Paula's Southern Fried Chicken

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Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Show: Paula's Home Cooking
Episode: Boat Day

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Ingredients

  • IN PLACE TO SELF-RISING FLOUR, YOU CAN USE:
  • 3-4 eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 About 1 cup hot red pepper sauce (recommended: Texas Pete or Louisiana Hot Sauce, Tabasco might be hotter)
  • 2 cups self-rising flour
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • House seasoning, recipe follows
  • 1 (1 to 2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into pieces
  • Oil, for frying, preferably peanut oil
  • .................................................
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium size bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add enough hot sauce so the egg mixture is bright orange. In another bowl, combine the flour and pepper. Season the chicken with the house seasoning. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg, and then coat well in the flour mixture.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil.

Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp. Dark meat takes longer then white meat. It should take dark meat about 13 to 14 minutes, white meat around 8 to 10 minutes.
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House Seasoning:

1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
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REVIEWS: (745)

Excelent!! Soaked the chicken in buttermilk and hot sauce for 24 hours-added cayenne to the flour mix-fried it up-was so juicy, crunchy and delicious! The hot sauce does tend to get lost-even though using it twice-but still tasted great!

I agree with everyone else here, this is a fantastic recipe. I made it exactly as written and man o man was that chicken good! I have tried making fried chicken for years and was never any good at it. This recipe makes it really easy. I especially like all the great seasonings. KFC look out! Paula, thanks!

Wow! What a dish. That was the best fried chicken I've ever tasted. Paula Deen knows her chicken. My family absolutely LOVED it. Don't b fooled by the hot sauce. It wasn't spicy like that at all. Perfect crisp & crunch. This recipe will b on my dinner schedule frequently.

This was my second time making fried chicken - I wanted something uncomplicated and tasty so this seemed like a winner. And it was! I substituted the self-rising flour with regular all-purpose flour and it still turned out fine. I used a large chicken -just over 4 lbs- left the backbone on the thighs, though I discarded the bone separating the two breasts. I used an oval 5qt enameled dutch oven with a candy/meat thermometer to monitor the temperature. I fried the chicken in batches -thighs, then drumsticks/wings, then breasts- when each batch was done, I put it on a rack over a lined baking sheet in the oven at 200F. The recommended cooking times combined with the order of dark to white meat resting in the oven was perfect - I couldn't believe that every piece was perfectly cooked and juicy. I do wish the Frank's Hot Sauce I used showed up more - I may add some cayenne to the house seasoning next time. Overall an excellent recipe that I will definitely make again!

By far the best fried chicken recipe i have ever tried!! It was super easy and delicious!!!!! This is definitely a KEEPER!!!

Neither my wife nor I have ever been very good at frying chicken. We don't own a cast iron skillet so we can't do it like Grandma. We do have a small electric fryer & this recipe turned out the best fried chicken we have ever made! Now... a question. I can only put 2 pieces in at a time. What is the best way to keep it warm without causing condensation, like aluminum foil seems to do, so that the outside stays nice & crisp? This recipe will be in our recipe box for sure!!!

Easy and great just be mindful of cook times!

This fried chicken is DELICIOUS!! It is an easy fool proof recipe!

Very good! I've already made it twice for my husband per his request.

This came out really good. all that hot sauce sounds like it would come out really spicy but since it is only in the egg wash it does not....just gives a hint of kick after you have taken a couple of bites. A keeper.I used Texss Petes Mild sauce

I thought I was reading wrong when I saw ONE CUP SALT for the house dressing. I put in only one half cup, then I realized that Paula Dean knows wha she's talking about so I put in the full cup. My instincts were right. We could feel our arteries hardening with all that salt. My husband and I overlooked the salt and loved everything else about the chicken which was very tender with a cruncy batter. I'll do it again with HALF CUP SALT.

This is a fool proof fried chicken recipe! I chose a mild wing sauce instead of the Texas Pete for members of my family that are "heat intolerant". I'm passing thus recipe on to the young people that are cooking on their own for the first time....it's that simple and tastes fantastic!!

Nice, tasty recipe. It is a very simple version that has a lot of flavor. I have to agree with Panedoras comment about the house seasoning issue. I did a few adjustments, but if you don't know how to cook, ignore. Also, before commenting on lard, do some research. It is how fried chicken has been made for years. Changes: I did brine chicken first, when preparing I also double dipped, let chicken rest on rack 30 minutes before frying and used lard (real thing, not processed sticks from store added bacon lard to regular for flavor. Chicken is done when it doesn't make noise in oil.

This is a great Recipe... and if your to dumb to use all of the house season recipe and you don't understand that is a Recipe for house season and you don't use it all in one dish..Then do the world a favor and get the heck out of a kitchen before you do some serious damage to someone.

I love it! I never used self rising flour for deep frying before but it worked fantastic thanks love the flavor

Made this today - amazing!! Few very minor adjustments:
- used 1/4c Tabasco - all I had in cabinet.
- placed chicken in plastic bag to marinate a little in Tabasco mix - approx 30 mins.
- sprinkled chicken with hs seasoning after marinating, not before.
- Added 1 tbsp hs seasoning to flour since I didn't have enough Tabasco.
The HS seasoning is a perfect addition to my collection. Thank you!!

Typed in Fried Chicken in the search box and among all the results I choose this one.It would have been perfect except for one little, well actually huge mistake. I mixed all the ingredients right, but where it said (season chicken with house seasoning, I got in a hurry and rolled the pieces in it. Now mind you I do like salt,a lot. My Dr. asked me a while back if I used a lot of salt,something about my blood pressure and that other stuff they like to complain at you about.I told him I did like to eat a little food with my salt.You should have seen his expression.But I'm here to tell you, this chicken was SAALTY.But I will try it again later on.Next time I'll season,Not roll.

I made this chicken and specifically followed each direction, as it was different than what I do for my very own recipe. Why in the world would any one use 1 Cup of salt in the "House-Seasoning"? I reduced the amount it called for, and my chicken,dinner was ruined. I don't ordinarily use salt, so any amount is too much for me.

Loved this recipe! Easy and very good. I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts because that was all I had on hand. They were great, juicy, tender and healthier. This was the first time I made fried chicken and I used my electric fryer with half peanut oil and half canola oil Thanks, Paula!

I followed this recipe almost to the letter. I soaked my chicken in a brine overnight ( salt,peppercorn, garlic, onion powder,rosemary, n a little sugar dried it on paper towel dusted it in the slightly more seasoned..... Flour then in the egg back into the flour. Then I placed it on a cookie sheet until the flour looked a little doughy fried it in a cast iron skillet. Yummmmmm.... It was moist and the skin was crunchy. My family loved it. I was so happy since I was nervous I would do a terrible job having never made fried chicken and my family raves about what a good cook I am. I didn't want to let them down.

This was my first time making fried chicken and - OMG!!!!! This has to be the best chicken I have ever made! I followed the recipe exactly - something I rarely do. I could have had just the chicken and forgotten all about the potatoes and cole slaw I made to go with it. I will make this a million times more!!! Thanks Paula!

Well this was my first time making Southern fried chicken and I hear how great everyone's turned out, well mine wasn't so bad, not the best I have ever tasted but not bad. Course when you have to change the recipe due to not having what you need i guess that would change things,don't ya think.My store did not have the peanut oil so i had to use vegetable oil. I hope like one person said that it gets better the day after too. I just want to thank all of you for your reviews...I read most of them before i cooked this and used some of your great advice. Thanks Paula for sharing your knowledge of cooking with us....I will try this again...guess practice is always a plus.

I have never made fried chicken before. My experience with other family members fried chicken is greasy & soggy chicken. I tried this recipe last night, but did not have Texas Pete, because I don't care for that hot sauce. I used about 1/4 cup of Tapatio Hot Sauce instead. I also upped the pepper by crushing whole peppercorns & adding them in. It turned out awesome. I used an electric skillet with about an inch of oil. Family ate it up. 3 year old son said "yum yum, delicious", I kid you not! Saved to my recipe box - for sure!

Made a bunch of this for a meal with 15 people and it was a big hit! I could not find peanut oil at my supermarket so I swapped it with canola oil and I used a deep fryer instead of a pot. I used a little less Texas Pete hot sauce than the recipe called for because I ran out of it and it didn't add much heat to the chicken at all (just a hint of red pepper flavor, so I plan to get enough hot sauce for next time.

I am making this recipe again for the umpteenth time because it is the one my hubby always ask for (and boy am I glad. It is the TASTIEST chicken recipe ever!!!!

I love this recipe!!!

This recipe truly is the best i've found. I've tried dozens of others and this one is the best. It always comes out perfect and the chicken is so moist and flavorful. So eeasy. it's my go-to recipe for fried chicken.

Absolutely delicious!

After reading several pages of the reviews, I was very excited about making this chicken. I marinated it in buttermilk overnight, and seasoned it the next day around lunchtime to allow the seasonings to soak in before I fried it for dinner. But after following the recipe for the most part (I dipped in buttermilk instead of egg since my son has an egg allergy, I didn't have the same rave reviews as everyone else. While the chicken came out good, I expected so much more based on the reviews. When I fry chicken based on how I learned growing up, I get a great taste -- using just seasonings and normal flour (no overnight marinating, no buttermilk or self-rising flour. So, I gave it 3 stars b/c it did produce a good product, but if you know how to fry chicken on your own, just use your own recipe. If you've never fried chicken, or never fried it well, then this would be a good, easy recipe to use.

Super easy, but I did what some of the others suggested and soaked the chicken overnight in buttermilk. very crispy and the ingredients were spot on. It may seem like a lot, but it's not. the hot sauce just lends to flavor not spicey at all. Very good!

I tried this and it blew my mind! One of the best fried chicken recipes I have ever tried. I used Franks Hot sauce, but Tabasco would work great too. The hot sauce does not overwhelm the taste of the chicken. It is moist and flavorful. The hot sauce seems to cause the extra crispy crust. Wonderful chicken. I will make this from now on!
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By neneallen

on September 06, 2012

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I made for diner today its really came out good I never had fried chicken that I made good like this before . I use a little bit of hot sauce cause my son and my husband cant eat spicy but i love spicy . I use a few drops of hot sauce and a bit of milk it still came out good ,I dont have peanut oil so i use vetgetable oil and fried for 14 mins (drumsticks it came out perfectly I really really loves it .next time i will try some other darkmeat thank you PAULA !! this will be my fev forever
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By xX7MrSandman7Xx

Texas

on September 06, 2012

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This chicken was some of the best I've ever had... and it came from my kitchen! Move aside Popeye's and KFC, because I have no need for your inconsistent chicken. Instead of a whole chicken, I just bought a pack of legs (6 and put them all in at once, frying for the full 14 minutes recommended, in peanut oil. I used the house seasoning but I added a little "soul food seasoning blend" to it. Other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter and the chicken came out with this beautiful, crunchy, golden-brown crust. What I loved about it was that it wasn't overly greasy. The only drawback was that the Texas Pete hot sauce didn't really come through at all, to the point I basically felt like I wasted money on it. Should've followed my first mind and grabbed the Tabasco. However, this did not take away from the flavor of the chicken as all the other spices came through unscathed, to the point that I wonder why the hot sauce is even necessary.

OMG!!! I loved it, I think I could of put it in a KFC box and no one would of known the diffents, all four of my kids loved it and it was fresher and healthier than kfc. Will repeat with a bit more heat, maybe cayenne pepper in the flour.

Excellent Recipe, really simple and Very Tasty. I did add a little bit of MSG to the Egg mix and it made it truly great 100%

I will never want KFC again. It was the best chicken ever. Easy to make and hard to put down. I use a garlic peper salt that for the in house spice. I don't know what the 2 bad reviews were all about. They must have loaded it up with salt and spice. I found the recipe to be simple and the best chicken ever. From one Paula to another your the champ. My partner and I thank you.

There is NO star allowed to this dish! Maybe you're all taste "deaf" but it abolutely ruined my diner! It only tatsted like SALT!! And thank God I used up half of the ingredient !!! Disgusting! Christ, I wan't sure if I should use my own, Please Peole, don't try this one out!

Great recipe! Right stormcrow2,(although a little aggressive the 2 people before you didn't understand that the House Seasoning recipe is the amount that you keep on hand and can use on so many things everyday, DO NOT PUT THE ENTIRE THING ON THE FRIED CHICKEN! We do all make mistakes though, I urge ntb2008 and bluevero1967 to try this again because it is so worth it! Paula rocks the chicken!

The two people before me are idiots. You are supposed to use a pinch of the house seasoning to flavor the chicken, not dump the full cup and a half on it. This is a delicious recipe!

I agree, my chicken tasted all like salt as well and I didn't use a full cup! I am very surprised how it can taste well when the salt was so dominant. The chicken was nicely cooked but we had to remove the crust to enjoy it!

This is the most amazing chicken I have ever eaten. Tender, juicy and bursting with flavor!! I did soak my chicken in buttermilk for several hours, rinsed it off and dried it. Then I followed the recipe exactly. Thanks Paula, my family LOVED it and it didn't last long.

Over the years I have tried several different fried chicken recipe. They are always to much work and never worth the effort. I tried Paula's recipe and I LOVE it! I started making it last year and I have made it 6 times since then. It is crispy, flavorful, the chicken come out juicy. My husban, kids and I are so happy we found a fried chicken recipe that is perfect. Just follow the recipe. Thanks Paula.

This was my first time cooking fried chicken because it has always sounded so hard to do. But this one made me seem like a pro. I doubled the recipe because I made 6 bone-in breast and 6 legs. I must not of had the grease hot enough because it took me twice as long to cook my chicken than the recipe called for. I used a meat thermometer to check my chicken and next time i will use one for the grease as well. Everyone including me was very happy with the ending results, however my 16-yr old thought it was too salty. I have also used Paula's House Seasoning on my pot roast in the past and was told it was too salty as well. So next time instead of combing the ingredients I will apply them individually cutting back on the salt for my family taste buds as I have done in the past.

Made this the other night and it was a big hit. My husband is a chef and asked where I got this recipe from lol. Will be making this again for sure. Thank you Paula.

Excellent and easy. I used about 1/2 cup of hot sauce. Next time I'll use the whole cup. My picky kids loved it and were begging me to make it again soon. Although not the healthiest, this will be an occasional meal. For the people complaining about it being salty, you must have been dipping the chicken in the seasoning. Just sprinkle some on before dipping in the egg and flour.

I tried several chicken recipe similar to this but this was the only one my whole family loved.Thank you for a wonderful recipe.

My husband and I really enjoyed how tasty and easy this recipe is. The chicken was incredibly juicy and the breading crisped right up.

I'm allergic to peanuts, so I used canola oil that I had on hand. The only other change I would make is to reduce the amount of salt in the house seasoning by at least half. Even in just sprinkling it on the chicken like the recipe says, it was still too salty for our liking. I did know that the house seasoning was a bulk recipe and used it accordingly, but for us the ratios were just a bit off. With those changes, I'll make this again and again. Delicious!

A new family favorite! Followed to a T. Thanks for the idea of using peanut oil, doesn't cook as hot as others.

Awesome! I did not change a thing. My wife son and daughter will not eat spicy food and they always go for seconds of this chicken! I also made guys beer battered onion rings to go with it - great meal!

Awesome delicious recipe. First time making my own fried chicken and this was so easy (despite accidentally dropping drumstick in oil and splashing oil on my hand. Ouch!. I altered recipe by using about half the black pepper (in flour and in house seasoning and I eliminated hot sauce completely since our small kids were eating it too. Note: the recipe for house seasoning is meant to be kept in a jar. Only use what is needed to season the chicken, not all of it. Definitely a keeper and would be great for making chicken fingers (could even use panko crumbs for an extra crunch and even oven bake instead of frying for healthier alternative. Served it with homemade biscuits, corn on the cob and green salad and suddenly felt like a kitchen goddess (I'm normally the pastry chef. Highly recommend this recipe (though not every night!)


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