Fried Chicken and Waffles

Title

** This chicken is most tender and flavorful if soaked overnight or for several hours in buttermilk, so allow time for this step.

Anytime we travel, we love to try out local restaurants and local dishes. We are a real live Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives except we don’t have spiked hair, tattoos, or drive a convertible. We have tried several times over the last few years to make it to a place that serves chicken and waffles. I’ve seen and heard so much about this soul food dish, but we’ve never been able to try it. So when Father’s Day rolled around, I thought it would be a fun surprise to try to make it for Jonathan. As it turns out, this just might be one of our favorite dishes ever. Here’s what you’ll need:

Waffles:
2 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat waffle iron (I used a Bavarian waffle maker for thicker waffles) and spray with cooking spray. Mix together the dry ingredients. In separate bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and butter. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and whisk together well. Pour about 1 cup of batter into waffle iron (depending on waffle iron size), close, flip if yours is the flip-style waffle-maker, and cook for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove onto platter. Recipe makes 5-6 waffles.

Chicken:
2-3 packages boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins
2 cups buttermilk
6 cups cooking oil
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons ground mustard
2 tablespoons paprika (I used smoked paprika)
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoons onion powder

If you’ve never used ground mustard, here’s what you are looking for:

Mustard

Wash chicken tenders and place in bowl. Pour buttermilk over and stir to coat chicken. Cover and chill overnight or for several hours in fridge.

Soak

I can’t say for sure, but I hear from a very reputable soul food cook that chicken shaken in a paper bag tastes much better than chicken shaken in a plastic bag. And since I don’t know any different, I followed the instructions I was given. The chicken was delicious. Maybe it would have been just as delicious from a plastic bag. I don’t know.

Bag

Preheat oil in an electric skillet or in iron skillet over medium heat. Remove chicken from buttermilk and place in paper bag. Shake to coat with flour mixture. (I do about 1/3 of the chicken at a time.) When oil is hot, drop pieces into oil carefully. Fry chicken for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Remove to a plate covered with paper towel to drain excess oil.

Serve waffle with butter or maple syrup, topped with fried chicken.

plated

I can’t wait to hear your comments when you make this! Be sure to visit our Recipe Index for other fabulous creations.

Comments

  1. You had me at hello! This looks delicious, once upon a time I wasn’t a big fan of chicken but now I love it and this looks like a great thing for me to try! Thanks for the how to!

    xoxo,
    Avo (www.avoslife.com)

    • thehillhangout says

      Avo, we were hooked after the first taste. Have made the waffles a couple of times since for breakfast. Good luck with it!

  2. I had my first taste of Chicken and Waffles at Max’s Wine Dive in Austin after BlogHer Food and it was AMAZING! Great pictures and delicious recipe!!!

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