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Sweet Tea Fried Chicken

Provided by AOL Food Editors

  • Saved by 382 people
  • Shared 137 Times

This recipe is part of these featured cookbooks:
Latest Review: "I love to cook good food an will give a real ...more"
  • Prep: 20 mins
  • Cook: 1 hr., 20 mins
  • Ready in: 1 hr., 40 mins
  • Serves:

Ingredients

  • eight to ten tea bags
  • 1 quart water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 3 lbs chicken pieces
  • 1 quart buttermilk
  • 1 lb lard or shortening
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup thickly-cut uncooked smoked bacon sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1 cup crushed Stacy's® Tuscan Herb or Stacy's® Parmesan Garlic and Herb Pita Chips
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 ribs celery
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Cooking Instructions

Bring 1 quart water to a boil and turn off the heat. Steep tea bags for 5 minutes and remove. While the tea is still hot stir in sugar and salt until thoroughly and allow to cool.

Place chicken in a plastic or glass dish and cover with the sweet tea brine. Lid or wrap tightly and place in the refrigerator for 8- hours. Rinse off the chicken and dish. Return the chicken to the dish and cover it with buttermilk. Let it rest covered in the refrigerator for another 8- hours. Remove the chicken and drain it on a wire rack.

While the chicken is draining place the lard or shortening butter celery and bacon pieces in a wide heavy stockpot and cook over low heat for 30-45 minutes until the butter stops foaming. Skim throughout as needed. Carefully discard celery remove bacon pieces and set aside for another .

Crush pita chips in a food processor or by running a rolling pin over a zipped plastic baggie.

Thoroughly mix together chips and cornstarch in a bowl and dredge the drained chicken pieces until all surfaces are covered. Lightly pat to set the coating and tap off excess flour.

Raise fat temperature to 360 F and carefully place several chicken pieces in the fat skin-side down taking care not to let them touch. Work in batches if necessary. Allow fat to return to 360 F between batches.

Fry for 8-10 minutes until skin is golden-brown and the meat is thoroughly cooked. Remove from pot drain on a wire rack or a crumpled brown paper bag and serve.

Recipe Notes

Serving size 1/4 chicken

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Recipe Location

This recipe has been added to the following public cookbooks:
Edie's favorite recipes, Marcia's Cookbook Ya'll, Sara's Cook Book, Sheilla's Cookbook, The Texas Cartright's Cookbook

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Recent Reviews

Recent Reviews
Rating Submitted by Comment Summary
LA FlynGuy
11/07/09 03:50 PM

Making it this weekend.

I love to cook good food an will give a real review tomorrow when it is done. Wish me luck... I have already made the tea. just waiting for it to cool.
denverauthor
11/07/09 04:24 AM

Holy mackerel!

You spend two days working on a piece of chicken and it winds up tasting like sweet tea!
Charles & Ronnie
11/07/09 03:42 AM

Better Make Your Funeral Arrangements Not...

This recipe is a cardiologist's nighmare...By the time i was reading the part about the lard and the bacon, I could feel my arteries hardening...To put this recipe in print is totally irresponsible...
papasbossier
11/07/09 02:54 AM

wow!

ok first maybe the recipe is a little throwed together. but it sounds good.and u can figure it out unless ur a basic hamburger helper type cook.its not very time consuming at all really. its not like u have to stand at the frig for 16 hours and watch it . hello! pour ur COOLED tea cover and refrigerate. 8 hours later rinse and buttermilk it for 8 hrs. wow thats not hard people. oh and if u dont like how it sounds then dont try it . simple
Carol
11/06/09 11:57 PM

A fun read!!!

Who knew recipe reviews could be so much fun.

1 - 5 of 58 Reviews | Next

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