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
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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.
Very tasty! Has anyone tried the recipe in an air fryer for a healthier supper? Wondering how long to cook and what temperature?
TIA
Donna
Can this be air fried in a Ninja, instead of fried in oil? TIA!
Hi there, I have tested this as outlined and not in the air fryer.
Yum!😋 This was sooo delicious. Everyone really enjoyed it. I followed the recipe except 😉 I used a bit extra bread crumbs and a bit less flour. Also I deep fried it because the deep fryer was already out. I made made mashed potatoes with it and white gravy for the top. In the white gravy I used the leftover batter from coating the chicken instead of just flour. We deep fried them for 3 minutes and that was about right. I would highly recommend this recipe. It’s the perfect fix to that restaurant quality country fried chicken craving. Thanks for the recipe. I enjoyed it and it was really fun to make too!
Sounds like you nailed it Tori! I’m so happy you got to enjoy the gravy with mashed potatoes too, really is the ultimate comfort meal. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
My family LOVED this chicken. Next time may use chicken tenders for my little ones.
Great plan Melissa! I’m so happy this was a hit, thanks so much for the great review!💖
I made this once and my husband and brother loved it. Now we are hosting a family dinner for 16 at around noon time. Can I fry the chicken the day before and heat up in the oven and it be as tasty?
Hi Debra, this would be a little tricky to prepare for 16 people, as fried food is always best fresh.
When you say let the chicken sit for 25-30 min. To reach room temp, are we leaving it in the marinade in the time? Or coating it and leaving it
Hi Tracie! You’ll leave it in the marinade! 😊
Thank you,? Will be making this tomorrow
You’re very welcome, enjoy!😃
Thanks for the great recipe for chicken, it was good. And thank you for not have a huge amount of advertising on your site too, definitely a plus.
Happy to hear you enjoyed this one Steve, thanks so much for the great review!❤️
Husband approved and so did I. One of my go-to’s at restaurants and I can honestly say it was so much better!! We had it with a side of homemade mash and garlic asparagus 🤍
I am so happy to hear that you enjoyed it Brianna! This is my daughter’s favorite, she likes it better than a restaurant too!! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, I really appreciate it! -Stephanie
I would love to try this…any thoughts on air frying?
Hey Jessica! I haven’t tested this in the air fryer so unfortunately I don’t have instructions outlined for that!
How long would you recommend cooking the chicken of you use deep fryer?
It would need the same amount of cooking time as outlined in the instructions 🙂