Bentley's Favorite "REAL" Fried Chicken

One of Bentley's all-time favorites is homemade fried chicken. And, she can't be fooled with Costco's Tyson frozen battered chicken tenders either. She may eat them in a pinch ... But when she says she wants "fried chicken" ... She means the real deal... :-)

Approximately two years ago, Bentley was staying over night when I was at the hospital with my mom who Bentley calls Marika-mama. Bentley told Dan she wanted to have fried chicken... Dan took out some pre-breaded and frozen chicken tenders and fried them up for her... Bentley ate the fried tenders but asked grandpa if they could make "real fried chicken" tomorrow... Which they did ... To everyone's delight...

Here is what Bentley means when she asks for "real fried chicken"

Fried Chicken:

1. Using a sharp pair of kitchen scissors, I cut off all skin and fat off chicken. (I often use regular fiskar scissors that I designate as Kitchen sheers. They are sharp, inexpensive and handy and i don't mind throwing them out and replacing them when they are no longer sharp)

2. After prepping and washing chicken, lightly salt both sides of each piece of chicken and place on cookie sheet before breading.

3. Place flour, egg and breadcrumbs in three separate containers for breading with separate forks for each container.

(How well you use your hands and forks without going back and forth between the wet and dry ingredients will determine how messy, or not, this little exercise will be. Keep hands dry to ensure breading stays on chicken.)

Frying:
We use electric stainless steep skillets outside to do our frying to spare the house from the after effects that come with frying foods. Marton Mama always fried her chicken in the garage in Canada during the winter months for the same reason.

Set electric skillet to approx. 350 degrees. When I suspect that oil is ready for chicken, I drop in a little pinch of the breading to see if oil is hot enough to sizzle. If frying on the stove, start out at medium and adjust as needed to keep chicken frying without burning or stalling.

When frying chicken, it's important to get the oil hot enough to fry without burning the oil or the chicken. Frying chicken is a slow steady process. If the oil is too hot the breading will burn but the chicken will remain raw.. Not pretty or tasty at all! If oil is not hot enough, it will just soak into the chicken without sizzling. Neither option will succeed in its attempt to fry scrumptious chicken.

I always fry like pieces together (similar sized thighs, usually three or four max at a time, or similar thickness breasts ... Three max at a time to ensure breading gets golden while staying in tact on the chicken. any fourth breast added to a fry pan is usually a stray chicken tender that was removed rather than incorporated into one of the fillets when cutting chicken.

Breasts cook very fast. Thighs take more time... Keep skillet covered during the first side and then slightly propped open during the second side. Less moisture collects in the fry pan if I do this. Not sure why...

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For thinner chicken breast fillets. use a sharp knife to cut chicken into thinner fillets. Depending on the size of the fillets, I cut them into anywhere from two to four fillets.

Make sure you have a good idea where the blade is in relation to your hand.

These three fillets are from one skinless boneless chicken breast...

Remove all skin and fat from chicken, wash, and lightly salt both sides of each piece.

Bentley is ready to bread a LOT of chicken... She is a little pro... :-)

First coat each piece of chicken with flour.

Gently shake each piece to remove excess flour from each piece of chicken before adding it to pan with egg.

Lightly coated fillet ready for eggs.

It is helpful to have individual forks for each step.

After coating each piece with egg, let excess egg drip off before transferring chicken to breadcrumbs.

We use Progresso Italian bread crumbs. Sam's club has the best deal on the breadcrumbs. Much less expensive than at the supermarkets.

When breading the chicken, keep hands dry. Always use breadcrumbs as a barrier between the egg batter and your hands to keep breading from sticking to your hands instead of the chicken.

Pat breadcrumbs into the chicken well and shake off any excess loose breadcrumbs. The least amount of loose breadcrumbs that sprinkle into the oil when frying the better your frying oil will be for frying your chicken.  

This is how your chicken and hands should look when ready to be fried.

Ready to be fried!

Oil has to be medium hot. I set my electric skillet to 350 degrees and then I adjust up and down as necessary to keep it frying without burning. On a gas or electric stove, I start off on Medium and then adjust as needed.

This is a good example of how the chicken should fry from start to finish. If a lot of batches of chicken are being fried, I add oil as needed to keep chicken half immersed in frying oil. At times, I have had to change the oil out if it is foaming or burning the chicken. That is usually the result of too much moisture getting into the oil or if too mush breading has collected in the oil or the oil started out too hot.

I fry thighs separately from breast fillets. Thighs usually need more oil to cover chicken half way and takes about three times longer to fry than the thin breasts. Although the picture is without the lid on, I always cover completely on the first side and then crack the lid a bit on the second side. If too much moisture gathers on the top of the lid, I wipe it down occasionally with paper towels to keep water from dripping into oil and causing needless splattering of hot oil.

Drip all excess oil off chicken before adding to covered roaster. I try laying them sideways in a covered roaster and propping them up against each other rather than piling them on top of each other to keep them from creating moisture and getting soggy. Sometimes it's good to wipe the condensation from the inside of the lid of the roaster with paper towels if it has collected there before it dribbles down onto the fried chicken.

Just as much as under-fried chicken is unappealing ... over fried chicken is no replacement for chicken that has been perfectly fried to that point that occurs just after it has fried enough to not be raw.

Since every piece of chicken is different in size and shape, and the temperature of your oil or the thickness of your frying pan varies from kitchen to kitchen, it is difficult to put a time frame on cook times. This, I have posted a lot of pictures to hopefully illustrate how it could look.

One friend asked how I managed to keep the breading on the chicken? Their hands got so intermingled between the water from the chicken, the flour, egg and breadcrumbs that they had a terrible gloppy gloopy mess on their hands. Another friend asked how I keep the breading on the chicken?! I had no idea what they meant until they told me they tried frying all the pieces at one time...

Hopefully, there are enough pictures and enough instructions to come up with a good game plan to make some incredible fried chicken. "IF" of course that is something that sounds good to you.

I know it is not the healthiest choice and prob shouldn't be made too often but by removing all the skin and fat and using a healthier oil to fry, it doesn't have to be as bad as it could be otherwise!

Grape seed oil is one of the healthiest choices for frying things. I used to use olive oil but have recently come upon information stating that while raw olive oil in its natural state is really good, using it to fry is not... So, until further notice i now use the grape seed oil from Trader Joe's...

One more note. If I buy chicken breasts with bone in, I simply remove all the skin and fat and fillet it the same way leaving the last fillet attached to the bone. I remove the big sternum bone (I think that is what it is called) simply because it is easier to bread and fry without it. My kids don't like chicken bones so more often than not, I simply use the boneless breasts. Dan and I like our chicken on the bone so it just depends...

Good Luck and ENJOY!