Ina Garten-Inspired Fried Chicken Sandwiches
Smooth, even coating gives you smooth, even crunch. The best fried chicken is not even at all.
Drizzle three or four tablespoons of the buttermilk marinade into the seasoned flour and rub it through with your fingertips. The flour clumps into shaggy, irregular lumps, and those lumps are what fry into the protruding golden shards that make the crust. A perfectly sifted dredge produces a uniform shell; a lumpy one produces texture.
It looks like you have ruined the flour. Do it anyway.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Fried Chicken Sandwiches
Serves 4 · Main
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 4 hr 40 min
Involved7 steps, a technique that commonly fails, over two hours
Ingredients
- 4 boneless chicken thighs, or 2 breasts halved horizontally
- 400 ml buttermilk
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp hot sauce
- 250 g plain flour
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1 litre neutral oil, for frying
- 4 brioche buns, pickles, mayonnaise and shredded lettuce
Method
- Marinate the chicken in the buttermilk, salt and hot sauce or overnight.4 hours
- Mix the flour, cornflour and spices.
- Drizzle 3–4 tbsp of the marinade into the flour and rub it in until it forms shaggy lumps.
- Lift each piece from the marinade, let it drip briefly, and press it hard into the flour — press, do not shake.
- Rest the coated pieces so the crust hydrates and sticks.15 minutes
- Heat the oil to 175°C. Fry , turning once, until the internal temperature reads 74°C.6–7 minutes
- Drain on a rack, never on paper, and salt immediately.
Buttermilk does two things, and one of them is not tenderising
The acid is mild — far too mild to break down muscle in any meaningful way over a few hours. What it does do is help the salt penetrate, and it clings to the chicken far better than water would, so the dredge has something to grip. The tenderness comes from the salt, over time. Four hours minimum, overnight ideally.
Two temperatures, not one
Get the oil to 175°C and it will drop to about 160°C when the chicken goes in. That is correct — that is the frying temperature. If you start at 160°C it falls to 145°C and the crust absorbs oil instead of sealing. A thermometer costs less than the chicken.
Drain on a rack, not on kitchen paper
Paper traps steam under the chicken and the bottom of the crust goes soft within two minutes. A wire rack lets air circulate underneath and the whole piece stays crisp until it reaches the bun.
Storing
Fried chicken is a same-day proposition. The marinated chicken keeps a day, and leftovers are best reheated on a rack at 190°C for eight minutes — never microwaved.
Questions people ask
Why rub marinade into the flour?
The lumps it creates fry into the crunchy protruding bits. A smooth dredge gives a smooth crust.
How long should the chicken marinate?
Four hours at minimum, overnight for the best result. It is the salt doing the work, not the acid.
What oil temperature?
175°C before the chicken goes in. It will settle to about 160°C, which is where you want it.
Thighs or breast?
Thighs are more forgiving and stay juicier. Halve breasts horizontally so they cook in the same time as the crust browns.
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