Grammy's Recipe Book Mains

Fried Chicken Thighs

350°F oven

Prep
20 min
Cook
30 min
Rest
5 minrest
Total
55 minstart to eating

Times are our estimates for Grammy's recipe, with unhurried prep.

Grammy's handwritten page for Fried Chicken Thighs
Page 28 · full size

As written

Word for word from her page, with her spelling and line breaks. [?] marks a word we couldn't read.

Fried chicken thighs
350° oil 5 min each side
then put in 350° oven
10-15 min

Grammy's recipe

Her recipe, typed out to cook from: her amounts and her words, with abbreviations spelled out and the steps numbered.

Ingredients

  • Chicken thighs
  • Oil, for frying

Method

  1. Heat the oil to 350° and fry the thighs 5 minutes on each side.
  2. Finish in a 350° oven for 10–15 minutes.

Modernized

A present-day cookbook version, with missing steps filled in. These are suggestions, not her words.

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)

Coating

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper

To fry

  • Vegetable or peanut oil, about 1 inch deep

Method

  1. Soak the thighs in the buttermilk, salt and hot sauce, refrigerated, for 4 hours or overnight.
  2. Heat the oven to 350°F and set a rack on a baking sheet. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet to 350°F.
  3. Mix the coating. Lift each thigh from the buttermilk, let it drip, and dredge it well.
  4. Fry in batches, skin side down first, 5 minutes per side until deep golden. Don’t crowd the pan.
  5. Move to the rack and finish in the oven 10–15 minutes, until the thickest part reads 175°F.
  6. Rest 5 minutes before serving.

Ideas to play with

Twists and variations to try. Suggestions, not hers.

  • Air fryer

    Spray the dredged thighs with oil and air-fry at 380°F for 25 minutes, flipping halfway.

  • Hot honey

    Drizzle with honey warmed with chili flakes.

  • Nashville-ish

    Brush the hot chicken with ¼ cup of frying oil whisked with cayenne and brown sugar.

  • Picnic

    It’s great cold the next day with Joanne’s cole slaw.