BEST DAMN FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH EVER

WHAT WE THINK

Pat made this and Karla said it was the best chicken sandwich she’s ever had in her life. She’s tried a lot of chicken sandwiches. Enough said. Now we’ll shut up. Let’s eat!

WHAT YOU NEED (SERVES 4, DO MATH IF YOU NEED MORE OR LESS)

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

3 cups buttermilk

Louisiana hot sauce

habanero hot sauce (we use Melinda’s but use whatever you like)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

Shut Up Let’s Eat chili powder blend (equal parts pasilla, guajillo, ancho, cayenne, pequin chili powders)

cayenne powder

garlic powder

salt

black pepper

canola or coconut oil

3 tablespoons dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

crushed red pepper

hatch chile cheese (Yancey’s Fancy is a good choice)

pickled cucumbers

pickled jalapenos

4 brioche buns

WHAT TO DO

MARINATE YOUR BIRD.

Pour the buttermilk into a large zipper bag or shallow pan/container. This is where it gets fun and subjective. We like our chicken HOT. So, I add a metric shit ton of hot sauce to the buttermilk. Like, at least 20 dashes of Louisiana AND 20 dashes of habanero hot sauce. Then I’ll add a tablespoon or so of our chili powder blend, a generous amount of salt and pepper, and some extra cayenne to boot. This is our recommended route. But adjust the hot sauce and chili/cayenne to suit your preferences. After you’ve got it where you want it, throw your chicken thighs in. Zip your bag or put the lid on your container. Put it in the fridge and let this hang for at least 4 hours. Feel free to leave it in overnight.

DREDGE YOUR BIRD.

After your chicken has spent quality time in that buttermilk and hot sauce mixture, throw it into a colander to let the excess liquid drain off. This is important.

While your chicken drains, get out a large bowl and combine your flour and bread crumbs. Let’s get subjective again! From here, we like to add a tablespoon of our chili powder blend, plus a teaspoon of cayenne, salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Again, adjust to your preferences, but we highly recommend doing it this way. After all, this is the BEST DAMN FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH EVER.

Get out a cutting board or dish. Take a piece of your chicken with one hand and place it into your flour mixture. With your other hand, toss that chicken around inside the bowl, doing what you need to do to make sure it’s fully covered. Transfer your flour-coated chicken to the cutting board or dish. Repeat with the rest of your chicken.

NOW LET IT HANG OUT FOR A BIT. This is also important. If you fry this chicken right away, the flour won’t adhere and your coating will just fall right off your chicken. We don’t want that.

PREP YOUR TOPPINGS.

So, while the chicken grasps onto that crazy, sexy, spicy flour mixture, you can do other things.

Let’s start with cheese. Take whatever cheese you want on your sandwich and cut it into slices. Isn’t that easy? We dig hatch chile cheese to add another element of heat to the sandwich. Pepper jack would work, habanero cheese would work, chipotle cheese would work. Or, something less exciting like provolone is fine too, I GUESS.

Get your hot honey mustard prepped. This is easy. Throw your 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of honey into a ramekin or small bowl. Toss in about a half teaspoon each of crushed red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Add a few cracks of black pepper, stir it all together, and boom, you’re done.

FRY YOUR BIRD.

Your chicken has probably been hanging out for long enough now and is ready to fry. First, heat up some canola or coconut oil in a cast iron or other large frying pan over medium heat. You want your oil to be about 1/2” - 3/4” deep in the pan.

Once that oil is hot (throw a little bit of your flour mixture into the oil, if it fries up quickly, the oil is ready), start adding your chicken. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan, so depending on how big your thighs are and how big your pan is, you’ll have to determine what the right number of thighs is per batch.

The chicken will need around 6-7 minutes in that oil to start with. Check the bottoms of the thighs and if they’re looking a beautifully dark golden brown, flip them over. Give them another 6-7 minutes in the oil, then transfer to a cooling rack over a cutting board, baking sheet or dish lined with paper towels.

Repeat this process as many times as needed to get all of your chicken thighs fried up.

Now, turn on your oven’s broiler. Those slices of cheese you cut up earlier? Spread them across your fried chicken thighs, then place your rack into the oven to get the cheese melted, then remove.

ASSEMBLE IT.

We like our buns toasted. Toast your buns if you wanna. Or don’t. Whatever.

Place a cheese-covered chicken thigh on the bottom half of the bun. Top with pickled cucumbers and jalapenos.

Spread the hot honey mustard on the top half of your bun. Now, do that thing where you turn the top of the bun over and place it onto the rest of the sandwich and say OH MY GOD because you’re so ready to eat it.

WHAT TO DRINK WITH IT

A juicy, hazy IPA or a bright, fruity rosé.