Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains
Classic Southern fried chicken with creamy coleslaw
The real thing: bone-in thighs and drumsticks soaked in buttermilk, dredged in a peppery seasoned flour and deep-fried until the skin shatters, with sweet, creamy coleslaw on the side. Shown here as the comparison for the air-fryer rebuild.
Want a more filling version?Air-fryer buttermilk fried chicken with crunchy slaw 66- Time
- 55 min (25 prep + 30 cook)
- Servings
- 4
- Per serving
- 880 kcal
- Protein
- 45 g
Ingredients
Chicken
- 4 chicken thigh (with skin), bone-in and skin-on; the weight is the meat and skin you eat
- 4 roasted chicken drumstick, with skin, skin-on; the weight is the cooked meat and skin you eat (about 340 g raw)
- 1/2 cup whole buttermilk
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper hot sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
Dredge
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
To fry
- about 6 1/2 tbsp absorbed peanut oil, from about 6 cups (1.5 litres) in the pot; only what the chicken absorbs is counted
Coleslaw
- 4 cups cabbage, finely shredded
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 6 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Steps
- Mix the buttermilk, hot sauce and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a zip-top bag, add the chicken, squeeze out the air and turn until every piece is coated. Chill at least 4 hours, or overnight, turning the bag once or twice.
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and the remaining salt in a wide dish. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk and rub it through so the flour forms little clumps. Lift each piece out of the buttermilk and press it into the flour on every side.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot (no more than half full) to 340°F. Fry in two batches, without crowding, turning now and then, for 12–15 minutes, until deep golden and the meat next to the bone reads 165°F. Keep the oil between 150 and 300–325°F as it fries. Drain on a rack.
- For the coleslaw, whisk the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar, then toss with the cabbage and carrot. Serve with the hot chicken.
Good to know
Why a thermometer for the oil?
Too cool and the crust soaks up oil and goes greasy; too hot and it burns before the meat by the bone is done. A clip-on thermometer keeps it honest.
How is the oil counted?
Only what the chicken absorbs, about 8 % of its weight, not the litre and a half in the pot. Strain and reuse the rest once or twice.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 251
- Protein
- (21%)
- 13 g
- Fat
- (65%)
- 18 g
- Carbohydrates
- (15%)
- 10 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 428 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 3520 kcal goes into the pot and 1672 g of ingredients comes out as about 1400 g of food: 251 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.