Country Pan Fried Chicken

This classic country fried chicken is different than my crispy breaded fried chicken and even my Italian pan fried chicken with rice. While there are similarities each has its own flavors and texture, different from this American country classic.

This chicken is pan fried in shallow vegetable oil after being dipped in a seasoned flour. It is finished in the oven. The drippings are used to make a milk gravy, which tastes great on mashed potatoes. Green beans are the classic side dish.

Pan Fried Before Baking

I use a cut up chicken fryer for this dish, and often carve up my own who chicken. Doing this gives you the back and breast bones to make a flavorful chicken stock. However you can simply purchase a whole cut up fryer instead. If you do that, the breast pieces typically have the bones in them. It is best to remove the bones from the breasts and then cut each breast half into two pieces, which cook more uniformly. 

From the Oven

Ingredients (serves 4 adults)

1 cut-up chicken fryer 

1 egg

1 cup heavy cream

    substitute half/half or milk
1 1/2 cups flour, separated
3 tablespoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt (See below)

1 tablespoon granulated onion 

      substitute onion powder

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

      substitute garlic powder

4-5 grinds of fresh black pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 to 3/4 cups vegetable oil or shortening (Crisco)

Gravy

3/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)

2 tablespoons flour

salt and black pepper to taste

Potatoes for mashing

Instructions

Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Cut the breast bones from the white meat and cut each breast half into two pieces. You should now have four roughly equal sized pieces of boneless chicken breast with the skill on. If you cut up a whole chicken, you can now place the carcass into a stock pot to make broth. If serving with mashed potatoes, prepare and place the potatoes onto cook now. 

In two pie plates, separate the flour so that 1/2 cup is in one plate and 1 cup is in the other plate. In a third dish wide enough to hold your largest piece of chicken, whisk together the egg and cream. Set the three dishes in order: 1) 1/2 cup flour, 2) egg/milk mixture, 3) 1 cup flour. To the last dish with the 1 cup of flour add the Lawry's seasoned salt, granulated onion, granulated garlic and fresh black pepper. Stir to combine. 

Preheat your oven to 325F degrees.  Place a large deep skillet on your cooktop with the vegetable oil or solid vegetable shortening (i.e., Crisco) and heat over medium-high heat until it is just shimmering but not smoking. The hot oil should be about 1/3 to 1/2 inch deep. Adjust as needed depending on the size of your skillet.  Set a wire rack over a baking sheet near the flour dredging station. While the oil is heating, prepare the chicken for frying.

Starting with the largest pieces of dark meat, dredge the chicken pieces in the plain flour, then the milk mixture, then the seasoned flour, one at a time until all the chicken is coated. Set each piece on the wire rack as you flour them. Add the dark meat, bone-in chicken to the hot skillet and brown the chicken on all sides. When browned return them to the wire rack. Place the boneless white meat into the skillet and place the dark meat into the oven on the rack to continue cooking. Fry the breast pieces on both sides. When browned, remove to a plate. When the internal temperature of the dark meat reaches 160F degrees (15 or so minutes), add the browned breast pieces to the rack and continue cooking until the breast meat reaches 160F. (5-10 minutes depending on thickness)

As the chicken finishes in the oven, prepare the gravy.

Gravy: Pour out remaining oil from the skillet leaving behind any drippings or browned bits. Return to the cooktop over medium heat. Add the chicken stock and cook, scraping up any browned bits. Mix together the cream and flour until fully combined and smooth. Whisk the cream/flour mixture into the chicken stock until smooth and combined. Heat until just starting to bubble and reduce heat to low. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm until ready to serve. Stir as needed to stop a film forming on the top. 

Remove chicken from the oven when done and let sit for 10 minutes, as you whip the potatoes. Plate the chicken with the mashed potatoes and gravy, along with a vegetable side. 

Lawry's Season Salt Substitute

Whisk together the following: 

2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons white sugar 
¾ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cornstarch