Spicy Southern Fried Chicken

Our favorite chicken EVER! Super crispy, juicy and tender chicken that melts in your mouth! 🤤 Satisfy those cravings easily at home with basic ingredients + just 30 minutes. 🕞 Drizzle with hot sauce and honey for a sweet, zesty kick!

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken – Crispy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth fried chicken with a slight spicy kick! | thecomfortofcooking.com

My husband and I enjoy chicken grilled, baked, poached and pan-seared all the time, but once in a while we feel like being a little naughty. Ok, alotta naughty. Mom, don’t go yet – you can keep reading!

Every few months we get a hankering for fried chicken that just can’t be satisfied by anything but the real deal. And this, my friends, is the real deal. Crispy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth chicken with a slight spicy kick. Heaven!

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken – Crispy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth fried chicken with a slight spicy kick! | thecomfortofcooking.com

All you need is a handful of basic ingredients (eggs, flour, seasonings, your favorite hot sauce), one whole chicken and a bottle of oil. For special equipment, grab your Dutch oven or deep fryer, along with a heatproof slotted spoon and, if you’re using a Dutch oven, a deep fry/candy thermometer to monitor the oil temperature.

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken – Crispy, tender, melt-in-your-mouth fried chicken with a slight spicy kick! | thecomfortofcooking.com

Once your scrumptious chicken is done sizzling, pop it onto a baking rack and into a warm oven to keep crisp. Most deep fryers and Dutch ovens aren’t big enough to accommodate all the pieces at once, so fry them up batches for best results.

Experiment with something new and dig into this unbelievably delish fried chicken at home! You can always take the stairs tomorrow.

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken

Spicy Southern Fried Chicken

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 cup hot sauce, recommended: Frank’s Red Hot
  • 2 cups self-rising flour or all-purpose flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1 to 2 1/2-pound chicken, cut into pieces (skin removed)
  • Vegetable oil or peanut oil, for frying

Special equipment needed:

  • Large Dutch oven, 5.5 qt. or more or deep fryer
  • Deep fry/candy thermometer, if using a Dutch oven
  • Heatproof slotted spoon

Instructions

  1. Prepare chicken by rinsing with cold water and patting dry. Set aside on a large plate, cutting board or pan.
  2. In a medium size bowl, beat eggs with water. Add hot sauce. In another bowl, combine the flour, pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then coat well in the flour mixture. (Make sure if you are using all-purpose flour that you have first added 2 teaspoons baking powder).
  3. Preheat your oven to a warm setting of 200 degrees or less. Prepare a baking sheet topped with a cooling rack. Have this handy to transfer the cooked chicken into the oven to keep warm, if frying in batches.
  4. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep Dutch oven or deep fryer. Do not fill the pot more than 1/2 full with oil. If using a Dutch oven, measure temperature with a candy thermometer.
  5. Fry the chicken in the oil until brown and crisp, about 13 to 14 minutes for dark meat (thighs, wings, legs) and 8 to 10 minutes for white meat (breasts). Make sure each piece of chicken has room; you may need to split up the frying in batches. With a heatproof slotted spoon, carefully transfer cooked chicken pieces to the baking sheet, and place in the oven to keep warm.
  6. Serve cooked chicken with additional hot sauce, if desired.
  7. Enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Join the Conversation

  1. I love fried chicken and sometimes I get hankerings for them too!

    Glad that I have this recipe when those cravings kick in!

  2. I´ve always wanted to try deep fried chicken at home. This looks easy Georgia and scrumptious! Do you leave the skin on?

  3. Oh I need some of that now!!!

  4. I’d love to make proper fried chicken, this looks & sounds amazing!

  5. Georgia!!! I’ve missed you. Sorry I haven’t been by! This fried chicken looks PHENOMENAL!

  6. This chicken sounds wonderful! Love the spice!

  7. Looks so delicious! Love the idea of making the fried chicken spicy!

  8. Nothing beats fried chicken, it’s such a nostalgic food for me. I love this Georgia!

  9. I haven’t had fried chicken in a long time! You have me craving it now and my hubby would love coming home to a plate of this! Great recipe!

  10. My mouth is watering–yum!

  11. Beautiful pictures! The chicken looks so good.

  12. Forgive me for missing the obvious, but how do you heat the oil in Dutch oven? are you putting the Dutch oven on the stove and heating?

    I love some good fried chicken, but have refused to buy a deep frier.

    Thanks for sharing!

  13. This looks so perfect!

  14. Yes, the oil is heated in a Dutch oven on the stovetop, if you choose to use that method.

  15. I have to agree – while I have some great baked chicken recipes, every once in a while you’ve just gotta have the fried stuff. It’s good for your soul.

  16. These beautiful golden brown chicken chunks look so crisp!

  17. This seriously looks perfect in every way!

  18. Just look at that crispity goodness! I totally need to make this and serve it with some waffles!

  19. I love fried chicken! This looks very crispy and golden. I make it probably once a summer (already did for this year). It’s such a treat!

  20. I’ve been wanting to fry chicken, but I’m scared. I was easing into it with just wings, but then I took a bite out of a bloody wing and I sorta died right then and there. It will be years before I’m courageous enough to try again, but THIS is the recipe I’ll use.

    Your photos are gorgeous!

  21. LOVE fried chicken! My favorite way to prepare chicken. Yours looks absolutely perfect and so crispy. If I could, I’d seriously eat it every day. It’s just… perfect. :)

  22. 5 stars
    This is by far the BEST fried chicken I have ever made! I will never use another recipe. I share this on my blog. I hope that is ok!! http://thepricematchreport.blogspot.com/2012/10/great-recipes.html

  23. Do you fry the chicken raw? An obvious question, but it had to be asked!

  24. Thanks! Better begin. Hubby will be home soon ;)

  25. There is something deliciously yummy and exciting about solid Southern comfort food! Soo Good!

  26. 5 stars
    I just tried this recipe and I was great. This is honestly the first time I successfully made fried chicken. I didn’t have a deep fryer or a Dutch oven but I was able to pull it off in a fry pan with about 1-1/2 of oil.

  27. Ellie Silva says:

    Do I add the hot sauce to the mix of eggs and water?

  28. Ellie Silva says:

    Thanks!….I will make it tonight for dinner, I will let you know how it go o for me.

  29. Do you leave the skin on the chicken, or no?

  30. No, it should be skinless. Thanks for noting – I’ll add that to the recipe!

  31. 5 stars
    My daughter and I have just made it, only difference was we added a tea spoon of Cajun and a tea spoon of paprika as well. It was awesome, thank you so much.

  32. I love fried chicken but can not make perfectly. From the pictures, I can see that you have cooked the perfect, delicious, good looking chicken. Thanks for sharing the recipe . I will try it.

  33. 5 stars
    We made this chicken tonight. It was succulent and fabulous. The chicken pieces we had were somewhat large so next time I will let it go a bit longer. Was a little pink near the bone. We ate around it. This is probably the best fried chicken recipe I have ever made. Thanks for sharing.

  34. 5 stars
    Thanks for share spicy southern fried Chicken.
    This fryer is always ideally simple to use too; it does not need pre-heating like an stove and it has a clock.
    It is also simple to fresh up after use as its sink, stirrer and lid can securely be jumped into the dish washer.

  35. 5 stars
    This sound so delicious. My husband will love it. He is a Frank’s Red Hot nut. I am pinning your recipe and will definitely make. I tossed my deep fryer cause I just didn’t want to be eating fried food, but like you once in a while is ok.
    Do you use any particular oil for frying, like peanut?
    Thanks for sharing.
    Darlene
    NOVA SCOTIA

Leave a Reply to Lynna

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Close
The Comfort of Cooking © Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.
Close
Skip to Recipe