Buttermilk Fried Chicken...finger licking delicious!

Who doesn't love a good fried chicken every once in a while. Why not throw the health rules out the window, and entice yourself with the crispy, salty goodness!

This is actually my second attempt at making fried chicken. The first time I made it, I was over a friend's house and helping her with the recipe, and man, was it delicious when it came out! I think we were all in awe and amazed at how well it turned out. So I attempted it again for dinner on Valentine's night, and it was still finger licking good! I think the tricks to making this come out perfect are double dipping the chicken and finding a good balance between cooking it in a deep fryer and finishing it off in the oven. I feel like I need to tweak the mix of seasonings a bit, but other than that, the recipe is ready to be tried again!

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
4 cups of buttermilk
4 cups of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
1 tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon of garlic salt
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of celery salt
1 tablespoon of paprika

Thoroughly wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Then place the chicken in a large bowl and pour all the buttermilk over top. Let the chicken bathe in the buttermilk covered in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a deep fryer, or large heavy bottom pan, heat frying oil to 325 degrees --you can use either canola or vegetable oil. In a bowl, mix together the flour and all the spices.

Working with a few pieces at a time, thoroughly coat the chicken in the flour mixture. Then dunk it back into the buttermilk and back again into the flour mixture to double dip the chicken. Cook in the deep fryer for 7-10 minutes, or until crispy golden brown in color. Set the chicken on a wire rack to drain and finish deep frying the remaining pieces.

Transfer all the chicken to the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes.

We served the chicken with a side of home made french fries and had a great meal!