Southern fried chicken, bread and butter pickles, crisp butter lettuce, and a generous slathering of mayo, all on a homemade Hawaiian sweet roll.
This recipe started with a craving. I love fried chicken. Being from the south, there is no way around it. That also means I love fried chicken sandwiches. Where I live the only fried chicken sandwich available is at a fast food place. While that might satisfy my hunger, it’s not going to satisfy my craving! So I set out to make my own.
I wanted a sandwich that had good southern flavor (11 herbs and spices, bread and butter pickles, check). But the bun needed to be rich with a little sweetness. Enter the Hawaiian sweet roll. It took what seemed like forever to develop the bun recipe. My craving was only getting stronger. But I finally had a bun that I was happy with and I could move on to the most important part. The chicken.
Southern fried chicken has become somewhat of a generalization of fried chicken. What it means to me is that the chicken has to be soaked in buttermilk. Preferably overnight so the acid starts to tenderize the meat. It has to have a little heat. Adding hot sauce to the buttermilk works some heat into the chicken. And the breading has to be thick and crispy with a lot of flavor. Letting the breaded chicken sit, helps the buttermilk absorb the breading, forming a thick crust that gets crispy when frying. As for flavor, well, the colonel ain’t got nothing on my 11 herbs and spices!
Fresh baked Hawaiian sweet roll, crispy southern fried chicken, some homemade bread and butter pickles, lettuce, and let’s not forget the mayo. Finally, my craving has been satisfied!
Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 tbsp vinegar based hot sauce such as tabasco
- 1 cup AP flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp ground sage
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp dry thyme
- 1/4 tsp ground celery seed
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- oil for frying
- 4 Hawaiian sweet rolls or brioche rolls
- 4 leaves butter lettuce
- bread and butter pickles as needed
- mayo as needed
Instructions
- Combine the buttermilk and hot sauce. Soak the chicken in the milk mixture at least 1 hour up to 2 days.
- Combine flour and all the herbs and spices. Coat the chicken with the flour. Pressing the flour on the chicken to create a thick coating. Refrigerate at 30 minutes.
- Heat oil to 350 degrees and fry the chicken. Drain the oil from the chicken when it is brown and cooked through.
- Slather the rolls with mayo, add the lettuce, chicken, and pickles.
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