Nigella's Southern Style Deep-Fried Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

2 chicken drumsticks, skin on
2 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
3-4 cups milk
2 1/4 cups solid vegetable shortening, for frying
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 egg, beaten

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium pan, place chicken and cover with milk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. This helps tenderize the meat, but is optional

In a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, using tongs, transfer chicken into pot, then pour in the milk. Bring milk to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low allowing to simmer until the chicken is cooked through entirely, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the milk, and place on a rack to cool. Allow them to sit until warm about 15 minutes, and then pat dry using a kitchen towel.

Heat vegetable shortening in a Dutch oven over high heat just until it's nearly at the smoking point around 325 degrees F.

In a large zip-lock bag, add salt, flour, cayenne pepper, shake to combine.

In a medium bowl, beat 1 egg.

Place each piece of chicken, 1 at a time, in the bag and shake to coat the chicken. Then dip chicken into the egg to coat. Place the chicken back into the flour to coat for a second time. Repeat this method on remaining 3 pieces of chicken.

Gently drop each piece of chicken into hot oil, allowing the skin to crisp and turn golden brown in color, about 1 minute per side. Remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Serve immediately.
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REVIEWS:

I love Deep Fried Chicken and I did this one and it the best!

I liked the crispy outer texture, but the inside wasn't very flavorful. Also, I think the chicken needs to cook longer than 20 min in the milk before frying it, because my chicken was still a bit pink on the inside

I made chicken nuggets with this recipe. DELICIOUS! My husband wants me to make it again! YUMMY!

Great ... made chicken very tender. I will cook deep fried chicken like this in the future. Only thing I will do is use Paula Dean's receipt for the flour ie House Season, added alot more flovor. The best of both Worlds.

I loved the recipe.Nigella is my favorite tv chef so in my eye's all her ideas are pretty darn good and they don't take forever or a million indgreident's that you can't find. I did add a little garlic other than that it was tasty as is.

I have found that marinating and boiling my chicken in milk makes every piece extremely tender. I changed the coating for my chicken though. I roll my chicken in a mixture of ranch dressing packet (1 packet, a couple cups of bisquick, dash of pepper and a little cayenne. I then bake or fry the chicken - whichever is easier at the time. I get rave reviews with this recipe every time I make it!

The chicken was crispy which I really like but it lacked some flavor (maybe adding a little onion & garlic powder might help other then that it was ok. I didn't leave it milk to sit or anything, but when I did boil it I didn't have enough milk so I used 1 1/2 cups milk and the other half water. Don't think I'll be making this again but I will use ideas from it.

I was so excited about this chicken recipe after reading the reviews, but this chicken was anemic looking and tasted very average. Not excited about this recipe at all, won't be making this again.

This recipe is very easy and tastes GREAT! It's not greasy and you don't have to worry about having undercooked chicken. I've made it many times, and I haven't soaked the chicken in advance.....it doesn't matter. It still tastes great!

This is the best fried chicken I've ever made, it was moist inside, crispy outside and absolutely delicious!!
I've given this recipe to all my friends at work and anyone who wants a fabulous fried chicken recipe!!

After years and years of trying to perfect fried chicken for my Bama husband, I discovered this recipe on the internet and it has been amazing! This chicken comes out so tender on the inside and crispy on the outside - you just can't believe it! I didn't have the cayenne pepper so I used a packet of buttermilk dressing mix and it tasted heavenly: I have also used this recipe and substituted pancake mix for the flour and it made a much crispier coating on the chicken. Overall, I believe that the milk soak is the secret to the most wonderful fried chicken ever!

I have struggled for years to find a good fried chicken recipe- this one takes the cake. Cooking it beforehand in the milk keeps it unbelievably moist and tender! I only marinated it for two hours and it was perfect. I fried it for about 3 minutes per side and it was so good- I liberally salted and peppered it when I took it out of the oil and it was perfect- this one's a keeper!

It was ok. Not what I was looking for. My first Nigella recipe.

This comes out amazing! It is so tender & juicy and the skin is still crisp!

Delicious:

This chicken puts Colonel Sanders to shame! My husband and I loved this chicken! I'm not a big fan of fried chicken to begin with, but I really liked this recipe and would definately make this again. It was fairly easy to make, but as any fried recipe, the cleanup is the most work.

Absolutely marvilous!!! you need time and patients to make this dish, But it is well worth the effort. I grew up in a southern family and could not get my fried chicken to taste like my grandmothers. With this recipe, she says mine is better than hers.

I have difficulty frying chicken to the correct internal temperature without burning the outside. This recipe allows me to have the great taste of fried chicken with out having it burned or too greasy.

Wow...So easy to make and so enjoyable to eat! I definitely recommend this recipe

This made the most crispy fried chicken that I have ever tased ! Definitely 5 stars !!!!