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It’s time for a new comfort food meal! This is Chicken Fried Chicken with our homemade country gravy, also known as “Country Fried Chicken.” The chicken is breaded, fried, then smothered in a flavorful, creamy gravy.
You will love the warm and spicy seasonings in this recipe – paprika, black pepper, garlic, and just a little cayenne. This recipe is one of my favorites because it uses buttermilk mixture for marinating. This makes your chicken fried chicken extra crispy and light. Plus, the gravy is creamy and hearty, which makes every bite taste like heaven!
Ingredients in Chicken Fried Chicken
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts – pounded thin and evenly for even frying
- Buttermilk – this helps to tenderize the chicken as well as give it a delicious flavor
- Dry mixture – flour, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. This makes the dry crispy coating for frying.
- Wet mixture – milk and eggs combined to make a coating for the dry mixture to stick to
- Oil for frying
Homemade Country Gravy
Country gravy is a white gravy that is really simple to make! No need to buy those powdered packets from the store. Use the drippings and excess breading from your frying pan, that’s where the good stuff is! Scrape all those brown bits off of the pan with a little chicken broth and then whisk in all purpose flour and bring to a boil. The whole mixture will thicken up and become a creamy, hearty gravy that is to die for!
Recipe Tips
- One thing I love about this fried chicken recipe is you don’t have to cook it for as long as you would have to cook whole chicken pieces. It only takes a few short minutes on each side to cook these chicken pieces all the way through. Make sure to butterfly (slice in half) large chicken breasts or pound them with a meat mallet until the breasts are about a half inch thick and they’ll cook up in no time!
- I like to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe. I think it produces the best crispy outside.
- Marinate or soak your chicken in the buttermilk mixture outlined in the recipe card below for at least three hours, preferably overnight. This ensures your chicken is full of tenderness and flavor.
- This dish tastes delicious with fresh or frozen corn (check out how to cook frozen corn the right way, green beans or peas, as well as a side salad. But you could add a side of asparagus, broccoli, our Oven Roasted Vegetables.
- You can also fry the chicken pieces in a deep fryer until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165-degrees.
- No buttermilk? No problem, just combine 2 cups of whole milk with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to get a similar flavor. It won’t be exactly like buttermilk but it’s a great substitute when you are in a pinch.
If you are cooking in a smaller pan and have to do multiple batches, put the cooked chicken in the oven on warm while you make the other batches. To keep them crispy, place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and put the chicken on top. However, if you are only doing one batch, just transfer the finished pieces to a paper towel lined plate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Fried chicken is usually made with whole, bone-in chicken pieces. Chicken fried chicken is boneless, skinless chicken pounded thin and breaded then fried. It is a callback to chicken fried steak.
If you want that perfect golden brown crispy crust you have to pay attention to your oil heat. When the oil is too hot, it will burn the outside before the inside is cooked. If your oil isn’t hot enough, the chicken will become laden with oil and will be soggy. You’ll know the oil is hot enough when it is shiny, but not smoking. The chicken should start frying right away when you place it in the pan.
Chicken is best when it is soaked in buttermilk before frying. It tenderizes the chicken and gives it a delicious flavor. It is also great as a coating before dredging the chicken in breadcrumbs or any other dry mixture.
Tips and Reviews From Our Readers
We love getting tips and comments from our readers. We value your feedback and love hearing from you! You can read all the comments from our readers in the comment section below but here are a few of our favorites:
“My husbands favorite! I add 2 teaspoons of baking powder to the flour mix to help crisp up the coating. Also, just a fun fact I learned , to help me you know when the oil is ready for frying the chicken, put the end of a wooden spoon ,or chopstick, into the oil, it should bubble moderately at the correct temp, excessive bubbling means it is to hot, no bubbles to cool.”
-Kay
“This was d*mn good dare I say even better then Texas roadhouse? Yes it was great and easy !!”
-Bryson
“Fantastic! This was such an easy and delicious meal. I have to admit, I was nervous to try it but I am so glad I did.. the chicken was juicy and tender inside and crispy outside. Mashed potatoes and gravy and sautéed zucchini with onions and green chiles, and a biscuit to top it off. My family loved it. I definitely recommend this recipe.”
-Paula
More Chicken Recipes
Chicken is what’s for dinner! Versatile and inexpensive, ordinary chicken can be turned into something extraordinary with just a few simple ingredients and some imagination. Here are some more of our favorite chicken recipes:
How to Make Chicken Fried Chicken
Chicken Fried Chicken with Country Gravy
Video
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts halved
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more if you like spicy
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- oil for frying You can use peanut oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil
For the gravy:
- 1/4 cup reserved pan drippings
- 4 tablespoons reserved flour mixture
- 2 cups chicken broth or stock
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pound each chicken breast half flat so it is even in thickness, do this carefully, you want it flat but not so thin that it tear (each chicken piece should be about the size of your hand or slightly smaller).Place chicken pieces in a gallon-sized Ziploc back and pour buttermilk over. Press as much air as you can out of the bag, seal, and place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours (or overnight).
- In a pie plate or shallow bowl, whisk together eggs and milk, set aside.In a separate shallow dish combine flour, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Stir until well combined and then remove about 4 tablespoons of the dry mixture and set aside (this will be used for the gravy later).
- Remove chicken from Ziplock, shake off excess buttermilk, and dredge each piece evenly with flour mixture. Once coated with flour, lightly shake off excess, dip in egg/milk mixture, then place in back in flour mixture, giving it a double coating of flour.Set chicken aside on a platter or on parchment paper until ready to fry.
- Add oil to a large skillet until it is about 1/4-inch full. Heat oil on medium-high heat until it reaches 350-degrees.Add each piece of chicken to the oil without overcrowding (you may have to do this in batches) for about 3-4 minutes on each side or until cooked through and crispy and golden on the outside. Place cooked chicken on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet to catch excess oil. Place in warm oven (about 200-degrees) to keep warm until the rest of the chicken is done and you are ready to serve.
For the gravy:
- Drain off all but about ¼ c. of the oil from the pan. Whisk reserved flour mixture into the oil until the four has absorbed the oil. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Whisk constantly and reduce heat to a simmer. Once the gravy starts to thicken, slowly add milk (you may not need all of it) to thin to desired consistency, whisking constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over chicken.
Notes
- The 3+ hours it takes to marinate the chicken in buttermilk is not included in the preparation time of this recipe. Â Please plan accordingly.
- No buttermilk? No problem, just combine 2 cups of whole milk with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to get a similar flavor. It won’t be exactly like buttermilk but it’s a great substitute when you are in a pinch.
- Make sure to butterfly (slice in half) large chicken breasts or pound them with a meat mallet until the breasts are about a half inch thick and they’ll cook up in no time!
- I like to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe. I think it produces the best crispy outside.
- You can also fry the chicken pieces in a deep fryer until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165-degrees.
Looks delicious! i want to make it later this week. How do I print just the Recipe?
Hi Sheryl- At the very top of the post there is a button that says “Print Recipe” if you click on that it should set you up to print 🙂 Hope this helps!
Can you soak in a bowl…ran out of bags
Yes that is totally fine!
Excellent!! The crust was perfect, Golden and crispy and the chicken was so tender, the entire family loved it, it was delivered a hit.
So glad you liked this! This is always a hit with my kiddos too– the perfect weeknight “comfort food”.
My husband and kids were in heaven my kids are crazy picky and they said it was the best meal they ever had! Thanks for sharing! Making again tonight
Oh wow! What a huge compliment! So glad your family enjoyed this recipe so much 🙂 Thanks for coming back and sharing your results!
There is nothing that anyone can make that I would be willing “to die for” . How about saying it is really, really good. LOL
I agree with you 100%. And lets lose the “CRACK” in front of any recipe. If you silly people want to emulate Walter White from Breaking Bad, go do it someplace other than on recipe sites. Why not put the word HEROIN in front of your so called great recipes?
outstanding. I subbed the egg/milk mix with buttermilk ranch in fused into the milk. thanks all smiles here at he the Winters house!
Wow, way to kick it up a notch putting it in buttermilk ranch! YUM!!!! I bet that amped up the flavor! Will have to try that next time 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
it was the best dinner that I have had all year it was really easy to cook and I really loved how it was not dry because of the gravy THANKYOU.
OH wow, thank you so much for this nice comment! What an honor to get the title of “best dinner of the year so far”! Thank you so much for the 5-stars!
I tried the coating and milk and eggs, and I don’t like it, it was so soggy , the buttermilk was worth the price , I’m sorry, I’m wasn’t impressed with it.
I am so sorry this didn’t work out for you. Was your oil to temperature when you added the chicken to it? Sometimes if you add it too soon it will make the coating soggy. I can’t think of any other reason the coating would be soggy. So sorry again, maybe next time it will turn out better!
I followed this recipe exactly and it was phenomenal!! Ive made chicken fried chicken and mashed potatoes a thousand times but this was by far the best!! My family loved it. This is the only recipe for it I will EVER use again. A million times thank you!!
That is so awesome! Thank you so much, I love that ours was the favorite of everything you have tried.
This turned out amazingly. I didn’t soak the chicken for 3 hrs like directed because we wanted it for lunch. But I have half of the batch soaking so it’ll be interesting to see the difference when I make the rest later. The batter was delicious. We used smoked paprika which has its own kick to it vs the cayenne pepper. I also didn’t fry the chicken the whole time because I had large chicken breasts. I fried the chicken to get it crispy then finished it in the oven. The gravy was delicious as well. I used vegetable stock vs chicken broth and the flavor was awesome. The only drawback was that I didn’t add enough salt for the gravy. But hubby woke up for lunch, ate a portion and a half to put him into food coma and went back to bed. (He works nights.)
We cooked the rest of the chicken that had marinated for about 24 hrs. I wanted to know if there was a difference between soaking in buttermilk vs not. The chicken the second night after soaking for 24 hrs was super tender and moist. Day one was good. Day 2 was even better. Come to find out the acidity in the buttermilk tenderizes the chicken, thus the fall apart tenderness.
Thank you so much for the nice comment! Glad you (and your husband) liked it! 😀
What if I don’t have buttermilk at home
You can use whole milk with a couple drops of lemon juice. That is usually what I do if I don’t have buttermilk on hand. Hope this helps!
I am going to be trying this but with Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour. Hubby has some dietary restrictions and has always loved fried chicken and country fried steak etc.. but due to gluten he hasn’t been able to have any of it. I will let you know if it is a success.. making it tonight for supper.
It was amazing!!
Made this the other day, It was so good! will make it again.
Thanks
Dan
I’m not sure I could love this more! We’re on a tight budget and this was both economical and delicious! Thanks!!
I’m so glad you like the recipe Toni! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the idea. I make the gravy when I make regular fried chicken but my daughter’s family doesn’t like bone-in chicken but they love most white sauce gravies so I think I will try this when I visit them!
Great idea, I’m with you about the cone-in. Fried chicken just tastes better with the bone in but this is a great substitute!
Do you use skinless chicken breasts?
Yes, boneless, skinless 🙂
I’d like to try this, sounds delicious. Could you clarify something? Does “4 chicken breasts, halved” mean 4 full breasts split in to 8 single breasts or 4 pre-split, single breasts cut into halves? Thanks.
They are pre-split single chicken breasts, halved. Hope this helps!
Try taking 1/2 a breast cuting it in half from side to side that way you don’t have to pound it so much to flatten it.
I Made this tonite and it was amazing. When I don’t know what to make for dinner and run out of ideas your recipes really help me a lot ????thanks for sharing
Thank you so much for the nice comment! We will do our best to keep bringing you the yummy recipes 😀
Made this tonight and it was De-Lish!! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s the best chicken fried chicken I have ever made!! Thank you!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing and for the 5-stars!
Honestly, this looks like heaven on a plate!
Thank you! I will admit, it is delicious 😉
Each time I’ve made this the batter doesn’t adhere to the chicken and sluffs off after fried. Any tips?
Do you pat the chicken dry before you put it in the batter? If the chicken has liquid on it, the batter won’t stick.
I only have luck when i bread it, place it on parchment paper, then place it in the refrigerator for a couple hours before frying. I have no idea why the time in the refrigerator works, but it really helps me!