Southern-Style Buttermilk Fried Chicken

  4.2 – 148 reviews  • Fried Chicken Recipes

I thought I would share this down-home recipe for buttermilk fried chicken that I have used for years. The buttermilk marinade is excellent and quite soothing. Although this recipe takes some time to complete, the wait will be well worth it.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Additional Time: 2 hrs
Total Time: 3 hrs
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  1. 2 cups buttermilk
  2. 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  3. 1 teaspoon salt
  4. 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  5. 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  6. 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
  7. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  8. 1 tablespoon baking powder
  9. 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  10. 1 tablespoon onion powder
  11. 5 cups vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Whisk together buttermilk, mustard, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a bowl.
  2. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  3. Pour buttermilk marinade into a resealable plastic bag. Add chicken pieces, coat with marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 8 hours.
  4. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  5. Combine flour, baking powder, garlic powder, and onion powder in another resealable plastic bag; shake to mix thoroughly.
  6. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  7. Working with one piece at a time, transfer marinated chicken to the dry ingredient bag, seal the bag, and shake well to coat. After all chicken pieces are coated, repeat the process by dipping them in buttermilk marinade and shaking in the dry coating again. Then heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Place chicken on the pan.
  8. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  9. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  10. Fry chicken in batches in hot oil, turning chicken occasionally, until golden brown and juices run clear. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the meat should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
  11. Allrecipes/Stacy Allen
  12. Serve hot and enjoy!
  13. DOTDASH MEREDITH FOOD STUDIOS 
  14. We have determined the nutritional value of oil for frying based on a retention value of 10% after cooking. The exact amount will vary depending on cooking time and temperature, ingredient density, and the specific type of oil used. The nutrition data for this recipe also includes the full amount of the marinade ingredients. The actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 480 kcal
Carbohydrate 29 g
Cholesterol 77 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Protein 29 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 650 mg
Sugars 4 g
Fat 27 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Michael Fischer
Good! Life got busy I ended up marinading the chicken for two days. Only change I made was a single dip and 1 teaspoon of salt to the dry mix. A family favorite!
Julie Thomas
I always make a seasoned flour/cornstarch mix with Paprika, Lawrys Season Salt and garlic. I take the marinated chicken and coat it in plain cornstarch and then back into marinade and then in the seasoned flour/cornstarch mix and then fry.
John Reynolds
Terrible recipe. Chicken is still edible, but absolutely zero flavor. Followed the recipe step by step perfectly, even let the chicken marinade for the full 8 hours. I ended up just adding more spices to my flour bag at the end to try to give it SOME flavor.
Sarah Rojas
This was really good. I only battered once. I used Garlic and Onion Salt instead to kick up the flavor and it worked!
Terry Powers
What a terrible recipe. I’ve been cooking for 54 years. My husband & sons & other family members always enjoyed my food. One of the things I’ve never been able to accomplish was good fried chicken. My mom’s mom (granny) always made the best pan fried chicken. Crispy, golden brown & juicy. When I was a teen & into my 20’s, I would watch granny make her fried chicken. Mixed together flour, salt, black pepper, paprika. Rolled the wet chicken pieces in the flour mixture & fried chicken in a cast iron skillet. She made a beautiful cream gravy for the mashed potatoes. My mom tried frying chicken & never was successful, same with me. I would end up with at best mediocre fried chicken along with a waste of my time, a greasy & flour mess in my kitchen! After not making fried chicken for about 20 years, I thought my husband & I would make this recipe. Followed the recipe, except for Dijon mustard (I can’t imagine including this in fried chicken). Soaked the chicken, breaded it & let set on a rack for 30 minutes. Used a cast iron skillet, used our temperature gauge to try & keep the oil @ 350 degrees. It took quite awhile to fry the chicken, leaving an oily & flour mess. The chicken got too dark, breading was soft not crunchy (I was wondering about the wisdom of including baking powder in the flour), the breading was flat tasting. NEVER again will I make fried chicken! KFC for us.
Mary Norris
I wanted this to be good so badly. It was not. I wanted to try a new way to fry chicken. Every single bit of this crust fell off my chicken and I ended up with nekkid as a jaychicken pieces. Served the blobs of crust on the side and advised hubby to interchange bites. It had pretty good flavor but nothing to write home about. I’m stickin with my tried and true Grandmother’s approach, which involved nothing more than salt, pepper, flour and fry it up. THAT worked. I’m sorry, but this is a 1 star for me. And indeed, I did not change a thing.
Jennifer Williams
Delicious!
Tommy Pittman
Is was excellent. Hubby loves fried chicken and for him to like it so much I know it had to be good. The only think I did not do was dip it twice.
Christopher Bautista
Seasoning and marinade were spot on. Chicken was very tender and juicy. The only part that I wasn’t crazy about was the skin. I’ve been in the South all my life and Southern Fried chicken is crispy. This wasn’t.!!
Chloe Smith
I marinated for 2 hours and followed the recipe exactly. I was expecting to taste some of the cayenne or even the garlic and onion. Next time I will double the amount of seasoning and marinate overnight to see if I get more flavor out of it.
Tina Neal
Good recipe! Reminds me of my Grandmother’s fried chicken. I added 3 tablespoons of butter to the mix. I also let it cook (fry) for 16 minutes at 350 degrees in my electric fly pan, turning it after 8 minutes. I don’t remember adding any other ingredients (except for butter) other than what was in the recipe.
Rita Smith
Giving this recipe 5 stars principally because of how moist the chicken turns out after frying. The way the marinade and dry mixture finishes is the best I’ve seen and I used skinless tenders. The recipe can be improved by improvising with spices in the dry mixture. That’ll really kick it up a notch with flavor!
Jennifer Wyatt
The only thing I did different was I used only chicken thighs and legs. Smells wonderful and well liked in our home.
Jason Clark
This is the best fried chicken recipe and I’ve tried a few. The only thing I did was added a tbs. of Creole seasoning.
David Duke
I made this the other night using boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I’d cut into strips for chicken fingers and it was fantastic! I followed the marinade instructions exactly and marinaded the chicken in the fridge for about 6 hours. Based on other reviews I added some extra seasoning to the flour (1 tsp white pepper, 1 tsp chipotle chili powder, and a quick sprinkle of cayenne). To my surprise, the dipping and dredging process went very quickly. In fact I’m considering doing it 3 times next time to get it super crispy! I let the tenders “rest” for about 30 mins while I heated the oil and then fried them up. It was fantastic and I will definitely make this again.
Carly Butler
I put in Mrs Dash original blend instead of mustard, and I added 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika. SO good!!
Tracy Gonzalez
I will definitely make this again, it was delicious!
Vicki Collier
I used 1/2-n-1/2 instead of buttermilk and added maybe 1/8 tsp. of cayenne since we were making this for kids. It is absolutely fantastic! Only recipe we will use now. Pro-tip – Boil the drumsticks before cooking them and then if needed finish them out by baking them in the oven.
Samantha Kelley
As a southern girl I have had my share of great fried chicken and this recipe is right up there. After reading some of the other reviews about the breading being bland I added a teaspoon of season salt and a teaspoon of Emerill’s Essence to the flour mixture. The flavor was perfect. I did double dip the chicken as the recipe indicated and the breading was great, not too heavy. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and cooked them in a cast iron skillet…a must for great fried chicken.
Natasha Mcknight
Used fresh Chicken Tenders with Lemon Pepper and Curry instead of Black Pepper and Cayenne… was absolutely delicious. I will definitely be making this often.
Sean House
I made no changes to the recipe and it turned out great! You gotta try it.

 

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