This is the best fried chicken, ever. There I said it. If it's not, then I want to try yours.
I started paying attention to fried chicken in a serious way when I began work on the bookAd Hoc At Home. Ad Hoc is Thomas Keller's Napa Valley restaurant devoted to family meals. It offers one family meal each night, and everyone eats it. The fried chicken is so popular that it is served twice a week. Chefs Jeff Cerciello and Dave Cruz have tried all kinds of methods, mainly centering on the best crust. They decided that the trio of flour, buttermilk, and flour is best, and I agree. But the key here is the brine. Salt keeps the chicken juicy and seasoned, and also helps pull the rosemary deep into the flesh. So even after the rapture from eating the crust has passed, the flavor of the chicken holds you.
This brine, like all brines flavored with aromatics, is best when you bring the ingredients to a simmer in all the water. But if you're like me, sometimes you'll be caught short and need to hurry things along. If you have a scale, you can bring half the water to a simmer with the other brine ingredients, let the aromatics steep for 20 minutes. Measure the remaining water as ice and pour the brine over the ice. Or simply combine the brine with cold water.
Because so few people make fried chicken at home, I like to serve it to friends. Happily, it's a great do-head dish; the chicken will keep well for a couple of hours. You can fry it and then keep it on a rack in a 250°F/120°C/gas 1/2 oven until you need it. If you have a convection oven, use that feature to keep the crust crisp. The thighs will become delectably tender given the extra time in the low heat. Serve on a platter garnished with branches of deep-fried rosemary and grated lemon zest.
Ingredients
Serves 6 to 8
Brine
Make the brine:
Step 1
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons salt after the onion and garlic have cooked for 30 seconds or so. Add the rosemary and cook to heat it, 30 seconds or so. Add the water and lemon, squeezing the juice from the wedges into the water and removing any seeds. Bring the water to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove from the heat and allow the brine to cool. Refrigerate until chilled.
Step 2
Place all the chicken pieces in a large, sturdy plastic bag. Set the bag in a large bowl for support. Pour the cooled brine and aromatics into the bag. Seal the bag so that you remove as much air as possible and the chicken is submerged in the brine. Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours, agitating the bag occasionally to redistribute the brine and the chicken.
Step 3
把鸡从盐水,坳下冲洗d water, pat dry, and set on a rack or on paper towels. The chicken can be refrigerated for up to 3 days before you cook it, or it can be cooked immediately. Ideally, it should be refrigerated, uncovered, for a day to dry out the skin, but usually I can't wait to start cooking it.
Step 4
Combine the flour, black pepper, paprika, sea salt, cayenne, and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk to distribute the ingredients. Divide this mixture between two bowls. Pour the buttermilk into a third bowl. Set a rack on a baking sheet/tray. Dredge the chicken in the flour, shake off the excess, and set the dusted pieces on the rack. Dip the pieces in the buttermilk, then dredge them aggressively in the second bowl of flour and return them to the rack.
Step 5
Heat oil in a pan for deep-frying to 350°F/180°C. Add as many chicken pieces as you can without crowding the pan. Cook the chicken, turning the pieces occasionally, until they are cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes depending on their size. Remove to a clean rack and allow them to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
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Reviews (47)
Back to TopThis is one of the most flavorful and fragrant fried chicken recipes I’ve ever had. It was a lot of work but we’ll worth it. I have made it quite a few times and it always draws many compliments.
K C Taylor
Southern Michigan
4/10/2022
I actually left the chicken in the brine for 2 full days before removing it to dry overnight. The chicken is utterly delicious. Yes, it's very time consuming and clean up is a bear, but so worth it. I love the comment below that said they freeze the brine to use again. I will have to try that.
Lisa
Huntsville, Utah
2/14/2022
I use this a lot. The only problem is, that’s it’s very time consuming, but very worth it. It also works great for chicken fried steak and chicken fried pork, just don’t leave it in the brine as long. I also freeze the brine and use it twice.
Brad
Kingsland, AR
1/1/2022
I have never bribed chicken before but my daughter wanted fried chicken one of as her last meals the week before she left for school. After reading the comments, I altered the salt. This was sooooooo good.
Kellykorp
Charlotte, MC
1/24/2021
I used less salt in the brine
Rhondatc
Richmond, California
4/6/2020
The flour is way to salty. I think it should be about two teaspoons of salt in the salt mixture, not two tablespoons. The chicken itself is moist an delicious.
Anonymous
Chicago
12/28/2019
After binge watching all the cooking shows I could possibly watch, I decided to make fried chicken after inspiration from David Chang’s Ugly Delicious fried chicken episode. Watching this may help you gain the momentum needed of you believe this recipe appears overwhelming or too complicated. This chicken was amazing, albeit time consuming. Every part of this food experience was wonderful. I did not alter the recipe outside of the parts of chicken for frying. I used 6 legs, 6 boneless, skinless breasts and many wings/drummettes. Everyone who saw the steps and procedure thought I was crazy, until they tasted it! I paired this with the Carolina Cole Slaw and Peach Blueberry Pie from this website. I do read all the reviews before making a dish and many mentioned the saltiness. I did not find this salty, but I did brine for 24 hours and rinsed each piece individually and let dry uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours. I am thinking perhaps they didn’t rinse each piece. It was not salty at all and I used the recommended amount of salt. I also couldn’t find a bag large enough to hold all that chicken, so used an 8 quart restaurant container which worked wonderfully. I don’t want to imply how my fellow preparers missed a step, I was just mentally brainstorming how, perhaps, theirs came out salty. Always grateful for reviewers and reviews!
stephaniefaoro
Overland Park, KS
7/5/2019
This was very good. It takes planning, so this was a weekend dinner for me. I will make this again.
murasakij
Virginia
1/17/2019
Every recipe i have tried from Ruhlman has been a hit. The key to any good fried chicken is brine. brine baby, brine. I will never eat fried or roasted chicken without it. While this recipe is involved, it is well worth it. Use fresh chicken, I prefer a smaller chicken to ensure even cooking and a nice crsipy crust.
sidenator
Montana
5/8/2018
Excellent and succulent! Just a note about "drying the skin": I use an old fashioned hair dryer to dry the skin of all fowl; saves time and produces the same effect.
dscsf
San Francisco, CA
6/20/2017
Was delicious except for one thing. We took seriously the instruction to aggressively coat in the flour the second time. I thought it ended up with too much crust. Also, I plan to try just baking the brined chicken to see how that is.
jansan1
Orange County, CA.
4/17/2017
After patting the chicken dry, hit it with PET evaporated milk prior to flour dredging instead of just using more buttermilk. (With the egg wash). And some La Chinata Hot smoked Paprika. With some small tweaks based on your personal preferences, this is a great recipe.
Anonymous
Dirty souf.
5/14/2016
Followed recipe very closely and was absolutely blown away with the results. I let the chicken steep for the full 24 hours. The meat inside was tender, very juicy, and a bit on the salty side. I will reduce the salt a bit next time. The coating was crunchy, crispy, and very flavorful. I made far too much for my wife and I to eat and hence after rinsing the chicken (but before coating), I put half of the batch in the freezer. Ate the chicken two weeks later. Freezing did not seem to have any adverse effect on flavor or texture. So go ahead, make a bunch and freeze it for a rainy day!
bdomb
Eugene, OR
3/2/2016
Was not at all impressed with this recipe. The lemon in the brine overwhelmed the other flavors, even though I rinsed the chicken very well. So unless you like your chicken to taste like lemons, I wouldn't recommend this recipe!
kailinwylder
BC, Canada
2/14/2016
I don't see how anyone who followed this recipe could give it less than 4 stars; it might be the best fried chicken i have ever had. yes, it's time consuming (started on fri am to eat for sun brunch), but not hard otherwise. perfectly brittle, rosemary-scented crust encasing perfectly juicy meat? yes, please.
ewaltrs
san francisco, ca
1/25/2016
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