Bobby Flay's Fried Chicken with Ancho Honey

By Addie

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay
Show: Throwdown With Bobby Flay
Episode: Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 quart buttermilk, plus 2 cups
• Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons chili de arbol powder, or 2 tablespoons hot sauce
• 2 chickens (3 to 4 pounds each), cut up into 8 pieces each
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Peanut oil, for deep-frying
• Ancho honey, recipe follows

Preparation

Step 1

Whisk together 1 quart of the buttermilk, 2 tablespoons salt, and the chili de arbol in a large bowl or large baking dish. Add the chicken, turn to coat, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Place the remaining 2 cups of buttermilk in a bowl. Stir together the flour, garlic and onion powders, paprika and cayenne in a large bowl and divide among 2 shallow platters and season generously with salt and pepper.

Drain the chicken in a colander and pat it dry. Dredge the pieces a few at a time in the flour mixture and pat off excess, then dip in the buttermilk and allow excess to drain off. Dredge in the second plate of flour and pat off the excess. Put the chicken pieces on a baking rack set over a baking sheet while the oil heats.

Pour about 3 inches of oil into a deep cast iron skillet; the oil should not come more than halfway up the sides of the pot. Put the pot over medium-high heat and heat the oil to 375 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. Working in batches, add the chicken pieces to the hot oil, 3 or 4 at a time and fry, turning the pieces occasionally, until evenly golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a rack to drain; repeat to cook the remaining pieces. Serve hot, drizzled with the ancho honey.



ANCHO HONEY

1 cup honey
2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
Salt

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt, to taste.

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REVIEWS:

Awesome recipe!! Very delicious with the sweet and spicey from the ancho honey and it goes great with the salty crunch of the fried chicken. It is heavenly. My family loves it!

This is the first time I have made fried chicken and it was full of flavor. I made it again and let the chicken stay over night and it was more flavorful. Also I cooked them in a deep fryer at 335 F. It only took 10 minutes. I served this with parmesan crusted asparagus and sugar baby carrots for the sides... It was incredible.

I've never been good at making fried chic., but I used this recipe and my chic. was great! This recipe rocks and I would highly recommend it. I soaked the chic. for 27 hours. It was so good, I'll never use another recipe. Thanks Bobby for being a fantastic chief and sharing your magic with us.

We were trying to find a good fried chicken recipe and saw this recipe and decided to try it since we saw him do it on tv. The chicken looked wonderful with its crispy crust but insteead it lacked flavor and we were disappointed with the ending results.

Loved this - let the chicken sit for 24 hours in the buttermilk - so juicy! Agree with others on temperature - I found 325 degrees was the best. Everyone raved about the honey on the chicken - don't skip it!

Takes too long and it's not good - very bland, with a funny taste!!

I made this last night and it was AMAZING!!! It was super crispy and the honey ancho mixture had just the perfect amount of sweet and spicyness!! Bobby, you're my hero!!! I hope with everything I'm learning from you that someday I'll be ready for a THROWDOWN!!! :

Be sure to keep oil temp at 350. On the show, Bobby mentioned that he thought 375 was too high and he proceeded to lower it to 350. Had I not recorded the show and listened, I would have followed the recipe as printed by Food Network. My family loved the chicken and we will make it often.

The crust on this was incredibly crispy and absolutely the best I've ever had! You add the ancho honey on top and it's aboslute heaven!!

This is a great recipe and very simple, only thing i would have to say about this recipe is it that takes a long time to prepare. Not such a good idea for a quick simple meal, but i do enjoy Bobby Flays recipe I give it an overall 4 ♥♥♥♥'s (out of 5. It even impressed my 80 year old grandmother (she was so proud of my me, for being able to cook. So give it a try if you have tons of time (like 5 hours because it is good.

This was ok but a lot of work for just ok results. I probably will not make again,

This chicken was so good, and moist, I could not stop eating it. This is a good one Mr. Flay, you have done it once again.

This recipe has great flavor but its not the best I've ever had, I am looking for a recipe I made a long time ago and can't find it, That of course was the best chicken I ever had. Anyway this is a typical good fried chicken.

I made this chicken and it was soooooooooooo good! it was extremely moist, and the spices gave it an amazing flavor. the double dip had a great crunch, too.

Yummy!!!

Im from Kentucky and this recipe looks fantastic. It's very close to mine. I soak mine in buttermilk overnight in the fridge. I only bread mine once. Twice is too bready for me, I like it lighter. Peanut oil is best and temp of oil should be no higher than 350. Cast iron skillet, four pieces of same type meat at a time, no more. Not into the drizzle.

This is absolute mess HEAVEN. Lick your fingers good.

Okay, don't know many who don't like fried chicken but this recipe is fantastic. Chicken is juicy and crispy, not greasy...watch your oil temp. Family favorite!!

I know it looks great and sounds great wait untill you taste it it is the best chicken you will taste!

This is the the technique I use now for frying chicken; however, I haven't been able to get the ancho honey kicked up enough to make it very interesting. I buy dried anchos at the farmer's market and grind them in my coffee grinder. I think that next time I will use chipotles or another chili with more heat.

I'm always lookin for a better fried chicken recipe. This has been the best one I have found so far. i only marinated chicken the minimum time so I can only imagine how much better this would be with an over night marinate.

I dont know if my fryer thermometer is wrong or that temp listed is too high but I burnt the crap out of my first batch.

Wonderful flavor. Place a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the batch. Put them in the fridge (after frying and make one of the most delicious fried chicken salads you ever had the next day. Any kind of green salad does the job.

Haven't tried but the episode looked quiete promising...will try it sometime soon...but need to knw dark meat n light meat diff(red n white meat

I come from the south where fried chicken is a religion. This is a fantastic recipe, easy to follow & tastes absolutely wonderful. This is better than most of the southern fried chicken I have tasted here!

This is outstanding with crispiness and juicieness.