Spicy Fried Chicken Bites

This weeks Food Network Chef’s Challenge hosted by I Blame My Mother was Brian Boitano, yes the ice skater.  He now has a new food network show and only has about 20 recipes, luckily he had this recipe.  My dear sweet hubby DT has been begging for fried chicken, and to tell the truth I am a bit intimated in cooking bone in fried chicken.  But this is chicken pieces, I can do that.

Verdict: I loved this recipe and the slight spiciness of the crust was excellent, it was also double battered which is a bit of a hassle when frying but tasted great.  I will definitely be making this recipe again, but instead of bites (which just take longer) I will do chicken strips.  The blue cheese dipping sauce was in my opinion excellent but no one else liked it.

Please be sure to check out what the other participants have cooked up for the challenge, click here!

Ingredients: 4 strips bacon, 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken, 2 cups buttermilk, 2 tablespoons hot sauce, 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 2 cups canola oil

Start off by marinating your chicken

Cut your chicken in strips and then bit sized pieces, add to a large glass bowl

then pour in the buttermilk and hot sauce, and mix well

(touching raw meat give me the creeps, but this is the easiest way)

Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight

The next day pull our your buttermilk chicken, and all your ingriendents its time to get frying

measure our all your flour and then add in the cayenne pepper

Paprika

garlic powder

salt and pepper

I must admit I recruited my mom as offical fry cook!

Then lay out your chicken in the flour mixture and coat well

Then put back into drained (use a colander to drain all the buttermilk, it will make your life much easier

Then we decided to put the flour mixture in a large ziplock baggie, add the chicken

and shake!

Then in a large skillet heat your oil and add your chicken

Since the pieces were fairly small we only cooked about 2 minutes per side, until golden brown

Then flip and repeat on opposite side

Repeat this until all the chicken is fried, and draining on a baking sheet covered with paper towels

Next up the derby dip!

Derby Dip: 3/4 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 1/4 cup blue cheese, room temperature, cut into small pieces

Add in the mayo

crumbled blue cheese

and sour cream

Then stir in your crumbled bacon (which you are suppose to fry some how in between all the other frying madness, to be honest I just microwaved it)

Then enjoy!

Boy oh boy did we enjoy!

Print This RecipeSpicy Fried Chicken Bites with Derby Dip

Recipe courtesy Brian Boitano 2009

// Ingredients

4 strips bacon

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken

2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons hot sauce

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups canola oil

Derby Dip:

3/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1/4 cup blue cheese, room temperature, cut into small pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the bacon onto a baking sheet and bake until crisp about 12 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Once the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop into small pieces.

Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. In a large bowl combine the buttermilk, hot sauce, and chicken.

Cover and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

In a glass baking dish, whisk together the flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Remove the chicken from the buttermilk and add to the seasoned flour. Make sure all the chicken pieces are thoroughly coated. Remove the chicken from the flour mixture and put back into the buttermilk. Remove chicken from buttermilk and put back into the seasoned flour mixture for a second coating. Transfer the double coated chicken to a baking sheet and reserve.

Heat the canola oil in a large cast iron skillet to 350 degrees F. Add the reserved 2 tablespoons bacon fat. Working in batches, fry the chicken until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the cooked chicken to a sheet pan lined with paper towels.

In a medium bowl stir together the sour cream, mayonnaise and blue cheese. Stir in the crumbled bacon.

Serve the chicken with the Derby Dip on the side.

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