly coated.
- Transfer the chicken to a wire rack; repeat with remaining pieces of chicken. Allow the chicken to dry for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.
- Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven with the butter over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (but not smoking), and a drop of water sprinkled into the pan sizzles, add the chicken, making sure you do not crowd the pan. Cover and cook until the chicken begins to turn brown, about 8-10 minutes (reduce the heat slightly, if necessary). Turn the pieces over, cover again, and cook for about 10 more minutes. Drain on a rack. Season warm chicken with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Repeat the process to cook the remaining chicken in batches. Serve warm, at room temperature, or even cold!
Notes
Nutrition
Southern Fried Chicken Recipe Variations
- For even more flavor, add garlic, herbs, shallots, or onion to your buttermilk. The flavors will infuse the meat and add unique taste to your crispy fried chicken.
- Season the flour mixture with other herbs and spices for more layers of flavor, too. For instance, try a teaspoon paprika, onion powder, 1-2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1-2 teaspoons pepper, oregano, thyme, or just about any other flavors that you like with your chicken.
- Make it spicy by adding hot sauce to the buttermilk, or by including extra cayenne pepper in the flour dredge. If you don’t want it very spicy, omit the cayenne and just use ground black pepper to taste.
This recipe was originally published in July, 2020. It was updated in August, 2024.
I have tried to fry chicken a few times over the years but my results have not been that great. But your tutorial has inspired me to give it another try. My only question is the stick of butter. It is listed in the ingredients and instructions at the end of the post, but not mentioned anywhere in the tutorial portion. Do I add it to the oil or not?
Hi, Barbara! Yes, in Step 4 of the recipe it says to heat the butter with the oil in the skillet. I’ll add that note to the step-by-step photos so that there’s no confusion. Hope you love it!
yummy and perfect I love your recipes, thanks for sharing <3
Thank you, Sara!❤️
Wonderful flavor. My husband and I both loved it.
Thank you, Tricia! I’m so glad that it worked well for you!
Blair- I just found your site and can tell by reading your recipes can tell that they are delicious and easy to prepare. When I find recipes online I like to save them to Pinterest, so I don’t have to hand copy them, but I didn’t see a link on your site- any ideas?
Thanks, Trudy Glover
Hi, Trudy! I’m so glad that you found my site and I hope that you enjoy some of the recipes! On each recipe post, there are a couple of different ways to pin images. You will see three different yellow buttons at the top (just below the title of the post). The third button says “Pin,” and when you click on that it will pull up a pinnable image. As you scroll down, small yellow square buttons will appear in the left sidebar of the post. Click on the “P” button to pin an image from that post. Finally, in the recipe box at the bottom of each post, you will see a “Pin” button just below the small thumbnail image of the food. Click on that to pin an image on Pinterest. Hope that helps!
Hi
Looks so good. Will try it out tomorrow.
May I know for 1 stick of butter, is the butter salted or unsalted?
How many gram is 1 stick of butter? Thank you for sharing.
Hi, Elise! I always use salted butter. One stick of butter is equal to ½ cup = 4 ounces = 113 grams. Hope you enjoy!
Hi
I didn’t monitor the temp of my oil. Would overheated oil cause overly crispy crust? My crust was like a hard cracker. I’d like to make the proper adjustments and try again. What do you suggest?
Anita
Hi, Anita! It might. I usually find that if the oil is too hot, the crust burns before the meat is cooked through. I haven’t had an issue with it being too crispy, since that’s usually the goal — crispy not soggy. I’m sorry that I can’t think of another thing to tweak in order to adjust for the next time. Lowering the oil temp might help, though!
Too salty…is the Tablespoon correct?
Hi, Leslie! Yes, that’s correct; however, you can absolutely adjust the quantity to suit your preferences.
I love buttermilk, both to drink and to use as an ingredient. This chicken looks absolutely luscious but unfortunately I’m not skillful with a frying pan and I don’t have any experience with deep fat frying and I don;t want to get over my head in the middle of a cooking session since I’m alone and disabled. Don’t really want to turn the oven on much this time of year so I’m thinking more and more of getting an air fryer. I know you said that you don’t use your s much but I was wondering if you could recommend a really reliable author or blogger who focuses on the air fryer. I love the way you explain everything as you go so that’s what I would be looking for. Thanks.
Hi, Marion! I’m not too familiar with many other bloggers that focus on air fryer recipes, but I do know that my friend Kristine has many air fryer options on her site here: https://kristineskitchenblog.com/category/air-fryer/
I hope that helps!
Thanks for the link, Blair. I’m going to look at it, and several additional ones, very carefully and I think I had better go to several local stores and actually look at some air fryers. My kitchen is bizarre in that it has plenty of floor space for me to walk around in but really little cupboard and counter space. Looking at the blogs, it seems that it’s not just a matter of the size of the unit to deal with but the weight of it, how much room I need to clean it, how much room the vented air is going to need, how far away from the wall it needs to be, ect. ect. I wish I knew someone who owns one so I could see how it works. Definitely not as straight forward as a crock pot. If I go ahead, I may just have to get a small one for heating frozen items for one, at least for starters. But thanks very much for all your help!
A simple recipe with delicious results!
The part that did make the difference to me was letting the breaded chicken rest on a wire rack before frying.
I have not done that in the past, and the breading came out too soggy. Thanks for the tip!
We’re so glad this recipe turned out well for you, Marina! Letting the chicken rest is a complete game changer.
What’s is the stick of butter for? I might be overlooking it in the recipe but I didn’t see what to do with it.
Hi, Emily! You’ll use the butter along with the oil for frying the chicken. In Step 4 of the recipe it says, “Heat the oil in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven with the butter over medium-high heat…”
Hope you enjoy the chicken!
Do you have a cooking method with the above recipe using an air fryer instead? Thank you!
Hi! Unfortunately, we haven’t tested this recipe in the air fryer and can’t say for sure.