Southern Fried Chicken (Paula Deen)

I was a little worried about this recipe because it calls for some much hot sauce, but what a shocker when you taste the chicken and you only get a mild flavor of the hot sauce, with very little heat at all. This is my favorite fried chicken recipe. It has a nice southern kick to it, which I love. I don’t think chicken has a lot of flavor, but this chicken pops out at you. If you are splurging on calories this is the recipe to splurge on. Thank you Sharlene!!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs cut-up chicken
• Peanut or Vegetable Oil

Sauce mixture:

• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

Dredging mixture

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat peanut oil (I used veggy oil) in a large deep pot to 350°F (do not fill more than half full).
2. For sauce mixture: in a medium-sized bowl, beat the eggs with the water. Add hot sauce and whisk together well.
3. Pour this mixture into a large plastic zip-top bag.
4. For dredging mixture: In a small bowl, combine 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, mix flour, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
5. Rinse and pat dry chicken pieces with a paper towel.
6. Cut breast pieces in half across ribs.
7. Drop a few chicken pieces of chicken into bag of sauce mixture and squish around to coat thoroughly.
8. One piece at a time, roll chicken in flour mixture and drop into hot oil.
9. Don't crowd chicken pieces--I cook about half the chicken at a time.
10. Fry chicken until brown and crisp.
11. Drain on paper toweling.
12. Dark meat will take about 14 minutes, white meat about 10 minutes.
13. Remember smaller pieces cook faster than the larger ones.
14. You can check for doneness by piercing to the bone in the thickest part with a fork.
15. If the juices run clear, it is done.