• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Recipe Index
  • Food Photography
  • Subscribe

MySpicyKitchen

menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe Index
  • Food Photography
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » By Ingredient » Meats & Poultry » Chicken

    Published: Sep 16, 2016 · Modified: May 8, 2023 by Usha Rao

    Buttermilk Fried Chicken

    I usually avoid cooking deep fried food at home but when I saw this buttermilk fried chicken in New York Times food section few months ago, I saved the recipe. One Sunday evening when both of us were not in a mood for a heavy dinner, made this chicken. I was unsure if we would like it as the seasoning was very mild and was unsure if the chicken would absorb the spices. I did increase the spice quantities, yet was unsure. To my surprise, we liked it and I ended up making this chicken 3-4 times in following couple of weeks. Unfortunately, each time I made it, I could not take any pictures.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Chicken, Fried Chicken, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Chicken Drumsticks, Deep Fried, Appetizer,

    This past weekend I bought some chicken drumsticks with a plan to marinate it overnight, fry the next day and click some pictures for the on going Cooking Carnival, Cooking with protein Rich Ingredients. As it always happens with this chicken, plan changed and ended up making it the same evening for supper. This time I managed to take a few pictures just before sunset, though am I not very happy the way chicken looks in the pictures. Drumsticks look very dry, which they were not.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Chicken, Fried Chicken, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Chicken Drumsticks, Deep Fried, Appetizer,

    Coming to the recipe, chicken drumsticks are marinated in spiced buttermilk for an hour or up to 24 hours in the fridge, flour dusted and then deep fried. Since the chicken is fried with skin and coated with flour, it had a nice crispy crust and was well seasoned. I used drumsticks but chicken thighs and drumsticks or whole chicken cut into 10 pieces can be used. If using whole chicken weighing 3 - 3 ½ pounds, double the recipe. For the recipe below use ½ whole chicken or 6 drumsticks. I tweaked the recipe a bit by adding some ginger garlic paste and chili powder along with pepper and salt to the marinade. Also added some chili powder to flour along with salt and pepper. Adjust chili and pepper powder to heat tolerance level.

    Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Chicken, Fried Chicken, Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Chicken Drumsticks, Deep Fried, Appetizer,

    Marination: 1 hour - 1 day
    Cooking Time: 40 minutes
    Serves: 2

    Ingredients:

    • Oil for deep frying

    Marinade

    • 1.4 lbs Chicken Drumsticks (6 pieces with skin)
    • 1 cup Buttermilk
    • ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
    • 2 teaspoon Salt
    • ½ teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
    • 1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste

    Dusting

    • ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
    • ¾ tsp. Black Pepper Powder
    • ¾ tsp. Chili Powder
    • ¾ tsp. Salt

    Preparation:

    • In a big bowl, take all ingredients listed under marinate except chicken and lightly whisk.
    • Add drumsticks and toss in the buttermilk.
    • Marinate for at least one hour. If marinating longer, keep in the fridge up to 24 hours. Take the chicken out 1 - 1 ½ hours before frying.
    • Take all the ingredients listed under dusting in a ziploc bag that is big enough to hold all the chicken pieces (do not add chicken yet) and shake to combine all the spices. Or take a baking sheet or a plate, spread spiced flour on it.
    • Heat oil in a deep frying or saute pan for deep frying.
    • Take chicken pieces from the marinate, drop in the dusting flour bag and shake well to coat. Make sure chicken is well coated with flour. Or roll the chicken pieces in flour if not using a ziploc bag.
    • When oil is hot, 350F, remove chicken from the flour and dust to remove excess flour.
    • Gradually drop chicken pieces into hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. I fried 3 pieces at a time in two batches.
    • Reduce the flame to medium low, cover the pan and let the chicken fry for 8-9 minutes, until brown on one side.
    • Remove the cover, flip the chicken pieces, cover and cook for another couple of minutes.
    • Remove the cover and cook for another 6-7 minutes until chicken is brown and is cooked in the inside. When cut, juices should run clear. Keep turning the chicken pieces for even frying on all sides.
    • Remove from oil, place on a cooling rack that is placed in a baking tray/sheet. Excess oil will drip on to the baking tray/sheet.
    • Fry the other batch.
    • Serve the chicken hot ar at room temperature.

    Note:

    • Use a heavy bottom pan. If using a heavy bottom pan, cooking time will be longer. My pan wasn’t heavy and my chicken was cooked in 16-18 minutes. First time you fry the chicken, use the frying times as a guide and do keep an eye on the chicken when frying. The recipe called for cooking 12-15 minutes per side but in my pan and on my stove, drumsticks were cooked in 8-9 minutes per side.
    • I used a thermometer to check the oil temperature. When I cooked the chicken on medium low flame, the temperature was in the range of 335 - 350 and when I cooked the first batch on medium flame, oil temperature was in 350 - 375 F range. For the second batch, I reduce the heat to medium low and I felt that was the right flame level to fry the chicken on my stove.
    • I fried chicken drumsticks in two batches. I flour dusted all the drumsticks at once, deep fried three and kept the other three flour dusted pieces on a plate, until the first batch was fried.

    This day in 2014: New Zealand - Anzac Biscuits
    This day in 2015: Harissa from Tunisia

    More 26 Protein Rich Food

    • Prawn pakoda on a brown paper.
      Shrimp Pakoda ~ Fried Shrimp
    • Cup of fenugreek flavored buttermilk
      Menthi Majjiga ~ Fenugreek Flavored Buttermilk
    • Blogging Marathon, Recap, Cooking Carnival, Cooking with Protein Rich Food,
      Recap of Cooking Carnival - BM # 68
    • Blogging Marathon, Cooking Carnival, Protein Rich Food, Cooking With Protein Rich Ingredients, Cooking With Shrimp, Shrimp Recipes, Seafood, Prawns, New Orleans Food, New Orleans Cuisine, New Orleans bbq Shrimp, Barbecue Shrimp New Orleans Style, New Orleans Style bbq Shrimp,
      Barbecue (BBQ) Shrimp, New Orleans Style

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Sujas Kitchen says

      November 30, 2016 at 6:32 pm

      Your fried chicken looks so delicious, Usha.

      Reply
    2. Priya Srinivasan says

      November 21, 2016 at 2:27 pm

      Perfect recipe for meat-lovers!

      Reply
    3. PRADNYA says

      November 01, 2016 at 1:27 am

      beautiful recipe and they look pretty red and spicy...which i love

      Reply
    4. Srivalli Jetti says

      October 14, 2016 at 4:27 am

      Fantastic recipe and the pictures are so sinful to look at..I must make these for my kids..very nice Usha..

      Reply
    5. Sowmya:) says

      October 13, 2016 at 9:29 am

      The drumsticks have got a nice colour on them...look beautiful!

      Reply
    6. cookingwithsapana says

      October 09, 2016 at 2:05 pm

      Chicken looks so rustic and must have tasted amazing.

      Reply
    7. Smruti | Herbivore Cucina says

      October 06, 2016 at 7:23 pm

      The pictures look like they are for a restaurant menu!! Great dish!

      Reply
    8. themadscientistskitchen says

      October 02, 2016 at 8:46 am

      OMG!! they look yum Usha. Like I said I don't cook chicken but eat it so cannot promise I will make any of these yummy dishes will share the link with my friends though.

      Reply
    9. Sandhya Ramakrishnan says

      September 29, 2016 at 8:00 am

      I know that these fried chicken is very popular among chicken lovers.

      Reply
    10. Suja Ram says

      September 26, 2016 at 5:05 am

      You have a great spread for Non-veg lovers. Nice pics.

      Reply
    11. Pavani says

      September 24, 2016 at 6:22 pm

      Fried chicken looks great Usha. You nail the backlit pictures -- they look awesome.

      Reply
    12. Kalyani says

      September 19, 2016 at 12:46 am

      Interesting marinade there with buttermilk, Usha

      Reply
    13. srividhya says

      September 18, 2016 at 11:33 pm

      amazing clicks.. you are doing CCC also kya? Wow man.. perfect recipe for chicken lovers

      Reply
      • MySpicyKitchen says

        September 18, 2016 at 11:56 pm

        I am not as regular as Pavani, but try to do CC at least 2 weeks a month. I skipped last two months, though.

        Reply
        • Pavani says

          September 24, 2016 at 6:21 pm

          I haven't been doing CCC for the past 2 months 🙁 Will have to get back to it -- hopefully next month 🙂

          Reply
    14. Priya Suresh says

      September 18, 2016 at 3:53 am

      Omg, my mouth is just watering here, wat a crispy and dangerously addictive fried chicken. Truly super tempting.

      Reply
    15. Vaishali Sabnani says

      September 18, 2016 at 12:43 am

      Chicken lovers attack this dish!

      Reply
    16. Nalini says

      September 17, 2016 at 10:42 pm

      Nice and crispy chicken fry..

      Reply
    17. Gayathri Kumar says

      September 16, 2016 at 11:05 pm

      That is a nice dish for chicken lovers...

      Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I am Usha! Welcome to my space. I am the content creator and photographer here. I love cooking and all the recipes on the site are tried and tested in my kitchen.

    More about me →


    Holiday Recipes

    • Fresh cranberry Christmas cake is a tangy & sweet cake
      Fresh Cranberry Christmas Cake
    • Loaf of non alcoholic low calorie classic fruit cake
      Low Calorie, Non Alcoholic Fruit Cake
    • plate of masi samoa.
      Masi Samoa, Coconut Shortbread Cookies
    • Norwegian Rice Porridge, Norwegian Food, Norwegian Cuisine, Rice Porridge, Rice Pudding, Norwegian Rice Pudding, Food of the World,
      Norwegian Rice Porridge for Food of the World
    • Collard Greens, Pepperoni, Food & Wine, Cooking from Cookbook Challenge, CCChallenge, Side Dish, Thanksgiving Recipes,
      Sauteed Collard Greens with Pepperoni
    • Thanksgiving Side Dishes, Side Dish, Swiss Chard, Piccata, Piccata Swiss Chard, Cooking form cookbook Challenge, CCChallenge, Food & Wine,
      Piccata Swiss Chard

    Popular

    • Sq image of a platter of veg canapes.
      Bread Canapes Recipe
    • Shrimp noodle soup in a bowl
      Easy Shrimp Noodle Soup Chinese Style
    • Top down view of chicken clear soup.
      Chicken Clear Soup Recipe, Indian Style
    • Omani Food, Omani Cuisine, Roasted Meat, Blogging Marathon, Around the world in 30 days with ABC cooking,
      Omani Shuwa ~ Slow Cooked Lamb

    Finger Food

    • Broiled shrimp.
      Party Shrimp Recipe
    • Tortilla cheese chips, Tortilla cheese crisps, Tucson Cheese Crisps, Blogging Marathon, Tortilla dish,
      Arizona Cheese Crisps
    • Plate of bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers
      3 Ingredient Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
    • A platter of Fiesta pinwheels and a bowl of salsa
      Fiesta Pinwheels, Yummy Party Food

    Curry Recipes

    • A bowl of lima beans curry.
      Lima Beans Curry, Video Recipe
    • Bowl of ulligadda ukkera.
      Onion Egg Curry ~ Ulligadda Ukkera
    • A bowl of chikkudukaya kura or Indian broad beans in a platter along with a bowl of rice.
      Chikkudukaya Kura - Indian Broad Beans Fry
    • Gutti vankaya masala is a flavorful eggplant curry stuffed with peanut sesame spice mix.
      Gutti Vankaya Masala - Stuffed Baby Eggplant Curry

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Subscribe

    Contact

    • Know Me

    Copyright © 2025 MySpicyKitchen