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I've made southern style fried chick before and really enjoy it but found using all the oil to be quite expensive. Could I:

A) Pan fry it? (I know this one is a stretch but could it work if the chicken breast was precooked?)

B) Only make it so the oil covers half the chicken then rotate them half way through?

C) Could I add oil to the batter and bake them?

Would I have more success with these techniques if used thinly sliced raw chicken breasts and made them more like chicken fingers?

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5 Answers 5

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B is your best bet. In fact, that's the original (And IMO, best) way to do it! Find a nice heavy cast iron skillet, fill it around halfway with oil, and then fry your chicken and rotate it in the pan as needed

Here are some links: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/deep-south-fried-chicken/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fried-chicken-recipe.html

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  • Sounds like we had the same idea :) +1 for the recipe links
    – Rosa
    Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 14:37
  • Chicken fingers as mentioned in the question do work very well for this, since you only need maybe an inch of oil to cook them and they cook pretty quickly.
    – Joe M
    Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 14:58
  • Alright will try it out! I don't have a cast iron pan though. I only have an electric stove too which always gives me trouble when maintaining the temperature of oil.
    – user3786992
    Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 15:16
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    I'm just an amateur, but I've deep-fried many a chicken leg in my stainless steel pot on my gas stove. And the oil is indeed expensive, so I re-use it - I have a metal pitcher with a screened tray that lays on the top . You pour the used oil in there and the screen filters out all the junk. As long as you watch the temperature and don't burn the oil, you should get a few uses out of it.
    – coburne
    Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 15:35
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    Even though this isn't exactly deep-frying, you should still make sure to use a thermometer to measure the oil's temperature and keep it consistent - particularly if you've had problems with your stove. This will also help make sure that you keep your oil below a temp where it can be successfully re-used per @coburne's suggestion.
    – logophobe
    Commented Sep 12, 2014 at 15:53
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You could absolutely pan fry them, a combination of your A and B options. You'll need an inch or so of oil, enough to come about halfway up your chicken pieces. This is a great job for a cast iron pan, because it will soak up heat and help you get through the temperature drop that will happen when you first add the chicken to the pan.

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B. Definitely. My grandmother used to fry them this way for decades. Just be sure to watch them closely or the bottoms will burn very quickly. A splatter shield will also come in handy if you want to keep your arms from getting pock-marked from flying grease.

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A and B most definitely. My grandmother pan-fried chicken all the time, that was the only way it was ever made in my family. A few inches of vegetable oil in a deep cast iron chicken fryer:

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L8CF3-Covered-Chicken-3-Quart/dp/B00006JSUE

It is just like a regular cast iron skillet, just deeper. I have my grandmother's old one. And I have not had problems with burns any more than frying anything else in a skillet. I thought it was funny the first time I saw someone fry chicken in an electric deep fat fryer. And it is a big waste of oil, clean ups a hassle, and you don't get those awesome crusty bits stuck to the pan.

Fry on one side, turn. The drippings and bits deglazed off the pan make the best fried chicken gravy ever possible. Another must have is homemade mashed potatoes (lumpy is good too) to go with this fabulous Sunday dinner.

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I've done it by coating chicken thighs (skin on, bone in) in a flour and spice mix (I haven't cooked this in a while, but I believe it was smoked paprika, celery seeds, salt, and pepper), and then frying in around a millimetre of oil on a very hot flame until the skin has become fairly crispy, and then transferring to a pre-heated oven to finish cooking all the way through.

Real southern fried chicken aficionados might turn their noses up at shallow-fried then baked chicken, but I personally found the results pretty tasty.

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