Fried Chicken by Alexandra Guarnaschelli

By Addie

Recipe courtesy Alex Guarnaschelli
Show: The Cooking Loft
Episode: This Bird's Got Range

Ingredients

• Breading:
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus additional to taste)
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (plus additional to taste)
• 1 whole chicken, about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
• ......................................................
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups solid vegetable shortening

Preparation

Step 1

In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade. Lightly season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place them in the bowl with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours.

In a large paper bag, combine the ingredients for the breading mixture. (My mother insists this gives extra flavor and I agree.) Put the chicken parts, a few at a time, in the bag and shake until they are well coated with the mixture. Place the breaded chicken on a rack with a baking sheet. When all of the pieces are breaded, refrigerate them for 15 minutes.

In a large cast iron (or regular skillet), melt the shortening over low heat. Heat until shortening reaches 350 degrees F. Test 1 piece first. The oil should bubble and react as you add the first piece. Use a pair of heat-resistant tongs to gently place the chicken pieces, skin side down, in a single layer in the skillet over medium heat. Cook, undisturbed, 5 to 8 minutes, or until you can see the underside of the chicken browning. Remove the skillet from the heat and gently turn the pieces on their second side. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked through, remove it and transfer it to a rack. Immediately season it (while it is still hot) with salt. Serve immediately or keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.
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REVIEWS:

This is an excellent base recipe. I made it twice, once with a little cajan spice in the batter, then again with Patak's mild curry sauce mixed in the milk..and gosh. that was awesome!! Refridgerate overnight for a better taste but not necessary. I also double dipped my pieces it gave it a nice crust, single dip not so much!! Very simple recipe but I found the taste bland on its own.

Excellent! So simple and delicious. I have 2 very picky eaters at home and they both loved it. Husband said it tasted better the local fried chicken joint! Thanks Alex, keep the great recipes coming!

Amazing! Fabulous! I couldn't BELIEVE just how easy and delicious this recipe was. It's definitely a keeper. Thank you, Alex!

This is so tender and juicy, and the crust tastes great! I did add an extra teaspoon of cayenne pepper, plus 2 tsp of garlic powder, and 1 tsp of onion powder for extra flavor. I also didn't have any sour cream on hand so I substituted it with 1 cup of evaporated milk (don't ask me why I had evaporated milk but not sour cream.., 1 tsp of vinegar, and a little bit of plain yogurt to thicken it. I made this for three teenagers and it was finished within minutes. This was very easy and delicious! Far better than any restaurant chicken I've had.

It was sooooo delicious!!

This chicken is delicious and well worth the effort. I added the extra spices that were recommended by the other reviewers. The first time I made it I didn't have fresh ground pepper and it did not have the same kick as the second batch I made with the fresh ground pepper. I struggled to get all the chicken pieces cooked thoroughly so next time I will try chicken breasts sliced thinly. I dropped in a chunk of bread to determine if the oil was hot enough which worked great. Everyone just loved this chicken.

Very good fried chicken. Real juicy. I would recommend adding cayenne, garlic powder, and onion powder to the flour mixture for extra umph.

OH MY!!! Absolutely loved it! I've never been able to make good fried chicken and my family was skeptical. I made it only a week ago and they are asking for it again! YUM! And...it's very easy to make!

One word. Amazing! We loved it.

I have made this recipe 3 times and my family loves it. We have six mouths to feed so i have alot of chicken to cook. i used large chicken breast,brown in skillet and finished in the oven. Yum yum!

It was avery easy recipe to follow and the taste was amazing. My 4 young children loved it and wanted seconds. The left overs we used for a pot pie the next evening and the flavor was great.

I've been looking for a fried chicken recipe for years that is fairly easy, moist on the inside, crunchy on the outside and flavorful. Well I believe I hit the jackpot. My husband especially was so impressed with it, he couldn't stop talking about the entire time he was eating it. I did have to fry the breasts longer due to their size, but it was so worth the extra time. I'm so excited that after 42 yrs of cooking, I finally found a fried chicken recipe that will be used again and again. Thanks Alex, I'm still smiling!

It seems silly to ask this, but the directions say to take the pan off the heat and turn the chicken and then to continue to cook it for another 10 minutes. Do you put it back on the heat or leave it off to finish cooking?

I did not follow Alex's recipe exactly... but the secret is the sour cream. I have been frying chicken for a private southern inn for years and have experimented a lot...for me buttermilk was not the answer. When I tried Alex's recipe to use the sour cream I was pleasantly surprised. I now use it all the time with my own spice blend and it is the best! and we southerners are serious about our fried chicken. Everyone who tries "my" chicken says it's the best they've had and I attribute it to the sour cream. Thank You Alex.

I made this first according to Alex's reciepe Although it was good, it lacked something,( I am used to southern fried chicken I was craving, Seasoning! Sorry Alex! I added Garlic and Onion powder and changed the paprika to smoked paprika and added a little powdered red pepper(to taste It was So Good! The Best I've EVER made. Everyone Loved it and asked for the recipe. Thanks Alex.

Great marinade.....unique, tasty, and perfect since I didn't have buttermilk on hand.

Made this exactly as recipe stated. Crust had no taste and was hard. Will not use again.

It may have been the stove, I did use a cast iron skillet, but I cooked longer than 8 minutes a side. Also, I marinated it overnight. This is moist and juicy, including the white meat. As Rachel would say, Yummo!

I can finally stop obsessing over finding/improvising the best fried chicken. Please believe me when I say I have tried dozens of recipes, literally, but we all said this was the only one to keep. Lots of oohing and aahing at the dinner table! I use my own seasoned flour mix - a by-product of all those years of testing - so can't speak to Alex's mix, but the marinade and method of cooking produce a crunchy, flavorful, moist, gorgeous bird. And I had never bought off on the brown paper bag thing before, but there must be something to it...this all works. I did let the chicken drain a bit in a sieve before breading and the flour adhered perfectly. We're already talking about when we get to make this again.

I must say this would be the best fried chicken recipe ever.

My family really enjoyed this recipe. I didn't have whole milk, so I used skim milk and low fat sour cream, but it still tasted great. We don't eat a lot of fried food, and probably only have fried chicken a few times a year at the most. This will definitely be the recipe I use from now on!

I have made this recipe a couple of times for the family now and they go absolutely nuts over it. My husband just told me the other day " Sweetheart, you need to make some more of that fried chicken this weekend". This chicken is very moist and flavorful. I would have to say it is the best recipe so far that I have tried for fried chicken.

I followed the recipe exactly--was sooo excited to finally make this. My husband and son couldn't stand the batter!! After scraping off the batter, the chicken was moist and tasty--oh well!! Maybe I'll try Tyler's recipe.....

Really tasty chicken. I gave this 4 stars because of the prep time. Not so easy to make but well worth it. This is by far the best FRIED chicken I have ever made. Love the Cooking Loft show.

What a great recipe...I made it for my teenage grandsons and they loved it. The marinade was very simple and it made the meat moist and the crunch factor without the grease was incredible. There won't be any leftovers with recipe. Thanks!

I love fried chicken! Any time I see a new recipe I have to try it to see f its better than my recipe. This recipe is the bomb. My chicken was tender moist and outrageously delicious. Don't shy on the mustard like I did. It has a subtle taste in the background. This recipe is a keeper!!!!!

My family have been looking for something in real good fried chicken recipe its been the same old same old for so long. We did this recipe tonight its was great everybody loved it eve my picky hardly eats anything 11 year old i have never seen her eat this much chicken. My son ate a whole lot more than he usually eats in fried chicken and god knows i did to this has become the new favorite chicken dinner we will make again and again.

This Bird's Got Range and so does this chef! This chef has real talent. WOW! She's fresh, she has versatillity, she is knowledgeable, and she is all about the food for a change (it is afterall the FOOD Network not Comedy Central. Just when I had finally had enough of the FN "star/celebrity chefs" with their giant egos, phoniness, lack of talent, mediocre at best recipes and limited cooking abilities along comes Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli. Her recipes are fabulous, her techniques are sound, well thought out, and explained to a tee. She is a natural and cooks with heart and soul while maintaining a professional air. I sincerely hope that FN appreciates their good fortune at getting this chef to come on board and that they don't fool around and lose her. It is time for a good house cleaning at FN and with this caliber of replacement this network can't miss. For the record. this recipe was well-worth trying out and turned out beautifully. Give me more, more, more!

Alex, my husband and I loved this recipe. The Dijon mustard gave it the "wow" factor.

Favorful, juicy and delicious chicken. Best chicken ever. Unfortunately, I can't eat it every day. Loved it....

I've never made fried chicken before because I was never a fan of all that grease, but this wasn't too greasy and it was SUPER GOOD! It is now a favorite recipe! It wasn't too hard to make either.

This was the best fried chicken recipe I have ever made at home. It was superb--the only change I made was to do do half dijon mustard and half yellow. My family loved it!! I highly recommend it!!

Chicken is crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.

Never had such moist fried chicken! Even the white meat came out super juicy . . . sour cream marinade does a great job. Love the show.