Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich | Recipe
A chicken sandwich, featuring double-dredged and fried chicken cutlets and a creamy, homemade honey mustard sauce.
If you are a beginner in the frying arena, this sandwich is a great place to start. Rather than frying bone-in chicken pieces of all shapes and sizes, we will be working solely with chicken cutlets. This requires far less time and attention than the aforementioned, and is simple enough to get right on the very first try. An important step that deserves a great deal of emphasis is to ensure that your oil is of the right temperature. Ideally, you would have a candy thermometer, which is a sure-fire indication that your oil is exactly where it needs to be, between 365-375°. However, if you haven’t yet made this purchase, there are other ways to confirm you’re on the right track. My favorite being the ol’ flour trick. If you sprinkle in a bit of flour into the heated grease and it sizzles up right off-the-bat, you’re likely good to go. However, if it sizzles up, blackens and puts off an unpleasant odor, I think it’s safe to say you need to crank down the heat. Now, if you add a sprinkle of flour and you hear…crickets, no sizzle, nada — it’s time to turn the heat up. Beyond that, it’s a simple matter of dredging, breading and timing.
Now that we’ve got technique out of the way, let’s move on to why I’m completely obsessed with this sandwich. I adore a good contrast in flavor and texture in any given dish, so if we’re talking crispy fried chicken, topped with chunky dill pickles, perfectly balanced by a sweet and tangy homemade honey mustard…well, needless to say my mouth is already watering, and I’m all in. This is a quick-fix meal, sure to bring a comfort food fix into any kitchen. Please, enjoy.
For more comfort food dinner ideas, click here.
Click here for the Homemade Honey Mustard recipe.
For the Fried Chicken Cutlets:
2 cups canola oil
1 pound chicken cutlets
2 teaspoons TAK Seasoning
2 cup all-purpose flour, separated
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
3 dashes hot sauce
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Pat chicken breasts dry with a paper towel, sprinkle with TAK Seasoning, rub to adhere and set aside. Have ready a large rimmed baking sheet, lined with paper towels and a cooling rack fitted atop.
Set up dredging stations using three rimmed dishes or trays, and placing them side-by-side. Add 1 cup of flour to the first tray. Whisk together milk, egg and hot sauce and add to the second tray. Mix together 1 cup of flour, salt, dry mustard, paprika and black pepper in the third tray.
Dredge the chicken in the plain flour, then the egg mixture and then in the seasoned flour. Transfer back to the egg mixture and dredge in the seasoned flour once more. Fry in the oil for 3-4 minutes on the first side, flip and fry 2-3 minutes more, or until the chicken is golden brown and is properly cooked through. Take care not to overcrowd the skillet. Set aside to cool on the rack and repeat with remaining cutlets.
For the Sandwiches:
4 hamburger buns or 8 slices of toasted white bread
Thick-cut pickles, if desired
Finely chopped lettuce, if desired
Sliced tomatoes, if desired
Other desired condiments
Assemble the sandwiches with desired bread and toppings, serve and enjoy.
Serves 4.
Would pair well with:
