The Cozy Cookbook is here! 
This Southern-style Country Fried Chicken is easy to make with chicken breasts and staple ingredients! Serve it with gravy and mashed potatoes for an old fashioned comfort food that your family will love!
Be sure to serve this with mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, green bean casserole, and gravy!
Country Fried Chicken
“Did you get this from a restaurant mama?” –My four year old.
And that, right there, says it all. 😁 If there’s anything that’s worth mastering in the kitchen, it’s a SOLID Fried Chicken Recipe. Serve this with mashed potatoes, gravy, and buttermilk biscuits, and you’ll be in heaven. (Maybe a little green bean casserole on the side?)
Let’s get into it. Check out all the info you need on how to master this recipe:
How to Make It
Cover each chicken breast with saran wrap. Use a meat tenderizer and pound the chicken flat, about 1/2 inch thick. (See section below on why I highly recommend that you do this step. It’s worth the time.)
Pat the chicken completely dry. Combine the whisked eggs, salt, and buttermilk. Add the chicken and marinade for 1-2 hours, (or overnight). The longer it marinates, the more tender it will be.
Let the marinated chicken sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before frying.
Transfer the chicken to the breading mix. Flip it over several times and work the breading into all of the nooks and crannies until it’s completely dry and coated.
*Don’t bread all of the chicken at once. Prepare each piece right before you’re ready to fry it.
Add enough oil to cover the chicken by half and heat it to 350°. Add the chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side. Once the outside edge begins to brown up nicely, carefully flip with a thin spatula. (See tools section below for what I use to flip.)
Once browned on each side, carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow excess oil to drip out from the bottom. This prevents the bottom from getting soggy.
PRO Tip: Check out my Chicken Fried Steak recipe if you prefer to serve this with white gravy!
Tenderizing The Chicken
Pounding the chicken is the most time consuming step. Although you could save time by cutting the chicken into thinner slices instead, I recommend tenderizing it for the following reasons:
- It makes the chicken super tender.
- It creates more texture on the outside of the chicken so you can work more breading into the crevices. That’s what gives it that Country Fried Chicken texture and crunch. (vs. something like Chicken Milanese.)
- It cooks evenly and more quickly.
- Chicken plumps up when it cooks, so pounding it thin will allow it to expand more when cooked and still have that nice, thin, restaurant-quality look and feel.
Why Soak Chicken in Buttermilk?
- It enhances the tenderness and flavor of the chicken, as it contains enzymes that help break down the protein fibers.
- It helps the breading to stick to the chicken much better by providing grip.
- It has fat and acids that help break down the outer skin which results in a crispier outer crust.
Buttermilk Substitutes
- ½ cup milk + 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 4 tablespoons milk + enough plain yogurt to make 2 cups.
- 2 tablespoon white vinegar + enough milk to make 2 cups. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice + enough milk to make 2 cups. Let sit for 10 minutes. It’ll look curdled. Stir to combine.
What to Serve With Country Fried Chicken
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
Meat Tenderizer | Cast Iron Skillet | Oil Thermometer | Fish Spatula | Wire Cooling Racks
Try These Next
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- Smothered Chicken
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- BEST Dinner Rolls
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- Baked Ravioli
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- Mushroom Ravioli Sauce
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- Roasted Pork Tenderloin
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- Baked Chicken Thighs
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Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Country Fried Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
Buttermilk Marinade
- 2 cups buttermilk, see notes for substitutions
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 3 teaspoons salt
Breading
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup breadcrumbs, plain or Italian
- 2 ½ teaspoons seasoned salt
- ¾ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
Prep Work
- Cover each chicken breast with saran wrap. Use a meat tenderizer and pound the chicken flat, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Pat the chicken completely dry. Combine the whisked eggs, salt, and buttermilk. Add the chicken and marinade for 1-2 hours, (or overnight). The longer it marinades, the more tender it will be.
- Let the chicken sit out for 25-30 minutes at room temperature before frying.
Cooking Instructions
- Transfer the marinated chicken to the breading mix. Flip it over several times and work the breading into all of the little nooks and crannies until it's completely dry and coated.
- *Don't bread all of the chicken at once. Prepare each piece right before you're ready to fry it.
- Add enough oil to a skillet to cover the chicken by half and heat it to 350°. Use a cast iron skillet if possible as it conducts heat the best for frying.
- Carefully add the chicken and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, once the outside edges begin to brown up nicely, carefully flip with a thin spatula
- Once browned on each side, carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow excess oil to drip out from the bottom. This prevents the bottom from getting soggy.
- Repeat for all chicken breasts and serve with cornbread, mashed potatoes and chicken gravy or brown gravy!
Notes
Buttermilk Substitutes
- ½ cup milk + 1 ½ cups sour cream
- 4 tablespoons milk + enough plain yogurt to make 2 cups.
- 2 tablespoon white vinegar + enough milk to make 2 cups. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice + enough milk to make 2 cups. Let sit for 10 minutes. It'll look curdled. Stir to combine.
This looks really good and I can’t wait to try it! Did you use your chicken gravy or brown gravy on it? I’d like to make it how the photo appears because it looks so appetizing!
Hi Julie! I used my chicken gravy recipe but instead of adding chicken bouillon to it, I added beef bouillon! So 2 cups chicken broth and 1 tsp beef better than bouillon.
Hi Stephanie! Looking forward to trying this. All I have in the house right now are Panko breadcrumbs – do you think that will work for this recipe?
Hey Jessica! I think that should be fine! You can always roll a rolling pin over them to make them a little more fine!
Have you used an air fryer to make these before ?? Just wondering if it will work just the same ?
Hi Renee! I haven’t tried this in an air fryer before unfortunately 🙁
I made this for dinner tonight it was amazing ! I marinated the chicken for 24 hours !! Hubby loved it and so did I!! Thank you !!
I’m SO glad that you enjoyed it Joanne!! Nice job really marinating that chicken too, I bet it was nice and tender! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts, it’s so appreciated! -Stephanie
Also I read the past comments and I also had an issue with my oil burning or browning! I love to make Parmesan crusted chicken …So glad I read how to avoid that!! I used your advice and it was perfect this time with the country fried chicken. No burning or changing the oil out. Thanks Stephanie
Hey Courtney! I am SO happy to hear that this country fried chicken came out so well for you, I totally know what you mean- it literally tastes like it’s from a restaurant and the family can get spoiled from that real quick! 😉 hahaha! Thank you so much for sharing your review, I really appreciate that! -Stephanie
Just made this last night for my husband and it was amazing!!
Unfortunately now he expect this kind of cooking once a week!! Lol..
I can’t say enough about how awesome this recipe is! Thanks again!!
And most importantly I didn’t have to tweak anything!!!!!
Amazing recipe!! Thanks so much for posting it. It’s my husband’s favorite way to eat chicken and he has been begging me to make it for 5 years.. he’s going to love this! Thanks again
I can’t wait for him to try it Courtney! If it’s any reassurance my husband loves it and he’s pretty picky!😉 Thanks so much for the review!
I was just reading your yummy recipe but can’t find where the 2 eggs come in on the directions? I’m assuming they are mixed into the Buttermilk before breading?
Thanks 😊
Hey Valerie!! YES! I should have made that more clear, I’ve updated the post, good eye!! Thank you!! 🙂
I’m not much of a cook, but these turned out AWESOME! They were really crunchy and juicy. I’ve never thought to season bread crumbs before so I was impressed by the difference in flavor. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Tammy! Glad you liked the Country Fried Chicken! I agree, even for those that don’t cook that much this is an easy one. Thanks so much for the review!😀
Looks so good and I can’t wait to try it. Curious if you change out the oil? When frying, I’ve had good luck with the first batch or two and then my oil gets so dirty and it starts burning etc. Any tips/suggestions appreciated!
Hey Julie!! I have definitely had that happen before. I try to make sure I watch the heat, I’m not afraid to turn the heat down as the chicken cooks, even if it means turning it back up again later. When you first put the chicken in, the oil cools down a little bit but as the chicken cooks, the temperature keeps rising and that’s where I’ll turn it down a bit, the oil stays hot for awhile so it doesn’t really stop the chicken from cooking. I’ll also sometimes let the oil cool a bit, (removing it from the heat), and take a spoon to get rid of some of the residue and add a little bit of clean oil. That prevents that residue from clinging onto chicken that you fry in later batches!
Thank you so much!