My Alabama Mama’s Fried Chicken

Whenever I visit Alabama, there is one thing I always request (okay, demand), and that’s for my mother to make me fried chicken. There are just a few things I desperately miss about home, and my mom’s fried chicken is on the top of that list. She makes it the way her mother taught her to make it, and even though I don’t usually blog about recipes, I felt like I owed it to the world to share this awesomeness.

To make your bomb southern fried chicken you will need:

2 – 3 eggs

bone in chicken legs, thighs and breasts

2 – 3 cups of all purpose flour

salt, pepper and paprika for seasoning

canola oil

cast iron skillet for frying

Frying your chicken:

Turn your stove eye to medium high heat and fill your skillet about an inch and a half high with canola oil.

Make sure your oil is hot before you start frying! (You can test this by throwing a little flour into the oil, it should sizzle).

Put a couple cups of flour on a paper towel next to your cook top.

Set two cereal size bowls next to your flour and fill one with milk and put your eggs in the other and beat them.

Dip chicken in egg, then in milk, then into your flour to coat – coat well with the flour.

Drop your chicken pieces into the skillets, cooking 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Season your chicken with salt, pepper and paprika on each side as it cooks in the pan.

Once chicken has cooked on both sides and is golden brown with crispy skin, remove chicken from pan and set aside, continue frying the rest of your chicken until done.

And voila – delicious, beautiful fried chicken that is southern mama approved! Let me tell you, Mom makes this look easy but there’s really an art to it. The last time I made fried chicken was about a year and a half ago when I wanted to fry chicken for a boyfriend at the time and his west coast family. It took me a couple attempts to get the oil just right and fry the chicken just the right amount of time, but it came back to me and I was very pleased at the outcome. Practice makes perfect y’all and you couldn’t have a better guide than my mom’s recipe. Happy frying!