Iron Skillet Fried Chicken
When I was on my journey to defeat Diabetes over a decade ago, there was actually plenty of good nutritional advice out there. It was a bit niche, and there wasn't even close to the same number of doctors with YouTube channels as there are today, but the nutritional advice was there. What wasn't there, I found, were good recipes.
A lot of people struggle with finding the motivation to eat well. Not me. I was plenty fueled by the misguided doctors who told me to simply succumb to Big Pharma. What I struggled with was finding any recipes at all that motivated me to get in the kitchen. I knew I had to innovate, and that, my friends, is the entire reason this website exists. I had to find a way to make my Southern favorites in a way that wouldn't kill me.
Deep frying chicken might not be in the first chapter of Cooking 101, but it's certainly a foundational recipe in the more advanced class: Southern Classics. A great southern cook has to know how to fry up good chicken, which has as much to do with the pre-frying process as it does the actual cooking.
When cooking for a Diabetes patient, it's not so much the frying that's bad. Simply use healthful cooking oils like coconut oil or lard. The problem is getting a good crust without the standard white flour. This version allows you to meet the problem halfway, using gluten-free flours for a familiar (though delicate) crust, and a combination of frying and baking. Here's what you'll need:
Chicken - I mean, unless you want to make fried shrimp. Then what are you doing on this page!?!?!
Buttermilk - Whether you're doing this my way or the classic way, you have to marinate your chicken in buttermilk. It's the secret to extra tender juiciness.
Flour - Gluten-free of course. I suggest my Flour Mix no. 3, which is a combination of chickpea, almond and arrowroot.
Herbs and Spices - Garlic, paprika, sage, pepper, and a little Mrs. Dash
Butter/Oil - For the frying portion of the dish, a little butter in your healthful cooking oil of choice adds flavor and good fats.
complete instructions below
Iron Skillet Fried Chicken
Yield: 4 servings
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 35 min
Ready: 65 min
Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup cultured buttermilk
1.5 cups Miss Dot's Flour Mix No. 3
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp Mrs. Dash
Coconut oil or lard, and butter, for frying
Instructions
Marinate the chicken breasts in buttermilk overnight in the refrigerator using a large Ziplock bag. Try to ease out all the air you can before sealing. When ready, take the breasts out of the plastic bag and dry on paper towels.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl and dredge the breasts in it. Set them back in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take a baking sheet and place a metal cooling rack on it for finishing the chicken in the oven. Atop the stove, heat an iron skillet to a medium heat, and just before you fry the chicken, add the oil and a couple of pats of butter (make sure you add the butter last, just before you fry the chicken, to keep it from smoking and turning rancid).
Dredge the chicken again in the flour mixture and fry just until the crust is crisp. The chicken will not be done yet.
Place the chicken on the metal cooling rack and once all the breasts are partially fried put it in the pre-heated oven to cook the chicken the rest of the way. It should take about 15 -20 minutes. Handle them carefully so as not to knock too much of the crust off.
